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E=MC²

Lambert180Lambert180 Member Posts: 12,197
edited March 2012 in The Poker Clinic
I've heard a few people mention people's 'M' number relating to their stack in stages of an MTT taken from a Harrington's book. I've got vague memories of reading about this yonks ago but I can't remember what it is.

Would someone mind telling me how it's calculated?  What's a good/bad 'M' and if it's relevant/useful or is it just as easy to think about the number of BBs people have?
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  • DOHHHHHHHDOHHHHHHH Member Posts: 17,929
    edited March 2012
    gtfo
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  • BorinLonerBorinLoner Member Posts: 3,863
    edited March 2012
    M is simply how many orbits your stack can survive before it's gone. So basically, if you have 45k and the blinds are 5k/10k, each orbit costs 15k so you can only survive three orbits and your M is 3. It's more useful in tournaments with antes, since the value of your M will increase as the number of players remaining falls. This doesn't happen at tables without antes. Therefore you're much better off just working out how many BB's you have...

    Even better, work out how much each hand costs you if you fold. i.e. If there are ten players at the table and the blinds are 5k/10k, then each hand costs 1.5k but if there are only 3 players each hand will cost you 5k. This isn't something that M will help you deal with.
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  • profman15profman15 Member Posts: 1,808
    edited March 2012

    Hi Lambert
      Yes its the first book i read and i still use the m vale. Its a way of guaging how many orbits you'd have left before being blinded out.

          M=Stack/(sb+bb)
     
     This gives you a value and harrington hasa traffic light system for how aggro and even types of hand syou should play with particular m ranges.

    if i remember its something like
    GREEN  m=20+ play in normal manner but i'd suggest its now true for m />25
    YELLOW 10<=M<20
    ORANGE, RED AND.....DEAD

    STRATEGY, I FEEL HAS CHANGED IN THE GAME SO THERE ARE RANGES WITHIN THESE RANGES NOW,I FEEL.

    One point to hang on to is that there is a correlation between m value and no of BB's..........................

                 20BB=13 1/3 as m value.

    Once that is in mind then you can interchange to how you consider ur poker (bb's or m vals). Hope this helps.......I really enjoyed all the Harrington books in the series. One little brag, if i may....after reading the vol 1 book for 8 days, i went to Liverpool Circus Casino for my first live tournament and through luck and very tight play, i managed to win. I was tempted to retire then, Lambert as it wasn't going to get any better, was it?. Anyway, that was 9 months ago and i've been proved right but i'm loving learning and getting involved in the community too. There's quite a lot to come across. Sky could do with an overview of the sitefor newcomers as i only found the notes buttonlast week and had to put a thread up asking for instructions on how to put in a 2.2xbb bet say!!! Mind, i'll get there inthe end, i suppose...cheers anyway
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  • Lambert180Lambert180 Member Posts: 12,197
    edited March 2012
    Cheers Borin. But yeah sounds like I'll just be sticking to what I do now... just jam it in blind.
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  • EvilPinguEvilPingu Member Posts: 3,462
    edited March 2012
    As BorinLoner said, M = how many orbits you can survive until blinded out - It can be calculated by the following formula:

                   Our Stack Size
    M = ___________________________
           
            SB + BB + (Ante x Players)


    For Example: We have 10k chips, blinds 400/800 with 100 ante, and 8 players at the table. Blinds are 1,200, plus 8 x 100 ante = 2k chips per orbit, giving us an M of 5.
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  • profman15profman15 Member Posts: 1,808
    edited March 2012
    Actually that is a point for the m value...the number of players at the table counts so the original is for 10 players approx. So when its 6 your are supposed to mult your m by six tenths poss 2/3 to get what Harrington calls the effective m value...sorry i forgot about that Lambert.
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  • EvilPinguEvilPingu Member Posts: 3,462
    edited March 2012
    Just realised there's a wikipedia article on M...

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  • Lambert180Lambert180 Member Posts: 12,197
    edited March 2012
    Cheers anyway guys.

    @Profman, I saw you saying on another thread that you're a blue. Me too, hopefully we can give Sunderland a good beating then knock out Liverpool next round ;)
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  • Lambert180Lambert180 Member Posts: 12,197
    edited March 2012
    Did you like how I kept my thread title short and snappy as oppose to something like ...'Would someone mind telling me how it's calculated?  What's a good/bad 'M' and if it's relevant/useful or is it just as easy to think about the number of BBs people have?'
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  • rancidrancid Member Posts: 5,945
    edited March 2012
    M really works better with antes, not really worth worrying about if you play without antes



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  • profman15profman15 Member Posts: 1,808
    edited March 2012
    In Response to Re: E=MC²:
    Cheers anyway guys. @Profman, I saw you saying on another thread that you're a blue. Me too, hopefully we can give Sunderland a good beating then knock out Liverpool next round ;)
    Posted by Lambert180
    Hi Lambert

    What a wonderful result!!! I played twoBH's either side of the game tonight and was all-in with KK both times....up against AA. And lost twice as you may expect. One to a chap who'd AI'd for 4 consec hds(maybe he was trying to get off the Sunderlandsubs bench!!). As you can imagine there was no tilt at all, wishing my conquerors gl!! Its amazing what a a goal will do, eh?
    NOW....where are those REDS?
    Ur MOTM.......i think Distin ...he's just been so consistent for ages now but there were a couple esp in midfield. Fellaini put in a big workload too. Cahill looks more confident too and seemsto be forging a partnership with MR GOAL...cheers
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