Recap on Harrington's "M" Factor, Key to MTT play! (And Multi-Table SnG's)

[GottImHimmel]

So let's do some recap on Harrington's "M"

-First Introduced in The HoH (Harrington on Hold'em) Series, of which I've personally read the First 2 books.

-Basically, Your "M" Is your stack size Divided by the Amount of Chips at the start of the Hand.

-What it does is tell you how many orbits you have before you are blinded out of the game

So, For Example- 9-handed play-The Blinds are t200/t400 with ante 50, your stack size is t10000.

What's your M? The answer is (t600+t450=t1350), So t10,000/1350=about 7 (Always estimate if you can)

Before I continue, It's important that you CALCULATE YOUR "EFFECTIVE "M", Take your M, and multiply it by 2/3 if there are 6 out of 9 players left, 1/3 if there are 3 players left. You get the point, Since "M" means how many orbits of the blind you can withstand before you're blinded out, it's important you lower your M (Estimate!) according to how many players are left. Why? Simple. There are less players before you'll hit the blinds. Thus, Less orbits.

So- Harrington Had different "Standard" Ways of playing depending on your M



M of 20+ This is often found at the beginning of the tournament, you're free to do what you want. Lots of room to maneuver if you so feel. You might choose to wait for a big hand if your table is fairly loose or you're out of position, or you might limp in to see cheap flops with speculative hands such as Suited connecters or low pocket pairs to set mine.

M BETWEEN 15-20 (SORRY, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YELLOW, BUT YOU COULDN'T READ IT. If you've passed on play during the beginning stage, you might find yourself at this M level around the 50-100 or100-200 Blind levels. Blind stealing is favorable at this M. Because you have enough chips to fold to a 3-bet or re-steal, you're free to open up a wide range on the button or Cutoff. However, you want to avoid open-pushing. Open limping and passive play is not advised with this M or below.

M of 10-15 A difficult M for even the best of us. You have more than enough chips than to play Push/Fold, but often times you would have to call a 3-bet due to pot commitment, which is often all-in. MY personal (gottimhimmel) recommendation is to play the same range you would at the Red M, but open raise 2-2.5x the BB. That way you have the ability to steal the blinds, but still have a good enough hand to go to showdown. Again, with this M, play a tight range IMO.

M of 5-10 This is Simple, Push/Fold play. Either go all-in pre-flop or fold. 'Nuff Said. It's up to you, depending on your hand and position.

M of 0-5 You got two cards bud? Shove them in.




P.S Forum- There's an alternative to M, especially useful for SnGs, Called "X-factor", I might make a thread about X-Factor specifically later


Another P.S- After Reading some of the Responses, I would like to add (credit to SendCookies) that between 5-15 M there is an alternative to the open shove known as the stop and go. This basically entails calling out-of-position pre-flop then regardless (Most of the time) of the flop, shove 'er in.

[psy0nyd3]

Thanks for sharing and taking the time to give us your take. I enjoy these threads especially the tilt one was good. Really makes me think that I should probably devote some more time to learning how to actually play this game huh?

What're the main differences between Xfactor and playing by Harrington's M's?

[GottImHimmel]

For one thing "x-factor" has different levels, The highest being 30+ orbits, the second highest being 20-30, then 15-20, then 8-14 and lowest being 0-7. It's off of the same calculation though.

[ssuglia]

Good info, especially for those that haven't been introduced to "M".

One thing I'd add for me personally is that depending on the game, I would consider open pushing with an M of 10-15, simply because you still have enough of a chip stack to have some fold equity. I don't open my range too wide during this time, but I would be looking for a good spot to get it in and at worst pick up some blinds.

[bmeelneg]

M gives you a false sense of security in fast tourneys ...

Harrington plays very slow structured tourneys... In fast tourneys that false sense of security is gonna get you in trouble.

[psy0nyd3]

Ah I see, thanks Himmel.

[GottImHimmel]

I mean that's a legitimate post bmeelneg, however, it's important to be aware at all times. Personally, I prefer "X-Factor" But M is the classic tourney measure

[bmeelneg]

I mean that's a legitimate post bmeelneg, however, it's important to be aware at all times. Personally, I prefer "X-Factor" But M is the classic tourney measure

First off I liked your post so lets get that out of the way ...

I'm well aware of what M is having owned and read HOH (Harrington on Holdem) many times. I would still recommend HOH be read by anyone who hasn't read it.

He uses M to give you an idea of where you are and what you can do ... What "zone" you are in ... Green zone, Yellow zone ... etc. Green zone you can call or raise as you see fit ... you are "deep" so to speak.

If I have a M of 40 right now you would think you can survive 40 orbits before you are blinded out. But is that really true? Of course not. Blinds increase, so as that happens your M decreases.
===========
As an example ... At the start of a tourney the blinds are 5/10 with a starting stack of 1500 chips. What is your M at the start? Ok I'll do the simple math here its 100. 1500/15 = 100.

Blinds go up to 10/20 just 8 minutes later .... blinds go up to 25/50 eight minutes later ... blinds go up to 50/100 eight minutes later.

So lets reevaluate our M with less then a half an hour later ... 8 minutes X 3 blind increases. Keeping the math simple you managed to stay exactly even with your starting stack of 1500 chips (say you won one pot played in that 24 minutes time). Blinds are now 50/100 and are chip stack is 1500. Our M now ... just 24 minutes later is now 10!

So I started with a M of 100 and now just 24 minutes later my M is 10. I certainly did not go thru 90 orbits in that 24 minutes.
==============

That realistic example of an online tourney illustrates why M can give you a false sense of security. Knowing and understanding M is fine ... just take it with a grain of salt.

[eqgh5uea]

First off I liked your post so lets get that out of the way ...

I'm well aware of what M is having owned and read HOH (Harrington on Holdem) many times. I would still recommend HOH be read by anyone who hasn't read it.

He uses M to give you an idea of where you are and what you can do ... What "zone" you are in ... Green zone, Yellow zone ... etc. Green zone you can call or raise as you see fit ... you are "deep" so to speak.

If I have a M of 40 right now you would think you can survive 40 orbits before you are blinded out. But is that really true? Of course not. Blinds increase, so as that happens your M decreases.
===========
As an example ... At the start of a tourney the blinds are 5/10 with a starting stack of 1500 chips. What is your M at the start? Ok I'll do the simple math here its 100. 1500/15 = 100.

Blinds go up to 10/20 just 8 minutes later .... blinds go up to 25/50 eight minutes later ... blinds go up to 50/100 eight minutes later.

So lets reevaluate our M with less then a half an hour later ... 8 minutes X 3 blind increases. Keeping the math simple you managed to stay exactly even with your starting stack of 1500 chips (say you won one pot played in that 24 minutes time). Blinds are now 50/100 and are chip stack is 1500. Our M now ... just 24 minutes later is now 10!

So I started with a M of 100 and now just 24 minutes later my M is 10. I certainly did not go thru 90 orbits in that 24 minutes.
==============

That realistic example of an online tourney illustrates why M can give you a false sense of security. Knowing and understanding M is fine ... just take it with a grain of salt.

Awesome. Just awesome.

[SendCookies]

So let's do some recap on Harrington's "M"

-First Introduced in The HoH (Harrington on Hold'em) Series, of which I've personally read the First 2 books.

-Basically, Your "M" Is your stack size Divided by the Amount of Chips at the start of the Hand.

-What it does is tell you how many orbits you have before you are blinded out of the game

So, For Example- 9-handed play-The Blinds are t200/t400 with ante 50, your stack size is t10000.

What's your M? The answer is (t600+t450=t1350), So t10,000/1350=about 7 (Always estimate if you can)

Before I continue, It's important that you CALCULATE YOUR "EFFECTIVE "M", Take your M, and multiply it by 2/3 if there are 6 out of 9 players left, 1/3 if there are 3 players left. You get the point, Since "M" means how many orbits of the blind you can withstand before you're blinded out, it's important you lower your M (Estimate!) according to how many players are left. Why? Simple. There are less players before you'll hit the blinds. Thus, Less orbits.

So- Harrington Had different "Standard" Ways of playing depending on your M



M of 20+ This is often found at the beginning of the tournament, you're free to do what you want. Lots of room to maneuver if you so feel. You might choose to wait for a big hand if your table is fairly loose or you're out of position, or you might limp in to see cheap flops with speculative hands such as Suited connecters or low pocket pairs to set mine.

M BETWEEN 15-20 (SORRY, IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE YELLOW, BUT YOU COULDN'T READ IT. If you've passed on play during the beginning stage, you might find yourself at this M level around the 50-100 or100-200 Blind levels. Blind stealing is favorable at this M. Because you have enough chips to fold to a 3-bet or re-steal, you're free to open up a wide range on the button or Cutoff. However, you want to avoid open-pushing. Open limping and passive play is not advised with this M or below.

M of 10-15 A difficult M for even the best of us. You have more than enough chips than to play Push/Fold, but often times you would have to call a 3-bet due to pot commitment, which is often all-in. MY personal (gottimhimmel) recommendation is to play the same range you would at the Red M, but open raise 2-2.5x the BB. That way you have the ability to steal the blinds, but still have a good enough hand to go to showdown. Again, with this M, play a tight range IMO.

M of 5-10 This is Simple, Push/Fold play. Either go all-in pre-flop or fold. 'Nuff Said. It's up to you, depending on your hand and position.

M of 0-5 You got two cards bud? Shove them in.




P.S Forum- There's an alternative to M, especially useful for SnGs, Called "X-factor", I might make a thread about X-Factor specifically later

I hate (love) this post. Why do you ppl continue to help teach those that do not want to learn. OK besides the point. One thing I'd like to add. For M levels 5 to 15, don't forget the stop and go. A lot o ppl will call a ss pre with almost ne 2. So, the stop and go becomes effective and has worked a lot. (Credit to Raymer, I believe or at least that's where I learned it from) You don't shove but instead call from out of position. Regardless of the Flop, Basically you are gonna shove. (much better if there are no Scare Cards, but depending on your M, it may not be a factor on the shove.)

Great Post. Hope to see no more. GL allz