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Poker 'M' Strategy |
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Learn how to calculate your 'M' in No Limit Texas Holdem games.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize that no limit Texas Holdem tournaments have swept the globe like no other form of poker. In fact, they have risen to such popularity that one can find a no limit tournament running roughly every 5 minutes on all major online sites. An important aspect influencing all no limit holdem tournaments is that blind and ante escalations occur pretty quickly. What this means is that more of our chip stack is in play with each new shuffle of the cards. Therefore, when playing a small, mid or big stack it is important to calculate what our stack is relative the blinds and antes in order to aid in determining the proper play. This concept is what has come to be known as our M.
Let’s take a relevant fictional example to illustrate this point. You find yourself on the button of a 5 dollar online tournament with the blinds at 200 400 and a 50 chip ante. It is folded around to you holding 33. Your stack is 4,000. The small blind is sitting on 8000 while the big blind has both of you covered with 9,500. Both appear to be competent, rational thinking players. Now if we are to calculate the amount of money we stand to win if both the small and big blind fold, we simply multiply the 50 chip ante from all 9 players + both the small and big blind. 50 x 9 = (450) + small blind (200) + big blind (400) = 1050 chips. Take our stack (4000) and divide it by the amount of money in the pot before anyone acts (1050) and we are left with an M of just under 4. The amount of money we stand to pick up if we move all in and both the small and big blind fold is nearly 40% of our stack. This is a golden opportunity! What many players fail to realize is that while 33 is far from a monster, putting in a small raise or calling are the worst moves a player can make! Say we raise the minimum of 800; this gives both the small and big blind excellent pot odds to call our raise with a wide range of mediocre holdings. Why? For the small blind, it costs him/her just 600 more to call in a pot of 1,650. The small blind is getting close to 3 to 1 on his money and unless he is holding 22, it is actually profitable for him to call seeing as he is never a 3 to 1 underdog against our hand range! The big blind is also being given extremely inviting odds. Therefore, our only logical play is to move all in for our 4,000 chips in an attempt to gain the 1050 already in the middle. This greatly reduces the odds being offered to both the small and big blind seeing as they have to call our 4,000 chip raise preflop in order to win 5,050, far from the odds being offered if we had merely min raised. Pay close attention to your M, especially when short stacked. It can ultimately pressure your opponents into tough decisions and boost your stack in the process!
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