M - (pronounced 'em')
June 5th, 2024 Newsletter
Cold Deck Quote:
"All i did [during my early poker years], was eat, sleep, and breathe tournament poker and the results showed up." - Daniel Negreanu
What in the Word...?
...M
Is M even a word?
This is going to be a bit of a 2 part discussion. Obviously, we are going to be talking about M and what it means. What is definitely more important though is why using it (or its alternative) is very important in tournament poker.
First lets dig into the meaning of "M". Dan Harrington, in his book Harrington on Holdem brought popularity to the concept and signified it as M after Paul Magriel with whom he played high level backgammon and, later, poker.
"M" or "M-ratio" is the number of orbits that can be played with a number of chips while only paying the small blind, big blind, and any antes. So, as an example, you are playing a live tournament and have 20000 in chips with the blinds at 1000 - 2000 and a big blind ante of 2000. Your "M" in this scenario would be 4. if you divide your 20K stack by the (1000+2000+2000) you get 4.
Typically when talking tournament hands and strategy, we discuss stack sized in terms of "Big Blinds" (BB). The Benefit of using M instead of BB is that it compensates for antes or lack thereof. Because we are basing our ranges (be it shoving, calling off, or 3 betting), we need not only our total amount of chips but some context of how many chips that is based on the blinds. So we need to have a knowledge of what the reward is that we are risking out chips for. By using M, we get an accurate account of that reward.
Alternatively, most people use "Big Blinds" when discussing hands and relative stack sizes. While using BBs as a reference is VASTLY superior to using actual chip amounts, it is inferior to using M because the number of Big Blinds doesn't account for the ante.
Using our Tuesday Freezeout game or the local VFW game as examples, there is no ante to account for. However, if you go play another online game or are going out to the WSOP this year, there will be a an ante that is equal to the size of the Big Blind that is posted by the person in the BB seat.
The point is, a person discussing a hand that has 10 BBs in a no ante game is in a much different situation than the person who has 10 BBs in the ante game. M accounts for this and puts things on a level playing field as the M in the first 10BB scenario would be higher than the one in the second 10BB. M is how many orbits you can take without playing a hand and in the BB ante game would be the number of BBs / 2.5. In the no ante game, M would be the number of BBs / 1.5 (the BB+SB).
All of this said and diligently learned for me to say that, sadly, you shouldn't worry too much about M. Instead focus on the number of BBs.
"WAIT... WHAT? " you might say. "You finally had me convinced that M is superior to BBs." I hope I have convinced you of this but we live in a Big Blind world and sometimes we need to be pragmatic.
Just because BetaMax was superior to VHS didn't mean you should buy one. Sometimes, we need to live in the way the world has committed. This is one of those situations because your friends, coaches, and students of this game are going to be using Big Blinds. It is best that we know ranges based on this and are able to communicate with these people the actual situation without the confusion of new language such as M.
Here is the important part. Whatever language you use, it is VERY important to know how your stack compares to the "forced bets" which are the SB, BB, and antes. This is your risk reward ratio and it will set your ranges and bet sizes.
Get in the habit of knowing your number of BBs if you plan on having a meaningful conversation about your tournament or a hand breakdown at break. Because if you come up and tell me that you didn't think that you could call 60,000 in chips with KJs, your listener will have no context as to what your stack size is or the size of the blinds. It would be much better to say that calling 5bb out of your 20bb stack didn't seem reasonable with your KJs. In this case, your listener will have an idea of where to start in her analysis.
Count your Big Blinds over and over through your tournament. It is a habit that you will appreciate one day. I promise.
This week's Tip of the Cap goes to.... Joe Schwenk, Adrienne Culpepper, Chris McNeese, Ryan Conner, and myself headed out to the WSOP. Run Good to each of you and make the Freezeout Club proud!
I will be out of town for the next 2 Tuesdays so Jonathan Ayala will be running the game on 6.25.24 and Joe Schwenk will be at the helm for the 7.2.24 game. Please send the $25 to them on the respective dates. Their Venmo addresses are as follows:
Venmo Addresses: Joe Schwenk - @Joseph-Schwenk Jonathan Ayala - @Jonathan-Ayala-55
Just as a reminder, if anyone wants a 1% sweat on my $2500 WSOP entry, send me the $25 and we are good to go. I have a couple buyers already but just wanted to put out the reminder.
Zoom with Joe! Joe hosts a free zoom meetup during our Tuesday Freezeout games. Give it a try if that sounds like fun.
The ZOOM password is 432777
2025 Points Leaders
- Joe Schwenk 8
- Michael Culpepper 6
- Marty Kunz 6
- Carlos Price 5
- Ryan Conner 4
- David Paukovitz 4
- Michael Thurston 4
- Brian Gogle 4
- Moody 4
Recent Results
- June 11th, 2024
- 1st - Joe S.
- 2nd - Brian G.
- 3rd - Marty K
- 4th - Michael T.
- June 18th, 2024
- 1st - Moody
- 2nd - Jeff J.
- 3rd - Joe S.
- 4th - Steve U.
Coach's Corner
This video is a bit tongue in cheek but it really gets to the matter that calculating your number of Big Blinds isn't difficult. You just need to practice it at the table.
Level: Beginner
2025 Points Leaders
- Joe Schwenk 8
- Michael Culpepper 6
- Marty Kunz 6
- Carlos Price 5
- Ryan Conner 4
- David Paukovitz 4
- Michael Thurston 4
- Brian Gogle 4
- Moody 4
Recent Tuesday Freezeout Results
- June 11th, 2024
- 1st - Joe S.
- 2nd - Brian G.
- 3rd - Marty K
- 4th - Michael T.
- June 18th, 2024
- 1st - Moody
- 2nd - Jeff J.
- 3rd - Joe S.
- 4th - Steve U.
Coach's Corner
This video is a bit tongue in cheek but it really gets to the matter that calculating your number of Big Blinds isn't difficult. You just need to practice it at the table.
Level: Beginner
Venmo Addresses
Michael Culpepper - @Michael-Culpepper-14
Joe Schwenk - @Joseph-Schwenk
Jonathan Ayala - @Jonathan-Ayala-55
Have any questions or feedback for this newsletter? If so, please email me
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