Harrington question

[Mike]

I'm abit confused. I got Harringtons 3 books yesterday and have removed sleep and eat from my daily routines since then.

I got abit confused when I read about him comparing the stack to the pot size. How can one do that? The pot is changing during each hand you play. Isn't the comparison to the big blind more sensible or is that what he means when he talks about different zones?

[MrSmiley23]

didnt read his books but pretty sure he means implied odds either that or if he or other player already has a large sum of his stack already in teh pot then either puttin other player all in or going all in yourself is probably the best option

[animal_chin]

When he talks about compairing your stack to the pot size he means dividing your stack by the big blind, small plind and all the antes combined. This gives you your M.

[swiggidy]

i.e. The size of the pot before the cards are dealt

[animal_chin]

Yeah, it's a good way to figure out how many times around the table the blinds can go before the blinds eat your whole stack.

[Reidak]

What your trying to explain is M.

M is the big bind+small blind+ antes (if any)

The relation he makes is a range, which he calls inflection points.

I won't reveal anymore since its probably copyright infringement, but look it up in the index in vol. 2.

Its --REALLY-- important to know for MTT's

[jukejointroach]

i noticed yesterday, in the inflection points section, there is a mistake in the stack size chart of one of the problems.

[The Don]

You're referring to your "M". To get this, you divide your stack size by the size of the pot BEFORE anyone has acted. If the blinds are 50/100 with an ante of 10 and there are 7 people left:

50 small blind + 100 big blind + 70 antes = 220 total

The number you get is your "M". This determines how many more full rounds you can last. Basically, the fewer rounds you can survive the more cards you have to be willing to play. In addition, if your size-to-pot ratio gets too low, you won't have enough weight to push anyone around.

In my opinion this is one of the most important sections in HoH. Understanding inflection points is crucial to your success in a tournament.

[swiggidy]

i noticed yesterday, in the inflection points section, there is a mistake in the stack size chart of one of the problems.

This is an amazingly descriptive and informative post.

[jameseyb]

Your M also defines your range of playable hands and how you play them. As it drops, your options become either fold or push, not call, raise or fold as you will rarely have enough left over to make a move post flop. Typically this is nto much of an issue as, by this stage, the blinds are big enough that a push will net you a fair chunk.

J

[biondino]

Well it's not just M. Fold equity is vital in tourneys and if your stack is small compared to the pot at any time during a hand, you'll lose most or all of your fold equity. Therefore, don't bluff when you don't have enough chips to make an opponent fold.