Calculating your M in a Poker Tournament

In a poker tournament, M represents the number of times an initial pot at the present blind level that a tournament poker player holds in their chip stack.  M was made a household concept by Dan Harrington when he discussed tournament M and its importance in Harrington on Holdem Volume 2.

Calculating your M

To calculate or determine your M, you add up the small blind value plus the big blind, plus (antes times the number of players at the table) divided into your present chip count. For example, if the blinds start at 5/10 and you get 1500 chips, which means your tournament M starts at 100, because 5 plus 10 is 15 (the small blind plus the big blind).  15 goes into 1500 100 times.  As a result, your M is 100.

As the tournament progresses, the M typically goes down.  Going deep into a tournament on PokerStars, with blinds 600-1200 with a 125 ante, a chip stack of 50,000 chips has an M of roughly 17.  (1800 in total blinds, 125 in antes times nine players divided into our chip count of 50000).

Adjusting Your Posture as Tournament M Varies

The higher your M, the more freedom you have.  Players with high M, above 20 are playing mostly for implied odds.  They have the luxury of playing after the flop, and can choose to take a pot down by making a move, outplaying their opposition, or even going away on the flop or turn via a situational fold.  The higher the M, the more difficult it is to commit yourself to a pot.

On the other hand, the lower the M, the more aggressive and swift one should move.  Raising and calling standards by rule should increase significantly.  Often, players with low M (M under 10) are best served either getting all-in preflop, or moving all-in in a series of two bets (preflop and flop).

When your M is in between 11 and 20, the ability to speculate is diminishing.  You should focus more on playing quality hands in position.  However, unlike with a low M, you still have many moves available to you, such as re-raising or three betting and, or bluffing by firing multiple barrels after the flop. The goal when your M is in the middle area is to get it up into the higher range so that you can use all of your tools comfortably.