News / Matthew Pitt / 20 October 2008 / Leave a comment

The 2008 World Series of Poker Main Event restarts on November 9 with 21 minutes and 50 seconds remaining of level 33, meaning the blinds and antes will be 120,000/240,000/30,000a, informs Matthew Pitt.

For players such as current chip leader, Dennis Phillips and fellow big stack, Ivan Demidov, there is no rush to play any hands as their stacks are quite substantial but the likes of Craig Marquis and David 'Chino' Rheem will be looking to get their whole stack in the middle sooner rather than later.

Each of the players at the table will be aware of the "M-ratio" concept, first made public by 'Action' Dan Harrington in his no-limit Hold'em bible, "Harrington On Hold'em."

"M", named after backgammon expert Paul 'X-22' Magriel, is the ratio between a player's stack of chips to the total blinds and antes. Essentially, the "M" shows a player how many orbits of the table he can last, if he does not play a hand, before all of his chips would be gone.

The calculation is very simple. First, you have to add up the small blind, big blind and any antes paid. Once you have worked this out, you divide your stack by this number to get your "M". As an example, when play resumes on November 9, the blinds and antes will total 630,000, so Scott Montgomery, with his 19,690,000 chips would have an "M" of 31.25 where as micro-stack, Kelly Kim's "M" would be a mere 4.2.

"M" is split into five colour coded sections, to aid players in their thinking. If a player's "M" is 20 or above, they are counted as being in the green zone, which is the most desirable zone to be in as it allows you to be as aggressive or conservative as you wish.

Once "M" has dropped between 10-20, a player will find themselves in the yellow zone. In this zone, players need to be more aggressive and take more risks to get back into the green zone. Hands such as small pocket pairs and suited connectors actually drop in value as your stack is not substantial enough to make playing them worthwhile.

Lower than the yellow zone is the orange zone, which is reserved for players with an "M" of 6-10. When a player's stack has dwindled to this level, they simply cannot limp anymore and need to be raising the pot when first to act, in order to win the blinds and antes.

Should a player find themselves with an "M" of 1-6, they are in the red zone. The only move here is to move all-in or to fold as any raise will commit them. Kelly Kim find himself in this zone and will be looking to double up early on, before the blinds and antes increase. Note how if he doubles up, he will still be desperate but will move into the yellow zone.

The lowest zone is known as the dead zone and is reserved for any player with an "M" of one or lower. In this zone a player will get called with any two cards if they push all-in as their chip stack will be so small it will hardly be worth having! It is quite obvious players should always avoid dropping as low as the dead zone, instead moving all-in when in the yellow or red zones.

There is a good balance of "M" at the WSOP final table, ranging from 41.7 for the chip leader down to 4.2 for the smallest stack. I, like many, wish each of the players on November 9 the very best of luck.