FEAR

What would you be IF you weren't afraid?
“In a balance of mutual terror, whoever acts first has the advantage!”
Showing posts with label Poker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poker. Show all posts

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Bicycle Casino Mega Satellite to the WSOP Circuit Event 8

My 1st Mega Satellite tournament ever @ The Bicycle Casino.
They paid 11 seats out of the field of  91, with the eleventh one getting about $1200. Not sure how that works if you don't want to spend the extra $400 to buy-in for the WSOP Circuit Event, means you would be out of pocket for about $630, after netting around $1000, from the Satellite event. Not too shabby if you could just cash out instead, giving you an ROI of about 3.35 times the buy-in.

POST GAME SUMMARY:
Not a Deep Stack Tournament. 
Your 160 M is quickly reduced to an M of 40 after the 1st hour with a utility of only 26.7 or about 2.5 orbits to get a couple of playable hands.
You need to double up by the 7th level or the blinds and ante will eat you up because you need to bet about  7.5 to 10 big blinds to win a hand.
This tournament leans heavily toward the LUCK side, as evidenced by the tighter play, and as shown by my final hand. Luck beat me early on, when I figured to win and had the best hand, but didn't show up on my final hand.


Skill Factor: 35.13
Luck Factor: 64.87
You need to double up around Level 7 to keep your Competitive  Stack (CS) above 60 Big Blinds. You can get more aggressive if your Optimal Competitive Stack (OCS) can stay above 60 Big Blinds starting at Level 5, when the Ante kicks in.
The table was running at about 30 hands per  hour or 10 hands per blind change.
Table Type: more tight aggressive than loose or even loose aggressive
Player Types: mostly tight aggressive
I made it to Level 8, a little over 2 hours into the tournament.

Most memorable hand:
Had won a couple of small pots, most raises were in the 3 BB range, both preflop and postflop, still had about 10k in chips when LUCK reared it's ugly head.
At level 4, I had ATs @ DB, everyone folded to me, I raised to 3BB, SB folded, BB called
flop  67T, (2 diamonds) BB checked, I raised to 3BB and was called ,
turn was an A, giving me 2 pair to a possible flush draw, BB raised to 3BB, I went all-in and BB called (I had him covered)
River was a diamond, giving him the nut flush w/A9 of diamonds.

My final hand, @ level 8, in Kill Phil mode with A3 in the BB, everyone folded to me, went all-in with 1325, called by SB who had JQ, flop was xxJ and his pair won when nothing helped me on the turn or the river.
Still not that bad if I would have made it to the bigger event which looks to get about 800 players and $250,000 or more to 1st place.

It should have a Skill Factor of about 177 and a Luck Factor of only about 27, ROI of about 1,087 time your buy-in of $230, which is the only reason to play this satellite. Of course and ROI of about 150 times the $1675 isn't too shabby either.

I NEVER BLUFF


Friday, July 3, 2015

Phill's Little Green Book Notes

Updated 2/11/2017

I have all of Phil Gordon's books, including Poker: The Real Deal, one of my first poker books. His "little books", Green, Black, Gold and Blue, show his, as well as the game's evolution. They all have some good math basics, as well has his own "tricks", like how to play Ax. His best tip is the Gordon Pair Principle, about the odds someone is holding a better pair preflop.
Here are a few of the tips from the Little Green Book.

Psychology: Timing of Bets
Try to always take about the same amount of time to consider options and take action on a hand.  Not too fast, not too slow.
(use a clock or watch to vary your time; like when the second hand is between 10 and 12, act         
faster or way slower, like you are thinking about your outs or  may or may not have the nuts.)

Beating Tight and Passive Players
Tight/Passive players play so few hands that, while they may hit the flop, Phil says 35% with AK,
I think it's more likely they will only play a hand maybe once out of 9 hands, which means about 35 hands have to be played before they hit it. You should be able to pick up several small pots against them.
 OK, what's tight and what's passive.
Tight players only play the top 10 hands and even then bet weakly on the bottom half of that spectrum. 
Passive players will play a few more hands, but quickly fold to any action if they didn't hit their hand. 
Raises, Re-raises, and continuation bets will usually get either of them to fold.

Beating Loose Players
Play tight, wait for great flops that hit your hand, give them hope and lots of rope.

Implied Tilt Odds
You want to play against players that are easily emotional about either their bad beats or your bad beats and any hand they suck out on. Playing into their emotional outbursts and bad plays, even with a marginal hand, will eliminate them.

Tells: When they look at my chips.
Usually means they have a good hand and they think I'm weak. If you catch a monster hand, you can over-bet the pot or check-raise.

When they reach for chips
Kind of depends on who's looking. If they reach for chips after looking at my chips, but I bet first, make the raise. If they are not looking at my chips or anyone else's chips, they have something, but it's my turn to bet, I'll bet my hand strength depending on how many chips they appear to be grabbing and look for a pause in their grab, which means they aren't as strong as they wanted to project.

The Quick Call
Players that quickly play the flop, usually a minimum bet, frequently have a drawing hand. If they had a good hand, the top pair or better, they would be considering what to raise. If they missed the flop, they are thinking about folding or bluffing, which takes a little more thought.

The Slow Call
It's usually a raise with a strong hand or a fold with a weak hand. Calling, after a long pause, could be a ploy to suck you into a monster hand or a draw to the nuts.

Texture: After the Flop
What cards are in play, how will they interact with other players hands or hand ranges and what bet is likely to come based on the board texture. Most bets are likely to be 25% to 100% of the pot. Any less is usually a missed fishing expedition; any more is either a poor bet by a weak player with the nuts or a bluff at a nut draw or 2nd top pair. The more players still in the hand, the more likely someone has at least top pair.
   
Living up the "Weak means Strong and Strong means Weak" philosophy, Phil leans toward making weaker continuation bets with strong hands in order to entice a player to call. With weak starting hands that have good outs but miss the flop or maybe hit 3rd top pair, betting half the pot usually get slightly better hands to fold, top pair will usually re-raise though, so it's an easy fold. With medium strength hands, betting half the pot to 2/3 of the pot gets some players with slightly better hands to fold and players with Nut potential, but worse hands, to call.

After the Turn and a scare card hits
Phil likes to just check if he had the lead but it didn't help him and call a small or continuation bet, he's not liking a check-raise here.
If it didn't hit you, It may have hit them, how many players still in the hand should determine how scary the card is. If it's only you and one other player, make a continuation bet, it's still a game of fish, so you have to ask if it hit them, if you just check, they would most likely make a continuation or value bet which would cause you to likely fold. If there is more than one other player in the hand, it either hit them or helped them, if it didn't help you, you have to check, or if you do have a good hand or the nuts, check raise.

It's all about the odds to improve.
Based pretty much on your outs.
9 to 10 outs, like a high flush draw, maybe a nut flush draw, is about a 35-45% chance of hitting your draw, you should bet about half the pot, if you're the first to act.
4 to 6 outs, like and inside draw to 2 over cards, is about a 15-20% chance. Phil likes to bet about 2/3 the pot, but I think you need at least one Broadway card to even consider that bet and you need  to only have one other player in the hand.
Less than 4 outs is a real gamble. The newer professional and amature poker players are much more aggressive now and love to gamble. Phil likes a pot size bet here, to take the pot down, but I think position is the relevant factor here and knowing what type of player you are up against and it can only be one, two or more players are likely to have you beat regardless of position.

Tournament Strategies: Stealing the Blinds
Stealing the blinds is a critical element in tournaments. At a full table, you need an above average stack size to steal one every 13 hands or so, and position will likely make a more optimal timing of once every 16 or more hands a better option. In a six handed or less table, you should only be trying to steal from the last three seats anyway.
A blatant thief is easily caught.
It's hard to steal the blinds from "Next to BET" instead of "First to Bet", when first to bet actually raised. You have to not only be in position, but have a playable hand to commit grand larceny. You also have to have that gut feeling that they are actually trying to steal the blinds, which means they have to be no more that two seats on your right. More than two seats away is not likely a steal, but some type of good to great hand. If you're the button, then there are two seats on your right that are stealing seats, the Hi-Jack seat and the Grand Larceny seat.  
BB-SB-BTN-CO-HJ-GL-M4-E3-E2-UG

The Green, Black, Gold and Blue books from Phil Gordon.


I NEVER BLUFF


Tuesday, June 16, 2015

LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT. Where is the action coming from in Poker?




Probability of action, is to your left!

"Where there is motion, there is information."







If everyone has folded before you, the probability of action from the left is 100% 
and only you can reduce it to something more manageable.
If you Fold, Check or Call, it will not change the probability of action on your left. 

There are only 4 positions on your left that are meaningful.
The Hi Jack, Cutoff, Button and Small Blind.
Tommy Angelo rates the Cutoff Seat of more importance than the Hi Jack seat. To me they are equal; I've stolen more blinds from the Hi Jack seat than from the Cutoff seat, but only slightly more.

From the Hi Jack seat, the two seats to the left are the most powerful seats.
I like to classify these 3 seats (Button, Cutoff, and Hijack) as the “IN Position” seats, because one of these seats will usually be the last to act. Most players don't give this collective seat the respect it deserves, but this is the seat that gets the most notice when it raises and can create the most fear of having a high valued hand. All other seats are “OUT of position” seats, until you get to the final 5 in a tournament, where it becomes the worst seat, the “Under-the-Gun” seat.

From the Cutoff seat, be aware that the Button will frequently raise with anything, if no one has bet before him. If it looks like the Button will fold, you will inherit the power position.  This is frequently where the blinds are stolen.

From the Button, you're immediate concern is the action from the Small Blind, but you may notice an action from the Big Blind that the Small Blind didn't.

From the Small Blind, if you look left, it's only the Big Blind that has the ability to act last, but only if he checks. You are looking to see if he appears like he is going to raise. You already know what's happened on the right. How did it influence the Big Blind on your left?

Sometimes looking to the left doesn't matter because there's no real story developing, but when there is, it’s a neon headlight.
You want the tight player to be on the left anyway so keep an eye on them.


PS: There is one seat that will usually dictate action with a raise. Many players call in the LO Jack seat, the seat to the right of the Hi Jack seat. When this seat is the first to act and it's a raise, there is usually a WOW moment at the table. I've actually stolen more blinds from this seat than any other seat, that's why I refer to as the Grand Larceny seat.
It's a seat where you can easily get sandwiched between one of the blinds and the other 4 "IN Position" seats, so if you are re-raised you should probably fold.



LIMIT ~VS~ POT LIMIT ~VS~ NO LIMIT IN POKER
Here’s the deal. Raising has little significance in a Limit poker game, compared to No Limit and Pot Limit. Most players will play any two cards above a seven that is connected and/or suited.
       It just signifies a good to powerful hand, because it’s only a one big blind bet.

In Limit, it’s the 2nd, 3rd, and CAP bets that indicate a great to dominating hand.
You may have to actually look farther to the left, one or two seats, to see if anyone is indicating they may raise the bet.

In a No Limit game, the first raise could be anywhere from 2 big blinds, the pot, or All In. You can't get there, All In, in a Limit game or a Pot Limit game, on a single raise.


I DON'T BLUFF

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

14 WSOP BRACELETS AND COUNTING

Updated 2/11/2017
14 World Series of Poker Bracelets
Phil Hellmuth, the "Poker Brat". Love him or hate him, I hear he's reasonably sane away from the Poker table, but you can't deny his success at the green felt arena.
14 WSOP Bracelets, to go with his 108 WSOP cashes, a record, 7 of those at the main event, and 52 WSOP final tables, also also a record! What is really amazing is that 22 of his final tables have not been at Texas Hold'em events, like Seven Card Razz, 2-7 Lowball, Seven Card Stud, Stud Hi-Lo, Omaha Hi-Lo, Pot Limit, Limit, No Limit Omaha Hold'em and event that great game of HORSE, a mixed poker, as well as the Poker Players Championship eight game mixed event. He also finished 4th in the 2012 "Big One for One Drop" $1 Million buy-in event, for a big $2,645,333 payday, which only had 48 players, of which 9 players finished in the money. He's even got his own logo.

Up until the advent of micro cams to view a players cards while playing poker, the field of participants never got over 8,773 for a single event at the World Series of Poker. Back in those days they had only a few games that were played and only a few WSOP events. The first few years of the WSOP main event had less than 20 players. It added a few games and tables and you only had to outlast less than 100 players in the big game, which after 20 years grew to around 200 players.

This year there were 68 events, some of the poker games have come and gone, but the audience has grown every year, even after Poker's Black Friday, which actually helped increase the live game venue. The new kid on the block this year, the "Colusus", with low buy-in of $568, had 22,000 players, exceeding the projected max expected to be 20,000. The winner got $638,000 for a $568 buy in, a cool 1.123:1 profit. I expect it will be even bigger next year, and more of the WSOP satellites will include a low entry event.

Most casinos that even offer poker now, only spread a few games for the cash table players and the tournaments are mainly designed to get you to bust out early and get you back to the cash table games, same with the card rooms at places that are not full fledged casinos. The WSOP events are structured a little better now and with the 22,347 players for one event, not to mention the other 67 events, the Disneyland of the desert should be making lots of money. The entourage for each player may be an additional 2 or more people, who may spend a few hundred to a few thousand dollars each, because they have to stay around for up to 5 days for the one event. That's a lot of income for Sin City.

One of my favorite poker games is RAZZ, a great poker game, and the one Phil Hellmuth has been specializing in lately, which helped him win that bracelet this year and $271,105 for 1st place. It may only have had 102 players, but at $10k per seat I'll take a 27:1 profit any time I can. It's lots eaiser than trying to beat 22,374 No Limit Texas Hold'em players.

Now he's up to $12 million in WSOP winnings and $18.5 million in live tournaments. He's won 2 main event WSOP bracelets in No Limit Texas Hold'em, 3 bracelets in Limit Texas Hold'em, 6 bracelets in other WSOP No Limit Texas Hole'em events, 1 Pot Limit Texas Hold'em bracelet and 2 in Seven Card Razz.

Now how about that Paper Microscope!

I NEVER BLUFF

Monday, June 1, 2015

One Flop, Ten Hands

Updated 2/11/2017

One Flop, Ten Hands
Ed Miller Explores Ten Situations On One Flop
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/16138-poker-strategy-with-ed-miller-one-flop-ten-hands
What happened pre-flop?
You have a $1,000 stack, and most of your opponents have you covered. Everyone folds to the player two off the button who opens for $30, [a $20 raise, 2x BB, with $5/$10 blinds.] You call on the button. The blinds fold. It’s two players to the flop, and the pot is $75. 
[Seat 8 could have anything depending on the type of player. Tight players would most likely raise 3xBB with AA-TT, any raise Minimum to 2xBB is more likely AK to AJ, possibly KQ or QJ, Loose players would probably raise 3xBB with anything if everyone folded to him. Selective Aggressive and Solid players are more likely to raise 2BB with any good suited connectors or trying to trap with over pairs, below AA. The flop is the real decision maker for most players.]
10♣  6  3 (no flushes or straights made, best non-paired hand is a straight on the turn or flush on the river)
Top set, I would just call. Slow playing top set is natural, since the holding cripples the deck for our opponent. On this board, I will be raising nearly all my value hands, so it’s nice to still be able to threaten the nuts when I just call the flop. Some players would look at the possible draws and think it’s too dangerous to slow play. With most hands we aren't slow playing. Just this one.
Middle set is a raise. We’re raising a lot of hands, so we definitely should raise bottom and middle set. If we catch our opponent with an overpair or A-10, we could easily win stacks.
[Over pairs] 
Do not always reraise (over pairs like Q-Q) preflop in position, and one reason I don’t is that I like to have this hand in my range on flops like this one. This is a flop raise. If I’m going to apply pressure with bluffs, I need to have real hands sometimes also.
[Two over cards, Ace high] 
Call. We have two overcards, a backdoor-flush draw to the queen, and possible ace-high showdown value. It’s not a great hand, but recall that our strategy has us folding infrequently because of our structural advantages in the pot. I prefer calling with this hand over bluffing, as calling preserves the showdown value, and we’ll almost never end the hand with the nuts, so there’s no value to building a pot.
[Drawing hands] 
A wrong-suited gutshot to the nuts. This is a hand I’d raise. Again, we’re raising frequently to push our positional advantage and possibly to punish our opponent for continuation betting too many hands. Gutshots to the nuts make good bluff-raising hands in general, as they typically have no showdown value, and they also can justify building the pot since you will end up occasionally stacking an opponent when you hit the nuts. If you get reraised, you fold.
Top pair with a marginal kicker. This is a straightforward call. If this pot blows up, your hand is not good. It’s best suited to pick off bluffs and to protect your calling range (since you’re also calling with unpaired hands).
Middle pair with 2 card backdoor-flush and low end 2 card straight draws. This is a hand I might have reraised preflop. But if I didn’t, I’m likely raising it now. The potential to make three sixes or the backdoor draws add value to this hand in a big pot. Many turn cards add equity to this hand — any spade and any six through deuce. If our opponent calls the flop raise, we will frequently get to bet big on the turn with a decent chance of drawing out when called.
Bottom pair with the nut-flush 2 card draw. Many people raise this hand reflexively, but I prefer to call here. If you get this hand all-in on the flop, you’re likely up against a set or a big overpair — a range against which you are a slight dog.
[Gapped Low pairs, between middle pair and low pair, such as 55 or 44] 
This is the type of hand I fold. There’s a small amount of showdown value, but that’s it. The draw isn’t strong enough to risk a big pot. And it can’t handle a second bet. I also fold hands that need 2 cards to complete a straight or flush.
Backdoor 2 card flush and 2 card straight draws with an over card. I would likely call. The backdoor draws mean a lot of turn cards will justify aggression. I’m defending a hand this weak because I have the structural advantage (position), and in most cases I’m not going to let this pot go without a fight. ♠
About Flop Textures part 1 part 2 

I NEVER BLUFF











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Saturday, May 23, 2015

Limping & Sun-Tzu

Updated 2/11/2017
mrluckypoker Mr Lucky Poker

I was watching one of the poker shows on TV, I try to record most of them. One of the announcers asked the other, "I wonder what The Art of War (Sun-Tzu) has to say about limping?"
Being a advocate of The Art of War and Poker, I thought I'd take a look at it. There has already been a good book on the subject written by David Apostolico, Tournament Poker and the Art of War, and there is also a web site devoted to it. Sun Tzu's Art of Poker

From "The Art of War" by Sun-Tzu
In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack:
the direct -betting/raising- and the indirect -checking/limping-;
These two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.
The direct and the indirect lead on to each other in turn.
It is like moving in a circle — you never come to an end.
    (It's also an effective act of randomness to keep your opponent off balance.)

Masking strength with weakness is effected by tactical dispositions.
Thus one who is skillful at keeping the enemy on the move maintains deceitful appearances, according to which the enemy will act.
He sacrifices something, (so) the enemy may snatch at it.
  • Simulated disorder postulates perfect discipline,
  • Simulated fear postulates courage; 
  • Simulated weakness postulates strength. It's all part of the Lying Game of Poker!
If we wish to fight, the enemy can be forced to an engagement even though he (is) sheltered behind a high rampart and a deep ditch -a wall of chips-. All we need do is attack some other place that he will be obliged to relieve (defend).
If we do not wish to fight, we can prevent the enemy from engaging us even though the lines of our encampment be merely traced out on the ground. All we need do is to throw something odd and unaccountable in his way -Randomness.
  • The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided.
By holding out baits -limping/slow playing-, he keeps him on the march; then with a body of picked men he lies in wait for him.
By holding out advantages -showing weakness- to him, he can cause the enemy to approach of his own accord; or, by inflicting damage, he can make it impossible for the enemy to draw near.

Whoever is first -to act-with -active or passive Aggression- in the field and awaits the coming of the enemy, will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second in the field and has to hasten to battle - will arrive exhausted.
Patience is a virtue in poker, more so in cash games than tournament, however, 
“In a balance of mutual terror, whoever ACTS FIRST has the ADVANTAGE!"
  • Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.
Numerical weakness - lack of chips - comes from having to prepare against possible attacks. Numerical strength -many chips-, (by) compelling our adversary to make these preparations against us.
  • Though the enemy be stronger in numbers, we may prevent him from fighting. 
  • Scheme so as to discover his plans and the likelihood of their success.
If we are able thus to attack an inferior force with a superior one, our opponents will be in dire straits.
  • When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men’s weapons will grow dull and their ardor will be damped.
Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances -Randomness and Deciet- .

"Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows"; the soldier works out his victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing.
Therefore, just as water retains no constant shape, so in warfare there are no constant conditions. He who can modify his tactics -Randomness- in relation to his opponent and thereby succeed in winning, may be called a heaven-born captain.
  • So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.
So, Limping is a weakness than can mask strength.

I NEVER BLUFF


Hollywood Park Poker & Ponies 10k guaranteed

Updated 2/11/2017
mrluckypoker Mr Lucky Poker

OK, now the Racetrack is gone, but the casino is still there and going thru some type of transformation. Haven't been there since the racetrack closed, so I'll have to update this if and when I go back.

The tournaments there were mostly based on LUCK, not really too much skill involved. In other words, this tournament was not “Kessler Approved.” Then again, none of the tournament anywhere were. Allen "Chainsaw" Kessler is a Team Pro for Ivey Poker. He is considered one of the most consistent live poker players with dozens of cashes and numerous final table finishes.

Kessler has become a voice for players, demanding more chips, more play, extra levels, and more. Providing further evidence that his opinions on tournament structures are valued, the fledgling Mid-States Poker Tour went as far as to Kessler out for input and now advertises that its structures are “Chainsaw Approved.”


They had a poker tournament there called Hollywood Park Poker & Ponies 10k guaranteed

This was a crap shoot.
But I actually won a couple of them and finished in the money a few times.

Patience vs Speed and Utility
Low Patience Factor makes it a fast tournament and Low Utility limits your skill.
In an aggressive game, the teaser 1st level may give you one or two hands to try to make a good play. After the 1st level you are down to 30 or less Big Blinds if you haven't doubled up. Starting the 3rd level you are down to one or two playable hands! The Minefield started at Level 5.
Good Luck, because that's what you need to make it far in this crap shoot.
mrluckypoker Mr Lucky Poker
The poker room at Hollywood Park Casino has made some great changes since the racetrack was torn down. Looking for greater games and tournaments yet to come.

I NEVER BLUFF



Binion's $100 Daily Deep Stack PF & UF

Updated 2/11/2017
mrluckypoker Mr Lucky Poker

The end of a great era! The only reason to venture down to Old Las Vegas is to view the overhead show and get a souvenir from Binion's and the Golden Nugget Casino. It's lost the glory of the Rat Pack days. Most of the casinos there are looking like a shabby image of their former life. There's a haze outside as well as inside the casinos. It's where people go to smoke in the casino and use the penny slots. It's the poor stepchild of modern Las Vegas, the black sheep of the family.

Binion's deep stack tournament is still good to play, just to say you did. The tournament is good for the first hour or so, you can still use some skill to grow your stack. Depends on how many enter the tournament.
Patience vs Speed and Utility

mrluckypoker Mr Lucky Poker

I NEVER BLUFF


Patience vs Speed & Utility

Updated 2/11/2017
mrluckypoker Mr Lucky Poker

https://sites.google.com/site/ljmangold/home/poker-strategy/patience-vs-speed-and-utility
From Arnold Snyder's Tournament Formula Poker 2
A must read for any tournament player, it's all about Deep Stack Poker tournaments.

The blind structure in relation to the number of chips each player starts with is the primary consideration on deciding if you should even enter a tournament, yet alone on what your strategy should be. The lower the patience factor, the more aggressive you have to be. The lower the patience factor, the more luck prevails over skill


The Patience or Speed Factor (PF) is the first step in determining how, or even if, you should play any tournament.
First you need the tournament structure sheet that shows how many chips you start with, what the starting blinds are and how often they are raised.
Starting Chips = $1000       Full Table (9 players)
Level    Blinds+Anties    Total    Time til blinds raise    Cumulative    M (# Big Blinds)
   1          25/25              50            20 Minutes            50             (40) (1000/25)
   2          25/50              75            20 Minutes           125            
   3          50/100          150            20 Minutes           275 
                                     (end of 1st hour)
   4         100/200          300            20 Minutes           575  
   5         100/200+25     425            20 Minutes          1000  
The amount of time it takes to "Blind Off" all your chips, without ever actually making a bet, is the Patience Factor, also the beginning the Minefield. In the above example you will be out of chips after 1 hour and 40 minutes, or 1.67 hours. Square that and you have the (PFPatience Factor, in this case, 2.76 (Level 1). Which means you will most likely be all-in on the first hand you play, if you have to go to the river, as this would be a FAST Tournament. Anything less the Level 4, is a short stack tournament, no need to even look at the Utility Factor (UF).
(PF) Patience Factor Skill Level
1.49 or less0
1.50 to 2.991
3.00 to 4.492
4.50 to 5.993
6.00 to 7.494
7.50 to 9.995
10.00 and up

The Minefield portion of the tournament is where you will see many players, mostly short stacked, making a last ditch effort to remain in the tournament or chip leaders trying to pick-off the dead money. This is also where players try to get past the bubble. Lots of All-in betting.

 The Utility Factor (UF) is the 2nd step in determining how, or even if, you should play any tournament. Think again that your chips are ammunition, not just chips. The more chips you have, the better you can utilize them. The higher your utility factor, the more power and flexibility you have. Your utility is based on having at least an "M" of 60, In the above example, you are only 67% competitive. Divide your "M" by the basic competitive "M", to give you your competitive factor, in this case 40/60 = .67 "U" (utility). Multiply your Patience Factor times your "U" to get your Utility Factor, in this case it's, 1.79.

Clearly this is not a tournament worth playing, but it is typical for a "Shoot Out" Tournament where the winner of each table meets at the final table to play for the big prize, and starting chips may be doubled.

Your Utility Factor (UF) can range from 0 to over 200, which gives you ranks from 0 to 6.

A range from 0 to 40 and a rank of 0 to 2 is a short stacked tournament. A range from 41 to 100 gives you a ranking from 3 to 4 and good utility. A range from 101 to over 200 gives you a ranking from 5 to 6 and full utility.

UTILITY FACTOR
Quick Reference Chart (Adjusted to Patience Factor)
Utility FactorRankComments
          Short                         Stacked0-50Not a pro-level event, a crapshootat best.KP
6-201Low utility from the start, take early risks to double up, mostlyLong Ball, often a crapshoot by midpoint in tournament.RCB
21-402Low utility by second hour, some small ball may be possible in early levels, go for an early double-up. Very fast in-the-money portionZone
      Deep            Stacked41-603About two hours of competitive utility, more Small Ball is possible, fast by the money phase, good for aggressive semi-pros, still some ability to play at the final table.AoW
61-1004Good utility for small ball, more trouble for amateurs, early chip accumulation can keep utility until the end, becomes mostly Long Ball by the money portion.AoW/SB
101-2005Full utility possible all the way to the final table, pros will dominate, Small Ball skills will pay well.SB/SA
201+6Full utility from start to finish, pros rule, amateurs will be knocked out, high-end poker skills and top tournament skills required.M/C
If you are not using these to determine which tournament relies more on Skill or Luck, you might as well be playing Roulette.


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