Part: Part Nine - Inflection Points: M, Q & the Zones

Computing your M

Pre-flop
Blinds 400 / 800 (100 ante)Pot 2,100 (2.6 BB)COK♦Q♠● 14,700 (18.4 BB)YOU14,700 chipsSB● 16,000 (20 BB)posts 400 (0.5 BB)BB● 16,000 (20 BB)posts 800 (1 BB)D

Blinds are 400/800 with a 100 ante and nine players. Your stack is 14,700. Folded to you on the cutoff.

What is your M, and which zone are you in?

WhyOne orbit costs SB 400 + BB 800 + nine antes of 100 (900) = 2,100. M = 14,700 ÷ 2,100 = 7.0 - the Orange zone. You can survive about seven more orbits folding everything.
What happensM = 7, the Orange zone.
M is your stack divided by the cost of one orbit (blinds plus all antes). Here that's 14,700 ÷ 2,100 = 7 - Orange. The antes matter: they nearly double the per-orbit cost and pull your M down.

M = stack ÷ (small blind + big blind + all antes per orbit); it tells you how many rounds you can fold and survive.