[Jeff76]

[ QUOTE ]
people point to harrington's zones like they're cast in stone. but they're based on long levels. citing harrington levels as to why you did something in your local casino early bird tournament is completely wrong (a trap i fall into myself too)....

[/ QUOTE ] I disagree. M is mostly important because it is a nice guideline as to what you have to risk vs. what you stand to gain (ratio of your stack to the blinds and antes). I believe the value of M is the same in fast tournaments and slow ones. If a push or fold is +EV in a slow tournament based on M, then it is also the same in a fast tourny.

Remember, however, that hand ranges also affect the EV of your decisions, and that your opponent's ranges might change based on the structure of the tournament as well. In my mind, this is a far more important thing to account for than the number of rounds I still have left before being blinded out.

Harrington isn't about tournaments with long levels- it's about tournaments in general and the only distinction he makes is near the beginning of book 1. Several of his examples come from online tournaments, which are almost all fast structured, yet in none of those problems does he take into account the speed of the tournament.

Personally, I believe that for the most part tournament speed doesn't matter. A move is either +EV or -EV, and the speed of the levels doesn't really affect this. The only place where I think tournaments speed makes a difference is my willingness to push small edges or take coinflips. In the case of a fast structure, my chances to double up without coin flipping is reduced because there are less hands available to me. Because of that, I am far more willing to take a 45%-55% chance to double up in a fast structured tournament when I believe I have a less than 45% chance to double up if I pass on the conflip. Usually this isn't even a -EV move because there is usually an overlay involved, but I'll admit that even at 20BBs I'd probably be willing to get it all in with AKo vs QQ if the structcure of the tournament is fast because I believe I probably have a less than 45% chance of doubling up if I pass.

At any rate, my point is this: I think in most cases tournament speed doesn't affect the $EV of most moves. The above scenario is an exception in MY mind, but I could be wrong. I think that make huge adjustments based on tournament speed is likely incorrect, though, and taking a bunch of -EV gambles in the name of "fast tournament play" is spew rather than good strategy.