What is Min Cash Syndrome?
MTTs payout to a predetermined amount of the highest placed
finishers, but the vast majority of the prizepool is weighted towards the top 3
players. If you finish just inside the cash you will often receive only 2 to 4
times your initial buyin and this is commonly called a min cash. If you find
yourself min cashing frequently but rarely finishing in the top 3 then you are
likely to be suffering from Min Cash Syndrome (MCS). While there is nothing
wrong with MCS, it is generally accepted that MTTs are more profitable if you
aim to win them rather than min cash since the prize for winning once is a lot
more than for min cashing a few times.
What are the Common Causes?
Some of the common causes of MCS are:
1.
Poor Bank
Roll Management – if you are playing in an MTT that is above your bankroll
then any min cash will often be a large percentage of your bankroll so your
natural instinct will be to make it into the money first
2.
Poor
confidence – you may be on a downswing and have not cashed at all lately so
aim to just make the money to try and boost your confidence
3.
Tight
game – you game is naturally a tight one this will often mean you are
shorter than average by the time the bubble bursts so you are less likely to
make the top 3
4.
Poker is
just a hobby - any profit from your hobby makes you happy so your primary
goal is to cash
5.
Qualified
via a lotto – If you qualified to a $20 + $2 MTT via a lotto for $2.31 you
may think a min cash (~$40) is a good return on your $2.31. Note this is really
a myth as over the long term the ticket costs you more since you pay an
additional 5% rake so a $2.31 lotto giving 1 in 10 tickets to a $22 MTT will
cost you $23.10 in long run…)
Do you see any of the above in your game and do you want to
try and overcome MCS? If so then read on....
How to Combat MCS?
1.
Employ better Bank Roll Management, there are
plenty of good articles on this subject if you are not sure about proper BRM rules
2.
Shake off the confidence issues, start afresh
with a new approach/philosophy and try not to let short term results affect
your game
3.
Abuse the bubble - Play in MTTs with smaller
fields to practise bubble play (usually there will be longer bubble periods in
smaller fields) don’t open limp because you are trying to preserve your stack,
if you want to play a hand and there is no action before you then raise it up,
this will help you obtain more chips in the long run than limping and hoping to
hit. Take notes on who ladders and look to punish them now and in future MTTs
4.
Try not to let your stack get too small (anything
less than 10-15bb is trouble although this depends on the structure etc.) you
don’t want to lose your fold equity (people are more likely to call if you
shove 5bb than 12bb so you rely on luck more with a smaller stack)
5.
Drop stakes to practise, you won’t be as worried
about min cashing in a MTT that is below your usual buyin, although you should
be aware that steal attempts are less likely to work in lower level MTTs
6.
Be prepared for longer cashless streaks, if you
are trying to obtain a big stack you will inevitably bubble more, but this is
made up for the rewards you get when you get a big stack and get a deep finish
7.
Don’t let looking at the payout structure
tighten your game, you should only be looking at it to work out when the bubble
is so you can use that to take advantage of others who are trying to min cash
8.
Be aware of other players who may be taking
advantage and re-steal from them. Once people see you won’t be pushed around
they are less likely to steal your blinds
Here is a hand from near the
bubble of a recent $20 MTT which gives a brief illustration of accumulating
chips without a hand on the bubble:
Blinds
are now 1,000 / 2,000
Button
is at seat 8
Seat
1: Seat 1 - 26,342
Seat
2: Seat 2 - 38,436
Seat
3: Seat 3 - 78,297
Seat
5: Seat 5 - 22,325
Seat
6: Seat 6 - 100,495
Seat
8: ForFoxSake - 85,288
Shuffling
Deck
Moving
Button to seat 1
Everyone
posts ante of 200
Pot
sizes: 1,200
Seat
2 posts small blind (1,000)
Seat
3 posts big blind (2,000)
Dealing
Cards
Dealing
9d, Kc to ForFoxSake
Seat
5 and 6 fold
It’s folded to me on the cut-off, I have
over 40bb which is above average and my K9o is certainly worth a raise here, I
make it just less than 2.2x as this has been my recent standard open raise size
ForFoxSake
raises to 4,355
Seat
1 folds
Seat
2 has requested more time
Seat
2 calls 4,355
Seat
3 calls 4,355
Pot
sizes: 14,265
Dealing
Flop Ac, Qs, 6d
Seat
2 and 3 check
Both blinds call and check the flop to me, the flop is fairly dry other than gutshot straight draws so I decide to c-bet slightly less than half the pot
ForFoxSake
bets 6,577
Seat
2 folds
Seat
3 raises to 16,000
ForFoxSake
raises to 28,000
Seat
3 folds
ForFoxSake
doesn't show
ForFoxSake
wins 46,265
I win a nice pot with some good thought and reasoning, but sometimes these spots will go wrong and you will lose chips but as long as you are making good reads and decisions in the long run you should find yourself accumulating more chips which should help you make deeper runs. There are times when it is difficult to employ this strategy, for example if the table is really aggressive or if players are calling every street then it is often better to wait for good hands and bet for value as bluffing is going to cost you chips far too often.
If you decide to try any of these things out, good luck and be sure to let me know how you get on.