Min Cash Syndrome

In an earlier entry I mentioned that I had often suffered from Min Cash Syndrome, with that in mind I have decided to write a short piece on what it is, what causes it and ways to try and overcome it, while this won’t transform your game it might help give you a few ideas to think about.

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

I get check raised, but I don’t believe my opponent has a strong hand here, it’s likely a weak ace or a QJ type hand, I would expect strong Ax hands to 3 bet preflop, I would also expect a set to just call on the dry flop and check raise the turn, so the majority of the time this is a medium strength hand trying to define where they are. Since we are on the bubble and because of our stack sizes I can re-raise to an amount that puts a lot of pressure on my opponent but still allows me to fold if he shoves and I will still have a playable stack of 25bb.

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.