Poker Video: MTT/SNG by vandweller (Micro/Small Stakes)

this is personally the most useful video I've ever seen. thank you, very much appreciated.

this is personally the most useful video I've ever seen. thank you, very much appreciated.

This is personally the most appreciated comment I've ever read. :-)

Wanted to add to the sycophancy because i don't think i commented on this or the previous video. Both of them, paired with the classic AMT vids, make perhaps the best 10 sng vids around. Your first one especially made me re-think everything i thought knew about ICM calculations. I'm really looking forward to more in the new season. You're def. at home doing this lecture-style vids so hopefully you've got some slots for more of the same in the next 8 weeks.

Your first vid was responsible for at least two new DC subscribers from recommendations.

Wanted to add to the sycophancy because i don't think i commented on this or the previous video. Both of them, paired with the classic AMT vids, make perhaps the best 10 sng vids around. Your first one especially made me re-think everything i thought knew about ICM calculations. I'm really looking forward to more in the new season. You're def. at home doing this lecture-style vids so hopefully you've got some slots for more of the same in the next 8 weeks.

Your first vid was responsible for at least two new DC subscribers from recommendations.

Thanks for your kind comments.

Excellent video! I just subscribed and watched both your blackboard videos, and I'm very impressed. I've been using Wiz for some time and I agree that its too easy to speed through the hands after having finished the game, passively watching the advice from Wiz.
Doing your own spreadsheet calculations really forces you to think!
Thanks for putting out a completely different perspective on SNG's!
I hope you get to do more blackboard videos!

I have to agree w/ that guy that said this is the best sng video ever.
Deuces cracked does not even specialize in sngz and u guys are close to being the best sng site between u and AMT. Once u guys put some sweat sessions up then this will be the best sng site hands down. I appreciate the time u put into making the excel sheet. Keep up the good work.

Excellent video, easy to follow, this type of video is exactly the reason I signed up to deucescracked. By the way i'm pretty sure i'm even more anal when it comes to creating spreadsheets - colours, type, layout, etc.

hi there van, really good vid, i was playing with excel doing something similar but for cEv, which is way easier than icm. having watched this vid helps a lot to understand the math behind icm. thanks for that.

just as a quick tip, on pokerstove you can type in hand ranges and percentages in the main window, so you dont have to go all the way into the hand selection window to enter the percentage or select the hands.
for example: A2o+, A2s+ for any ace, or 10% for ten percent; for percentages you type the percentage and the move the focus away from the input (with tab or clicking somewhere else), and the range will be auto filled.

old news perhaps, but thought n mention it

thanks again.

Wow im totaly impressed right now! One of the best videos i have ever seen. This makes me re-think everything i believed to know about poker.

Even though I have yet to watch this video I think it was a great idea to make something along these lines. Several months ago I was trying to gain an understanding of the underlying mathematics of ICM and just reading about it tended to confuse me a bit so I decided to take the difficult route and do the math myself in an excel spreadsheet that's not unlike yours. I can tell you from first hand experience that actually learning the math behind the theory helped in a huge way as opposed to just simply reading about it and gaining rudimentary knowledge of it. Now I can look at my stack, the stacks of the opposing players (along with their playing styles), and say either A) "I need to move now because my equity is terrible and I have a good situation" or B) "I have time to hold on and wait for someone to make a huge mistake equity-wise".

first of all, one of the best sng vids i've seen! Great job!

I am using this calculator often, but i don't know if I use it right in situations where e.g. I (BB) raise the BB and he shoves. How do i calculate my equity in such spots.

Example:
Blinds 75/150

CO: 1500
BTN:2000
SB(Hero): 3000
BB: 2500

CO + BTN fold, Hero (ATs) raises to 400, BB shoves allin

I give him a range of 88+, AJs+, AQ+. How can i calculate whether i have to call or fold?

Do i have to calculate it as if I just have to call an allin and make it the way vandweller shows it in the vid (1. Tournament EQ now, 2. Tournament EQ if win, 3. Tournament EQ if lose, 4. NEEDED WIN%)? If so, isn't it the same calculation, if we are BB (3000Chips) and SB shoves (2500Chips) with the exact range (88+, AJs+, AQ+)?

sorry for my english, i hope you understand what i mean

In this case the "TEQ now" means the TEQ you would have if you folded. That means you take the 400 chips out of your stack and put them in your opponent's. So you would look at your equity in this situation:

CO: 1500
BTN: 2000
HERO: 2600
BB: 2900

We are trying to accomplish a comparison of the various outcomes possible in the hand, how often they happen, and what value they have when they do.

The possible outcomes are:

You call and win.
You call and lose.
You fold and are left with 2600 chips and their corresponding equity.

great. thx

Van, I spent like 4 hours building the spreadsheet yesterday for 10 players up to 3 places paid, and I think I'm finally starting to understand ICM, and how to use my computer!! I do have a question for the forum, though- Do I need to change settings for three-handed play?
In my post-game analysis, I have gotten some surprising results in a satellite structure that I've been playing (41/41/18 ---> two players=entry, 3rd gets a little more than the buyin back). It seems like there are three-handed situations in this structure using the spreadsheet where even though I have an M of like 5, (7.5BB) in my stack, and the other stacks are 2-3 times the size of mine, my equity is still so close to the other players that it advocates a fold unless I have like QQ+. Does this sound about right, or do I need to change some settings for three-handed play?

When you are doing your risk/reward calcs three-handed, keep in mind that your equity doesn't go from, say, 30% to 0% if you bust out. It goes down to 20%, since that's what you already have locked up by virtue of finishing ITM. Forgetting that little bit might account for any absurdly tight results you get. Otherwise, it should work fine 3-handed.