Mzone Report: Using VPIP in
the Early Stages of a Poker Tournament
If you have been using my mzone spreadsheet for your mzone
calculations in online poker tournaments, you may have noticed
that the early stages are not exactly a time for closely
monitoring your mzone, but rather your opponent's VPIP.
The reason for this is simple - everyone, is green MZoned.
So due to the limited range of
mzones in early play, I find it is more pertinent to follow
your opponent's VPIP closer than the other factors. Herein
is where you will get a good indication of the kind of
player you are up against. Later on in the tournament
when the mzone is the most critical indicator, you can
weigh in the players profile as well because you have
been monitoring the VPIP. Keep in mind that VPIP is one
of main factors in determining your opponent's overall
profile but actually becomes less and less relevant as
the tournament progresses.
If your opponent's VPIP is less
than 25%, that should be considered relatively tight,
while including some position play with chemistry hands.
You can likely put this player down as a Sklansky type
drone that waits for quality cards and hopes to double
up early, or will wait until middle rounds to try and
chip up. This type of player usually understands the game
well, but has a low tolerance for risk, and relies on
cards.
On the other end of the scale,
if your opponent's VPIP is over 40%, you have a loose
player on your table. A lot of players go into a holdem
tournament with the strategy of building a stack early,
or getting out early. These players usually fall into
that mindset, while others are simply ring table calling
stations and cannot adjust to tournament
strategy. In this group as well you will have to account
for players who simply don't know what they are doing.
You need to have strong hands against players in this
group. While you will usually have the right inclination
of being ahead of one of these players, if you let your
stack ride knowing you are ahead, you will often find
yourself the victim of a bad beat, and it's off to the
rail.
Now when your opponent is between
these two indicators, less than 35% and more than 25%
it is a little harder to categorize them because in the
early going, a normally tight player could be in this
group by virtue of distribution of better hands, and possibly
more opportunities in position. You may have to look at
other indicators to help you here, like their mzone
for instance. I find though, that after a discernable
amount of hands, most players are not in this category,
so it just may take a little more time before you can
pinpoint someone here.
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