Harrington's zone system

[vox1er]

I’am reading Harrington’s original tournament books and currently I’m on volume 2, the “zone system” specifically. Having a hard time with the “orange” and “red” zones for some reason, couple questions specifically:

- When you’re in the “orange zone” (6m-10m) and no one has entered the pot pre-flop, should it always be an open raise ALL-IN- or can you still make a normal open raise?

- In the “orange” and “red” zones, exactly how should you play small pairs and suited connectors....if at all? Just in late position, any position, not much at all?

 

[Ryan Laplante]

M is a good way to think about stack depth. However how he viewed it in terms of playability isnt really.

You can raise off as short as stack as 10bb (M of 4)...

 

[NWPatriot]

M is a good way to think about stack depth. However how he viewed it in terms of playability isnt really.

You can raise off as short as stack as 10bb (M of 4)...

I am a fan of Harringtons books and I agree that M is a very good tool. You can easily assess how many additional hands you can see before being blinded off. I also agree with Ryan's assessment of the zones. Less than 10M is certainly a problem, but I am not sure i agree that it is an all-in or fold situation just yet. There are many more important variables to also consider before getting it all-in. The value of the big bet in the orange zone is that you still have enough chips to make others fold.

As for the red zone, drawing hands are pretty tough when your tournament life is dependant on them, but you are already at the mercy of the deck, rather than your poker skills. You are not making many folks fold at this point, because you are not a threat, so you really really need to win the hand. Big cards and big pairs have instant equity. Draws have no equity, until they hit.

For what its worth.

 

[Amanda A]

Yes, I agree When I'm down to around 5 M I'm desperately looking for a shove spot. M is a good measure when there are antes, going by blinds is trickier with antes, adjustments need to be made.

 

[tmfnsanders]

The way I play I kinda split the orange zone up. The lower end 6-7M I am normally looking for open-shoving spots with hands that I would normally want to get all-in with or situations where I am pretty certain my shoves will go through from later positions because of my opponents play, stack depths, etc with hands that have decent equity vs a standard calling range (55-AA, middle aces+, most double broadway hands, something like 78s+)....without a very strong hand I am looking to be FIRST in the pot or punish habitual limp/folders and I shove every time I willingly put chips in.

8-10 M and I change it up a little bit.. In this spot I am opening almost nothing, I am saving all the chips I possibly can for potential resteals. I focus on people who open a lot of pots, people who are still 3xbb+ing later on, or people who fold to shoves a bit more than normal. If no opportunities present themselves before I chip down to the above Mrange, then I just adjust and go into that mode.

In neither of these ranges am I looking to ever flatcall preflop (though I am working in a bit more blind defending so that might change). I want to be first to get all my chips in the middle and make the opponents make the hard decision to call off all or a good portion of their chips... unless obviously we have a pretty nutted hand.

 

[vwpokernut]

for us none zoners what is M