Uses of Harrington's effective M

[badgers]

There's a little debate over in SnG forum about Harrington and it reminded me of this problem I have always had with HOH2.

When Harrington briefly refers to effective M (p277), he doesn't ever clarify exactly how it should be used. Is he advocating going into push/fold 3x deeper in 3 handed tables? Should I stop playing low PPs and suited connectors when I still have the implied odds because of how deep we are. It doesn't make any sense because the "zone" strategies should surely be governed by how deep we are, not on how long we will last...?

Obviously we need to make adjustments for short-handed play, but I don't think this is it. I've heard it about 6-max cash that you should play the range that you would play as if it was folded to you. Surely that is a better way to adjust, and then think about regular M to work out which range of hands to play?

If effective M isn't for the zone strategies, I don't know what it is for... Does it have any merit whatsoever, or was it just added as an afterthought? Far be it from me to criticize a well-respected book from a double world champ, but I really can't see any use for effective M whatsoever.

Please flame/enlighten me.

[zook]

I don't play many MTTs, but I've always felt the same way. There are adjustments that need to be made when you get short-handed, but going into push/fold mode pre-flop with 15bb+ stacks doesn't seem like it should automatically be one of them.

[dev]

It seems like an afterthought to me as well, the adjustments you must make short-handed at the end of a tournament can't be summed up in a single page.

That said, the strength of the HoH books is the examples and quizes, there's a few good ones in there about endgame situations.