Playing Short Stack
Hey, everybody, I thought I'd regularly post my thoughts on certain situations that arise playing poker. Start a discussion and just overall get people thinking about their play and improve everybody's.
First topic I thought to talk about is playing on the short stack. Short-stacked is most often described as having only 10 times the amount of the Big Blind. At this amount your choices are very limited with what you do before the flop. I have seen some limp in, others make a standard raise, and then some raise to an amount that is over 1/2 your stack. The one option I would advise never do is make a raise preflop that commits more than 1/3 of your chips to the pot. If you are reraised, you almost assuredly have to call. Limping in can be a viable option with a decent hand, in decent position. But this should only be used against few opponents going to the flop, because of the possibility of someone hitting a good flop and you getting 2nd best.
The best option, I believe, anytime you are around 7-5 times the BB is to go all-in. The earlier in position you make this move, the more respect for a good hand you typically will receive, however, you also should have a better hand because of the possibility of a big hand waiting in the many hands behind you. The closer you get to the button, if no one has called the BB, or no one has raised, you can push all-in with nearly any hand that you think would have 2 live cards to see the flop. Any Ace in your hand is a good option, but so is any K sometimes. Going all-in with A3, sometimes is less advisable than K8 or some such, or even 67. The reason being, you are most likely going to be called by someone with an A in there hand, and if you have only a 3 as a kicker, you are down to that card alone. And 89s or the like is almost just as good as seeing a KQ in this situation. The reason being, if someone's going to be calling you, they probably are going to have a decent hand, probably an A, or a pair. Obviously the better hand you have the better, but you shouls avoid waiting past the next set of blinds and being only 3-4x the BB. With this small of a stack you can't even put enough pressure on the BB to fold usually.
One sidebar to this type of play. Late in a tournament, near or in the money, I would find it wholly acceptable to try to move up a spot or 2 to get more money instead of making a stand to try to build chips. The sacrifice is usually the fact that you are giving up the chance to win the tournament unless you go on an incredible run of cards and double up 2 or 3 times in short succession.
Anyways, more thoughts on this subject, I'm sure.
Corey
First topic I thought to talk about is playing on the short stack. Short-stacked is most often described as having only 10 times the amount of the Big Blind. At this amount your choices are very limited with what you do before the flop. I have seen some limp in, others make a standard raise, and then some raise to an amount that is over 1/2 your stack. The one option I would advise never do is make a raise preflop that commits more than 1/3 of your chips to the pot. If you are reraised, you almost assuredly have to call. Limping in can be a viable option with a decent hand, in decent position. But this should only be used against few opponents going to the flop, because of the possibility of someone hitting a good flop and you getting 2nd best.
The best option, I believe, anytime you are around 7-5 times the BB is to go all-in. The earlier in position you make this move, the more respect for a good hand you typically will receive, however, you also should have a better hand because of the possibility of a big hand waiting in the many hands behind you. The closer you get to the button, if no one has called the BB, or no one has raised, you can push all-in with nearly any hand that you think would have 2 live cards to see the flop. Any Ace in your hand is a good option, but so is any K sometimes. Going all-in with A3, sometimes is less advisable than K8 or some such, or even 67. The reason being, you are most likely going to be called by someone with an A in there hand, and if you have only a 3 as a kicker, you are down to that card alone. And 89s or the like is almost just as good as seeing a KQ in this situation. The reason being, if someone's going to be calling you, they probably are going to have a decent hand, probably an A, or a pair. Obviously the better hand you have the better, but you shouls avoid waiting past the next set of blinds and being only 3-4x the BB. With this small of a stack you can't even put enough pressure on the BB to fold usually.
One sidebar to this type of play. Late in a tournament, near or in the money, I would find it wholly acceptable to try to move up a spot or 2 to get more money instead of making a stand to try to build chips. The sacrifice is usually the fact that you are giving up the chance to win the tournament unless you go on an incredible run of cards and double up 2 or 3 times in short succession.
Anyways, more thoughts on this subject, I'm sure.
Corey
posted by Corey Eslinger at 1:13 PM
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