Short Stack Play
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Contributed by: Aaron Hendrix Updated: 2008/05/11 15:46 Views: 191 Comments: 0 |
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If you play tournament poker, it is inevitable that you will find yourself short stacked. The easy thing
to do is to shove all your chips in and hope you get lucky, but there can be an art to playing the short stack and if done correctly you will find yourself making it deeper in tournaments and maybe even turning that short stack into a big stack.
What is a short stack?
Dan Harrington, in his excellent tournament books “Harrington on Hold'Em,” explained a concept that is known as the M ratio. This ratio is a measure of your chip stack in comparison to the cost to you as a player per orbit. For example, if you have 10,000 in chips and the blinds are 500/1,000 and the antes are 200 and you are at a 9 handed table, your M ratio is calculated as 10,000/(500+1,000+(200*9)) or 3.03.
According to Harrington, any M ratio under 6 made you a short stack and that your only move is all in. I think that number is a little high. If you have 17,000 in chips in the above example, your M would be approximately 5. I don't think 17 big blinds is at the stage where your only move is all in. What you do need to be aware of, however, is that time is not on your side and unless you increase or maintain your stack then your only move will indeed be all in. A better number to select as an indicator of when you should shift to all in or nothing mode is 4. With an M of 4, you will typically have over 12 big blinds. Anything under that amount makes you a short stack.
Don't wait
One of the important things to remember as a short stack is you can't afford to wait to make your move. It is important to get as much value for your short stack as you can. If you have 10,000 in chips and get no hands and fold for two orbits with 500/1,000 blinds and a 200 ante, you all of a sudden have 3,400 in chips. You finally get aces and double up to 7,000 but you're still a short stack and have a big hill to climb. However, if you picked up the blinds/antes just once or even doubled up, your aces might have won a much bigger pot.
It is important to understand this because it means when you are short stacked that you should be open shoving with a much wider range of hands then if you were a medium or large stack. In early position, you'll want to be more selective. Pairs and big cards are pushable hands here. A big mistake many players make is to go with any ace that they get. In later position this might be fine, but it is a mistake in early and middle position. Think about it for a second. What hands are likely going to call you if you move all in? Aces and pairs. You're better off shoving with a hand like 8-7 than A-5 because if you are called it is less likely you will be dominated. A-5 is a 2.3:1 dog to A-J while 8-7 offsuit is a 1.7:1 dog to A-J.
Hand selection and position
Playing a short stack when you are first to act and have a hand you want to play is pretty easy – you move all in. But what hands should you decide to move all in with and from what position? The following is a general guideline of the hands you should play, and from what position, when you are short stacked (M<4). As with most things in poker, there are always extenuating circumstances that should be considered.
Early Position – All pairs, any big ace (A-10 or higher), any two paint cards.
Middle Position – All early position hands, all connectors 5-4 and higher, any big card that is not an ace (for example, K-7 suited or Q-9).
Late position – depending on who is in the blinds, any two. If a player left to act has a high calling tendency, then revert to the middle position hands. If not, push with any two.
What if you aren't first to act?
Being a short stack means you will usually have no folding equity. You won't have enough chips to get your opponent(s) to fold. It is almost always better to be first in than it is to call a raise or move all in with a marginal hand when the pot has been opened. That doesn't mean you fold all but the best of hands though. If you have A-J and a loose player has open raised from middle position, it would be correct to move all in. Much of what you do will depend on the player that has entered the pot and what their tendencies are. The looser they are, the more hands you can push with. If they are tighter, you need to narrow the range of hands you will play.
Flat calling a raise when your M is under 4 is a huge mistake. You don't have the chips to be able to play cautiously. Let's say you have A-10 and a fairly loose player in early position has raised. You're pretty sure that you are ahead but you want to see the flop and see what he does. The flop comes 8-4-2 and your loose opponent bets enough to set you all in. You fold, having tossed 4,000 of your 12,000 stack down the drain, and have put yourself in an even worse situation. Your opponent's hand? It was A-7. By just calling you not only lost chips, you lost an opportunity to gain chips.
Options other than pushing
Some players will advocate limping in or making a standard raise rather than open pushing. There is an inherent problem with doing this though. If you limp or make a standard raise, you give your opponents opportunities to let you make a mistake. By moving all in, you eliminate that, and you can even induce your opponents to make a mistake. Being a short stack is already tough enough, don't make it any worse by putting yourself in situations where you have to make difficult decisions.
Let's say that you have pocket 6's and there is a loose big stack in the big blind. You don't want to risk going out on a coin flip so you decide to limp in. The big blind raises to 3 times the big blind and you call for 30% of your stack figuring if you flop a set you'll double up. The flop comes all big cards and the big stack bets out with his 7-6 suited and wins the pot when you fold. You gave him the chance to force you into making a mistake by not moving all in. Another mistake you will often see a player make is raising to 3x the big blind when they have 10-12 big blinds and then folding to a re-raise. If your hand isn't good enough to call for all your chips, you shouldn't be playing it in the first place with your stack size. This doesn't mean you don't steal, you have to in order to be able to survive – you just need to make sure you do it properly by moving all in and putting the decision on your opponent rather than on yourself.
Getting value for big hands
What about those times where you get aces, kings, or even queens. Surely we don't want to push all in then right? Wrong, and let me explain why. If you've been utilizing effective short stack strategy, you've probably pushed all in multiple times without getting called or if you were called and managed to get lucky, your table mates saw that your hand wasn't that strong. By doing something other than pushing all in, you are giving your opponent information. You aren't getting any value, if anything you are giving them value by telling them what your hand is. They can see a cheap flop knowing that if they hit they will stack you and if they miss it only cost them a small bet. Think of how often you see people call a short stack all in with marginal hands like K-10, pocket 4's, or A-8. If you've been moving all in as a short stack, the most effective way to get value for big hands is to do just that. Move all in.
Making adjustments
One last word on short stack play. Understanding your opponent's behaviors can make a huge difference in how effective your short stack play is. When is the best time to move all in first to act with a short stack with a marginal hand? When the likelihood that your remaining opponents will fold (this most often takes place with players whose stacks are also short or on the verge of being short) is high. Before you make this move, evaluate this likelihood – if it's probable, then the push is a good play. Sometimes you will run into someone having a hand, but those are the chances you have to take.
On the same token, you will often find yourself at a table where you never have the opportunity to be first to act. This can be frustrating and if you're not careful your chips will evaporate. In these situations, you need to look for the player most likely to have a hand worse than the one you are holding and to pick your spot carefully and get your chips in against them. Waiting for a hand won't cut it. A hand like Q-10 in these situations might very well be the one to go with it.
Adjust to your table. If the table is playing extremely tight and letting you get away with your short stack moves, increase their frequency. If it's the other way around, find the right opportunity to get your chips in. Table awareness and knowing what is going on is crucial to short stack play. Pay attention and turn that short stack into a big one. We all know it's more fun to play with lots of chips anyway.
to do is to shove all your chips in and hope you get lucky, but there can be an art to playing the short stack and if done correctly you will find yourself making it deeper in tournaments and maybe even turning that short stack into a big stack.What is a short stack?
Dan Harrington, in his excellent tournament books “Harrington on Hold'Em,” explained a concept that is known as the M ratio. This ratio is a measure of your chip stack in comparison to the cost to you as a player per orbit. For example, if you have 10,000 in chips and the blinds are 500/1,000 and the antes are 200 and you are at a 9 handed table, your M ratio is calculated as 10,000/(500+1,000+(200*9)) or 3.03.
According to Harrington, any M ratio under 6 made you a short stack and that your only move is all in. I think that number is a little high. If you have 17,000 in chips in the above example, your M would be approximately 5. I don't think 17 big blinds is at the stage where your only move is all in. What you do need to be aware of, however, is that time is not on your side and unless you increase or maintain your stack then your only move will indeed be all in. A better number to select as an indicator of when you should shift to all in or nothing mode is 4. With an M of 4, you will typically have over 12 big blinds. Anything under that amount makes you a short stack.
Don't wait
One of the important things to remember as a short stack is you can't afford to wait to make your move. It is important to get as much value for your short stack as you can. If you have 10,000 in chips and get no hands and fold for two orbits with 500/1,000 blinds and a 200 ante, you all of a sudden have 3,400 in chips. You finally get aces and double up to 7,000 but you're still a short stack and have a big hill to climb. However, if you picked up the blinds/antes just once or even doubled up, your aces might have won a much bigger pot.
It is important to understand this because it means when you are short stacked that you should be open shoving with a much wider range of hands then if you were a medium or large stack. In early position, you'll want to be more selective. Pairs and big cards are pushable hands here. A big mistake many players make is to go with any ace that they get. In later position this might be fine, but it is a mistake in early and middle position. Think about it for a second. What hands are likely going to call you if you move all in? Aces and pairs. You're better off shoving with a hand like 8-7 than A-5 because if you are called it is less likely you will be dominated. A-5 is a 2.3:1 dog to A-J while 8-7 offsuit is a 1.7:1 dog to A-J.
Hand selection and position
Playing a short stack when you are first to act and have a hand you want to play is pretty easy – you move all in. But what hands should you decide to move all in with and from what position? The following is a general guideline of the hands you should play, and from what position, when you are short stacked (M<4). As with most things in poker, there are always extenuating circumstances that should be considered.
Early Position – All pairs, any big ace (A-10 or higher), any two paint cards.
Middle Position – All early position hands, all connectors 5-4 and higher, any big card that is not an ace (for example, K-7 suited or Q-9).
Late position – depending on who is in the blinds, any two. If a player left to act has a high calling tendency, then revert to the middle position hands. If not, push with any two.
What if you aren't first to act?
Being a short stack means you will usually have no folding equity. You won't have enough chips to get your opponent(s) to fold. It is almost always better to be first in than it is to call a raise or move all in with a marginal hand when the pot has been opened. That doesn't mean you fold all but the best of hands though. If you have A-J and a loose player has open raised from middle position, it would be correct to move all in. Much of what you do will depend on the player that has entered the pot and what their tendencies are. The looser they are, the more hands you can push with. If they are tighter, you need to narrow the range of hands you will play.
Flat calling a raise when your M is under 4 is a huge mistake. You don't have the chips to be able to play cautiously. Let's say you have A-10 and a fairly loose player in early position has raised. You're pretty sure that you are ahead but you want to see the flop and see what he does. The flop comes 8-4-2 and your loose opponent bets enough to set you all in. You fold, having tossed 4,000 of your 12,000 stack down the drain, and have put yourself in an even worse situation. Your opponent's hand? It was A-7. By just calling you not only lost chips, you lost an opportunity to gain chips.
Options other than pushing
Some players will advocate limping in or making a standard raise rather than open pushing. There is an inherent problem with doing this though. If you limp or make a standard raise, you give your opponents opportunities to let you make a mistake. By moving all in, you eliminate that, and you can even induce your opponents to make a mistake. Being a short stack is already tough enough, don't make it any worse by putting yourself in situations where you have to make difficult decisions.
Let's say that you have pocket 6's and there is a loose big stack in the big blind. You don't want to risk going out on a coin flip so you decide to limp in. The big blind raises to 3 times the big blind and you call for 30% of your stack figuring if you flop a set you'll double up. The flop comes all big cards and the big stack bets out with his 7-6 suited and wins the pot when you fold. You gave him the chance to force you into making a mistake by not moving all in. Another mistake you will often see a player make is raising to 3x the big blind when they have 10-12 big blinds and then folding to a re-raise. If your hand isn't good enough to call for all your chips, you shouldn't be playing it in the first place with your stack size. This doesn't mean you don't steal, you have to in order to be able to survive – you just need to make sure you do it properly by moving all in and putting the decision on your opponent rather than on yourself.
Getting value for big hands
What about those times where you get aces, kings, or even queens. Surely we don't want to push all in then right? Wrong, and let me explain why. If you've been utilizing effective short stack strategy, you've probably pushed all in multiple times without getting called or if you were called and managed to get lucky, your table mates saw that your hand wasn't that strong. By doing something other than pushing all in, you are giving your opponent information. You aren't getting any value, if anything you are giving them value by telling them what your hand is. They can see a cheap flop knowing that if they hit they will stack you and if they miss it only cost them a small bet. Think of how often you see people call a short stack all in with marginal hands like K-10, pocket 4's, or A-8. If you've been moving all in as a short stack, the most effective way to get value for big hands is to do just that. Move all in.
Making adjustments
One last word on short stack play. Understanding your opponent's behaviors can make a huge difference in how effective your short stack play is. When is the best time to move all in first to act with a short stack with a marginal hand? When the likelihood that your remaining opponents will fold (this most often takes place with players whose stacks are also short or on the verge of being short) is high. Before you make this move, evaluate this likelihood – if it's probable, then the push is a good play. Sometimes you will run into someone having a hand, but those are the chances you have to take.
On the same token, you will often find yourself at a table where you never have the opportunity to be first to act. This can be frustrating and if you're not careful your chips will evaporate. In these situations, you need to look for the player most likely to have a hand worse than the one you are holding and to pick your spot carefully and get your chips in against them. Waiting for a hand won't cut it. A hand like Q-10 in these situations might very well be the one to go with it.
Adjust to your table. If the table is playing extremely tight and letting you get away with your short stack moves, increase their frequency. If it's the other way around, find the right opportunity to get your chips in. Table awareness and knowing what is going on is crucial to short stack play. Pay attention and turn that short stack into a big one. We all know it's more fun to play with lots of chips anyway.
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