Poker Veteran of 50 Years: Playing with a Short Stack

Poker is all about gathering chips — it’s how you keep score

The more chips you accumulate in poker, the healthier your stack size, which increases your playing options. But what happens when you start bleeding chips and your stack dwindles?  In a cash game, you can simply reload. In tournament play, however, your risk of being eliminated increases exponentially as your stack gets smaller.

Stack size refers to the number of chips a player has relative to the other players and compared to the blinds. A stack is considered short when you have fewer than 20 big blinds, and extremely short with 10 big blinds or fewer. Many players start making adjustments to their play when their stack size falls below 30 big blinds.

Regardless of your level of play or the type of game, every player will need to play with a short stack of chips. This happens to everyone. You can go from chip leader to short stack in the blink of an eye.

Managing a short stack effectively is a critical skill every player should learn, as it can mean the difference between being eliminated or staging a comeback. With fewer chips, the player has less flexibility in their decision-making and is often forced to tighten up their play or adopt an all-in or fold strategy to stay in the game. Short stacks are easy targets to the bigger stacks and become extremely vulnerable to elimination.

Many tournament players often find themselves in short-stack situations toward the end of the game when the blinds get higher, nearing the money bubble, or even when playing head’s up. 

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Not all short stacks are played in the same way

With 20-30 big blinds you first start tightening up your game and adjust the range of hands you play.  You stop playing speculative hands, like chasing straights, flushes, or sets in raised pots, and you take bluffing off the table, at least until you re-build your stack. 

Below 20 big blinds, your options become even more limited. After all, you can only wait so long for that premium hand. You want to use the power of your remaining stack to work in your favor. You are at a point when the shove option supersedes hand selection.

It is always a good idea to calculate your costs of the blinds and antes on a round-by-round basis to help determine when it’s best to just shove to maximize fold equity and avoid being blinded out.

Remember, no one wants to risk losing their valuable chips to a short stack’s all-in move.

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Here are some short-stack survival tips to keep in mind:

• Tighten your play and avoid squandering any chips in order to maintain your stack size for that perfect all-in opportunity. 
• Eliminate playing speculative hands until you have built up your stack size. 
• Position play and good fortune go hand in hand at this juncture. 
• Blind stealing can be crucial to your survival, as it keeps you whole for the next round of action. 
• Targeting the weakest player or shortest stack can also work in your favor, as they don’t want to risk losing chips to the short stack. 
• Stay away from the deep stacks who can afford to look you up with just about any two cards and get lucky. 
• You can’t afford to waste chips defending your blinds. It’s all-in or fold.
• Limping with a short stack almost always attracts raises, so it is not in your best interest. 
• Hand selection: Any two face cards, connectors, suited cards, pairs, and any ace. 

As a short stack, you must be prepared to use the strength of your entire stack — small as it may be— in an all-in or fold situation, in hopes of taking down a pot right then and there or even doubling up. 

Your tourney survival can depend on it.

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