Many poker players, typically newer ones playing free poker tournament games but also, and they should know better, some cash players play hands with scant regard for the specific situation they are in. This leads to mistakes that can cost them a lot of chips and money despite the fact that they’re often playing with strong hands.
One common mistake which I see players make is failing to take into account the way the size of their chip stack may dictate how to best play their hand. When I started playing poker more than 5 years ago, I made the same error.
The best way to play a hand depends on lots of factors, one of which is your chip stack size. A good move for someone with a large chip stack could be a dangerous move for someone with a tiny chip stack.
To put it plainly: size matters. That is not to say that bigger is indeed better. Being “deep-stacked” has its advantageous, but small stacks can be equally effective at the poker table.
A Deep Stack Expands Options
With regard to this post, I am going to define deep stacks as stacks which are roughly 125 big blinds or over. Others may define a deep stack as a bit less or more than that number of big blinds, but almost no one would consider a stack of 35 big blinds or less to be a deep stack.
I generally subscribe to the notion that deep-stack play is better than small-stack play. Most professional pokers would agree.
This is because deep stacks give you more room to take advantage of implied odds. In other words, you’re allowed more freedom with regards to starting hand requirements. You are able to play small pocket pairs hoping to flop your set or small suited connectors looking to flop a flush or straight.
If you don’t get the flop result then you can just fold and wait for a better setup. You can be more patient because the blinds aren’t much of a concern; they won’t eat up your chip stack that much.
Another benefit of being deep-stacked is maximizing your profits. If you are the biggest stack is it a lot easier to extract maximum chips from your opponents. This isn’t so for the short-stacks.
Let’s consider an example of this: If you are the biggest stack with $900 chips and one player calls your all-in bet with his $600 in chips and you win, then you take all his cash.
Now let’s consider another example: Should you be a small stack with $five hundred chips and the biggest stack with $800 in chips calls your all-in bet and you win, you cannot take all his money. He’ll be left with $300 chips because you didn’t have enough money to play for all his chips.
That is a shortcoming of being the short stack but there can be benefits.
A Shorts Stack Boosts Tight, Hyper-Aggressive Play
If you don’t have many chips behind you, you’re forced to basically play for all your chips in every hand you play. You are forced to play premium hands such as big face cards and pocket pairs.
You often won’t be getting the right price to play small pocket pairs and suited connectors. Those hands need to see the flop cheaply, and every hand played is expensive for a short stack.
The right move is to get all your chips in the middle with big pairs before the flop or to shove if you hit top pair on the flop. You do not have the opportunity to wait as the blinds will eat you alive.
One obvious benefit of this essentially all-in or fold strategy is that it forces you to play tighter. Another advantage of this type of play is that it’s harder to get outplayed by more skilled post-flop players.
Your decisions are simple: push or fold. You don’t need to worry about the subtleties of the game like betting the right amount or knowing when you should fold the second best hand.
Additionally, there is the strange psychological advantage you’ll have. For some reason, many deep stack players don’t treat short stack players with much respect. They assume that you’re buying in for a small amount as you have a small bankroll or aren’t very proficient.
It’s not unusual for the big stack to pay off a short stack player by calling with weaker than usual hands.
I still believe that deep stack play is best, but I’ve faced some troublesome short stack players and would not undervalue their capabilities.
If you want to learn to play poker free or after reading this realize that your stack play could do with focus then the best way to improve fast is to play internet poker for free . When you play risk free you can test things out but without the pressure of possible money loss and that makes a massive difference! And if you want learn to play poker for beginners courses then the free poker sites have great intro lessons too.
