Poker Lesson #8: Playing With a Short Stack

Poker Lesson #8: Playing With a Short Stack
by Oliver Butterick

If you ever play tournament poker, you are more than likely to find yourself short-stacked at some point or another. That is, unless you win every tournament you play, or have a habit of busting out when you still have a lot of chips. So, if that's you, please move along to another article. For the 99.9% of you who will play short-stacked at some point or another, here are some strategies on wielding a short stack in a No-Limit holdem tournament.

All-In Mode

When I first started playing tournaments, I had a very basic short-stack strategy—when I had less than ten times the big blind, I only had one move: all-in when I was the first one in the pot. The idea here is to try to steal the blinds. Depending on how short-stacked you are, you can be more or less selective with the types of hands that you try to steal with. For example, with 8 times the big blind, you might wait for any ace or pair (or KQ), but with 4 times the big blind, you might go all-in on your first chance to be the first one in the pot, with any cards.

In general, the more chips you have, the more you want to play your cards and the shorter your stack, the more you want to look for the right opportunities to go all-in. Of course, if you have a premium hand (AK or pocket Jacks or better), then you may want to go all-in even if someone has come in before you, but if there is significant action before the action gets to you, then you may still want to stay out of trouble. (Review Third Man In if you're not sure what I mean.) I think this is a good strategy for beginning tournament players, but for more advanced play, I wouldn't recommend restricting yourself to this one play unless you have less than six times the big blind, and the reason why will be explained shortly.

I shall call you...'Mini-Raise'

The Mini-Raise goes against the basic reasoning of All-In Mode, which is: If I put all of my chips in, then my opponents know that I am fully committed to this hand and that I (obviously) can't be bluffed off the hand. So let's say that you have $8000 and the blinds are $500-$1000, and everyone folds to you in middle-late position and you have A-7. According to the All-In theory, you should go all-in. I suggest a different alternative: raise the minimum

What??? Doesn't this signal that you have a sub-par hand??? In fact, often the opposite is true. If you have a tight table image, making standard-sized raises up to this point (3-4 times the big blind), often your opponents will interpret a Mini-Raise as you telling them that you want to be called, because you have a big hand. So, raising the minimum is often enough to steal the blinds, and, with minimum risk, it's a win-win situation.

What I mean by minimum risk is that if you had gone all-in, the only people that would call are ones who have hands that beat yours. Almost the same hands are the ones that will re-raise your Mini-Raise, in which cases you will be able to fold and still be in the tournament. Also, you might get called, say, by the big blind, since they will be getting 3.5 to 1 odds on the call. Then, you have the advantage of position after the flop: if they bet and you missed, you get away from the hand, and if they check, you can go all-in and your bet will be at least the size of the pot (this is why this move should only be used when you have more than 6 times the big blind—less than that you should be restricted to all-in mode).

Nearly always, your opponent missed the flop and will fold to a pot-sized bet (especially if he put you on a big hand because of your "sneaky" Mini-Raise). Or, if you really hit the flop, something crazy like A-7-7, you can check disgustedly, as if you have a pocket pair and don't like the looks of the board.

Keep in mind, however, that the Mini-Raise works better as you get deeper into the tournament, when the blinds are a bigger percentage of the average stack size. For example, if you get short-stacked right off the bat when the blinds are 10-15 and you have $120, don't expect a Mini-Raise to get anyone to fold when everyone else has $800-$1000. All-in would be my move of choice in that case.

Over The Top

This is somewhat a derivative of All-In Mode. The opportunity to make this move comes when you have 5-10 times the big blind and someone who had less than 3 times the big blind moves all-in before the action gets to you. You are basically taking advantage of the fact that the other short stack is getting to a point of desperation, knowing that they will be blinded off soon. Consequently, you can credit them with a wider range of starting hands—I've heard some short stacks declare that they would move all-in with any card that was bigger than a Ten. Not everyone will go all-in with Jack-Two, but for some players, it may be the best hand they've seen in an hour.

Pay careful attention to the stacks that are shorter than yours: some players still maintain tight starting requirements, even if it means waiting until they have to put all of their chips in the big blind. I wouldn't recommend tangling with those guys unless you have premium cards. However, if you know that the short stack is a gambler, or perhaps is on tilt and has become an All-In Maniac, that might be a great opportunity for you to take out a player and accumulate some chips.

Call, Flop, All-In

This move is the cousin of the Mini-Raise, in that you plan to go all-in after the flop. The difference here is that you are in one of the blinds (probably the big blind) and you're facing a raise (perhaps a Mini-Raise). You have a hand that you don't really want to have to play all-in before the flop. Let's use the same A-7 as an example. Facing a raise, there is a good chance that you're beat before the flop, but as your stack dwindles—especially if you're playing short-handed—you know that you're not going to get a lot of opportunities to find better cards.

So, the plan here is to call and go all-in after the flop, since you will be the first to act at that point. The opportunity to make this play is a lot rarer than the Mini-Raise and it is a little riskier—in this example, the Mini-Raiser might, in fact, be trying to lure a call with a big pocket pair. Furthermore, you will have to go all-in before getting any more information about your opponent's hand. Consequently, this move should be used sparingly.

See a Flop

The above strategies should be used for heads-up play. In particular, the Call, Flop, All-In strategy is not highly recommended for a multi-way pot. When there are multiple players in the pot, there is a good chance that someone caught a piece of it, and being that you're short-stacked, you probably will not have enough chips to bet someone off of top or middle pair, or a big draw. In this situation, which might occur when you are in the big blind and a few people limp in, you need to either a) catch a good piece of the flop (top pair or better) and bet, or b) if everyone checks the flop and it's checked to you when a non-threatening card comes on the turn, you can bet, hoping to win the pot right there.

This is a strategy that I might use when I have something like J-10 suited in late position or on the button when two or more players have limped in in front of me. Had everyone folded to me, I might have raised, but in this situation, I will either call and see the flop, or fold and stay out of trouble. Beware, however, that someone might raise behind you, in which case you should lay down this type of hand. If you pick up a tell that someone behind you might raise, or there is a loose-aggressive player behind you, I would advise to fold and stay out of trouble.

Calling With Protection

This is not a strategy that I use, but my friend Shirley endorses it, and I respect her play, so I thought I would include it. When you are in a position that you need to double-up and one of the big stacks makes a large raise (more than your stack) before you, Shirley advises to call with any two cards. The reasoning behind it is that the raise in front of you gives you "protection." Ideally, it results in everyone else folding, and you play the hand head-up with a chance to triple-up (because of the folded blinds and antes). There aren't a lot of situations that you are less than a 2:1 underdog heads-up before the flop, and even if you are, it still might be the best opportunity you have before being blinded off.

There is a good chance that you WILL get to play heads-up (unless someone behind you has a huge hand), because the big stack's raise is already going to be enough to push most people out. But even if some players do not give the raiser credit for a big hand, if you have established a tight table image, they will definitely give you credit for a legitimate hand. I'm not sure what standards Shirley uses, but I would save this move for when you are extremely short-stacked, so that you will, in fact, have the opportunity to triple up. Depending on the size of the antes, this means that you will need to have about 3 times the big blind or less.

Some Remarks About Table Image

I've mentioned having a tight table image several times in this article. This means that your opponents perceive that you are playing tightly. Whether or not that is actually the case is an entirely different story. For example, you might be dealt pocket Aces five times in a row and raise each time. Regardless of how you were playing before, your opponents are likely to think that you have loosened up, especially if you win each of those hands without having to show your cards. While in fact you are playing tightly, that's not what your opponents think. So, if you are lucky enough to find yourself in that situation, be aware that your opponents are getting itchy to call you. On the other hand, if you are getting horrible cards, but still raise to steal the blinds once every 30 hands, your opponents might think that you are playing very tightly.

You need to keep your table image in mind when determining how often you should steal the blinds. Ideally, you will maintain the perfect frequency of steals so that when you are stealing, your opponents will fold because they don't feel like you've been raising a lot, but when you get a big hand, it will be right after you made a steal or two, and your opponents are getting a little itchy.

Stack Size Ratio

It is also important to know exactly what your stack-to-big blind ratio is, because it can change quickly. Every time you play a hand, you need to reassess what your possible moves will be before the next hand is dealt, based on whether or not you won or lost the previous hand. Also, whenever the limits change, you need to reassess your situation as well.

For example, let's say that you are in All-In Mode with 5 times the big blind and you find an opportunity to go all-in. The button calls, the blinds fold, and you win the hand. Now, you have 11.5 times the big blind (or more if there are antes), and you're no longer short-stacked. On the next hand, you have the option to make a standard-sized raise, but let's say you end up folding. Then, on the following hand, let's say the blinds double, leaving you with roughly 6 times the big blind. As you can see, your situation can change quite rapidly.

An Illustration of Table Image and Stack Size

Recently, I was playing a tournament online, and I was in All-In Mode, so I went all-in with A-6, and got called by a short stack. After I won the hand, I was then in the range where I could make a Mini-Raise. So, a few hands later, I did just that. Interestingly enough, my opponents all folded, but I bet that some of them were thinking, "Hmmm...he'll go all-in with A-6, but then he made a small raise. I bet he has a huge hand!?" So when a few hands later I was dealt pocket aces, I decided to go all-in. I definitely could have made a Mini-Raise, but I thought that I would try to trick someone into calling me. Unfortunately, everyone folded, but I suspect that someone would have called if they had been dealt any sort of decent hand.

Final Thoughts

This article has a lot of options for short-stacked play, and that was the point: when you are short-stacked, you often do have more options than fold and all-in before the flop. However, especially if you are a beginning tournament player, trying to consider all of these different options will be difficult to do. You should think of these options NOT as pieces of a puzzle (meaning that your game will not be complete unless you have all of them), but as ingredients in a soup. Having one move is like serving broth: it's simple, but it's still soup. As you add more ingredients to your soup, it will become more complex and sophisticated.

Oliver can be reached at oliver@babblog.com.