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No Limit Hold’em Short Stack Strategy Guidance, Playing with a 10BB Stack. Part 1

By ShortStacker on May 26, 2009

No limit hold’em has become the real game of choice over the past several years thanks to the television coverage and a wide distribution of on-line capped buy in games. It is rather difficult to penetrate into the game because of its complexity. So, qualified gamblers have more chances to win than the beginners, even if they are widely-read. If you set yourself succeeding in this game as an object then you need experience and discipline. But they both at no limit hold’em come in time.

Luckily, the new gambler, or even the skilled gambler looking for an easy advantage can turn the tables on the contrary by making one simple regulation - buying in for less than the maximum amount of chips that are permited. Later we will discuss all the advantages of this strategy but in this article we’ll acquaint you with the simplest strategy of all which lies in playing with stacks of just ten times the big blind.

Just some sites allow the 10% or 10bb buy in, and the most outstanding among them is the Prima Poker network. A lot of live games let 10bb buy ins as well, particularly at the smaller stakes. We want to gladden you with information concerning how to learn this strategy. So, a few regulations you can take it to sit and go and multi table competitions as well, where 10bb stacks are common.

With 10 times the big blind implies just two moves preflop: all-in or fold. All the other sizes raise sends you to the hand; in cases if reraised or if you observe a flop, you will be getting odds that are so good that you will have to put all your rest chips in the pot and wait for the best. So, the main thing you should know is what hands to push with. In order to learn what hands have value in such a case, you should for certain check out No Limit Hold’em: Theory and Practice for its prime Sklansky/Chubukov numbers that tackle this problem exactly. But we will present a good enough list rested on the book here. The list is are right for a ten handed table.

  • Early Position (the first 3 positions): AA-TT, AK-AQ
  • Middle Position (the next 3 positions): You may add 99-88, AJ, AT suited
  • Cutoff: You may add 77-66, AT-A8, A7-A5s KQ, KJs
  • Button: You may add all the pairs, all aces, KJ-KT, K9s, QJs
  • Small Blind: You may add K5+, Kxs, QJ-Q9, Q5s+, JT, J8s+, T9s

This is a rather compact range, and in case if you have a read that your adversaries are playing smartly against your pushes then you can add several hands. But according to experience it is most likely that you will be called by a few very poor hands, meaning much of your benefits will come from weak calls made by your adversaries.

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Beware the Short Stack

By ShortStacker on September 15, 2008

You’ve played greatly throughout the whole competition and mean to make the money. Everything that you need to do is survive and then you’ll be payed off. But you want to proceed and make more money, i.m. you aim at building your stack in your attempt to place better. This can be very perilous, as the short stacks are hopeless and looking for the slightest perspective of doubling up.

It is possible to divide short stacks into two types. The first type is those that are waiting for a big hand, and the second ones are intend to win with whatever trash they’re holding.

Big Hand Short Stacks

This type of short stack you can bank on to have an apt hand when they go all-in. It means that they make your decision flowing, as you will need to fold unless you’re holding a monster. Probably these short stacks have two face cards or a pocket pair of some kind, hands that are endowed with good opportunity of taking in a pot. Try to avoid such situations when you can get a monster.

The most appropriate way to identify these short stacks is to learn how they’ve been playing during the competition. If they’ve been strong, not playing much, and have seen their stacks sluggishly declined , you may be sure that they’ll have a good hand. If they’ve taken several hits, but have been folding continually since, there is a good opportunity they’ve eventually found a hand.

Thoughtless Short Stacks

These short stacks belong to the kind who are just striving to get success. They’re holding trash, and are simply expecting that everyone will fold or that they can come off some supernatural comeback. They could be holding either K10s or they could be holding 94o. These stacks could have anything, so you without fail must be able to tell that they could have anything.

There are no stable rules and norms on how to identify these short stacks, but you may recognize some clues that could point the stacks out. If they’ve been playing a great deal of hands, pursuiting draws, and always being loose players, it is likely they are being thoughtless. If there was only a big hand which the short stack lost, it is likely that they are proceeding tilt, so be aware of this probability.

These thoughtless short stacks in most cases can be more perilous than those who have waited for a hand. You don’t know what the thoughtless ones have, but you rightly guess what sort of hands the persistent short stacks have. If you are calling the persistent ones, it is much more likely that one hand is a strong favorite over the rest ones. But on the other hand, when calling the thoughtless ones, it is probable to be a lottery, with both hands holding live cards.

The Solution

The easiest way to be faced with the short stacks is to always have a good hand. Don’t venture your money against a thoughtless stack even if you’re sure that your hand is better. The point is that if he hits but you don’t then you’ll lose for sure. The persistent stacks will have good hands, so it is necessary that monsters must call them.

Never venture your money and your position in the money to be victorious over a short stack untill you do hold a good hand. You’ve played a great competition and the money are almost yours. It is not recommended to rise by attempting to win the short stacks when you don’t hold a great hand.

Once you place in the money, than you can try to intimidate the short stacks on a whim, as you will have officially had a lucky competition.

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Do you play short stacks yourself?

By ShortStacker on August 8, 2008

A lot of players reject to play with people who buy in short, especially in heads-up matches.

Short-stacking is known to be a very efficient and striking strategy against a person who does not certainly know how to withstand a short stack at the table. Short stacks in many cases will look for a chance to shift all-in, expecting that their competitors call with rather weak hands in the expectations of removing the short stack from the table. You may stumble on larger stacks that are called like all-in bets with all kinds of heterogeneous hands, comprising 22, A7, and so on, just in expectations of removing the smaller stack. Skilled short stack players become aware of this, and use this chance to suit their own ends.

It is possible to divide short-stackers into two types. The first group is people who understand well their doings, and use their smaller stacks to bring about calls from larger stacks in the name of pot odds. The second group consists of short-stackers who are buying in small because they have no alternative, and they will usually play frightened and bashful poker, basically folding everything except nuts.

Do you consider that poker rooms should undertake more attempts to impede short-stacking, or do you have an opinion that this is just a part of the game and nothing should be done about it? Would you come out in favor of heightening minimum buy-ins, or do you think that everything should be left as it is?

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