Playing a Short Stack Game

OFTEN you will find yourself up against the wall in a Hold'em game of poker with few if any options left. With no room to move you know you need to make your move sooner rather than later. The blinds (and antes) are eating into what pile of chips you have left.

So, what do you do? First stay calm in order to think straight. Never give up. It will not help you if you are thinking how behind you are. Work on doubling up once. In a way you are in the best position as you have little to lose and you have it all to gain.

Then work on rebuilding, by doubling up again and again if you can. Many times in a poker career you will find yourself in this short stack position, up against it, being bullied by the bigger stacks.

You have to decide when the best time to make a move and what cards you are going to do this with. You may choose to do this with only a top hand, but then again if you have four callers, the chances of winning a hand are reduced especially if some of your opponents get some action from the board. Also you don’t get top hands all the time. Therefore, you need to make some luck of your own. Push the boundaries.

The best (and occasionally the worst) thing about hold'em is that any two cards can win in poker and sometimes, you just have to take a crack at it and run with cards that ordinarily would not rate a mention. Far from suggesting that players go all-in for all their remaining chips with 7-2 off suite but taking a calculated risk with Q-9 or K-5 against only one other player may have greater results than a top hand against 4 callers.

Why? Well let’s look at some real examples.

You are in late position, and holding (8s, 8d). You have 3 callers already and with not much more that the big blind you can be almost certain that all three will call you. Let’s assume they are holding middle hands, (Ks, Jd), (7h, 6h) and (Ac, 5h). While pre-flop you do hold the best hand, you are actually slightly behind at just under 28%. Not really great odds.

Let’s look at another example.

You are in exactly the same situation in regards to chip stack. This time you are holding (Ks, 5s) versus only one other player who of course will call you. Assuming the other player has weaker hand than you, for example (Qs, 9c). You are nearly at 60% to win pre-flop. Even if the player is holding better hand, for example (Ad, 3h), you are behind, but at better odds that you pocket 8s of the previous hand. 

In the end, each player will have to make their own decision at the table. To know when to push and when to fold. Just remember your destiny is in your own hands.

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