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Facing Short Stacks

Making money off of short poker chip stacks is an interesting facet of poker.  The matter deserves due attention because unlike being dealt pocket aces in the small blind you will be guaranteed to come up against short stacks throughout every tournament.  Short stacks are more predictable than their better endowed counterparts.  However, it is important to remember that even though all seem to be committing suicide that not all short stacks are created equal.

In tournaments there are two types of short stacks: those that came by it honestly, i.e. being bad players and now being down to their last few dollars, and those that took an unlucky hit and lost most of their stacks to a fish.  The poor player who is facing death by blinds/antes is aware of his impending doom and looking for a chance to double up.  He can’t be folded once he’s in a hand and he is going to jump in at any moment.  If you are a medium to large stack player you have some money to gamble with.  Your best bet with any Ace, any pair and any pair of cards with both cards over 7 is to let him get all in and flat call.  If you suspect that someone else is trying to use the same tactic you want to eliminate them while increasing your pot odds.  This can be accomplished with a raise of at least 2/3 pot.

The other type of short stack is the one who has just had a bad beat and is a good enough player to not go on tilt.  This type is dangerous.  You are going to make your money off of him by staying far away.  Remember a penny saved is a penny earned.  Even if you are big blind and have a medium hand like QT off suit and he is in the middle and goes all in and it is only 3 more blinds to call don’t do it.  He has bided his time to get a stronger hand like AX suited.

Poker Articles

• Origin of Poker
• Top Money Winners
• The Flop
• Be A Shark
• Short Stack Suicide
• Turning Rocks to Dust
• 10 Key Skills
• Playing High Stakes
• Slow Playing

There actually exists a third type of short stack - the one that is at the final poker table with you and going all in every hand.  This person may not be the shortest stack in chip count but possibly in experience and book of available plays.  You like this all-in-short-stack.  You are now going to sit back and relax while he collects other people’s blinds and aggravates them to the point of throwing their own strategy out the window.  Provided that you have at least two times his stack you are going to wait for two suited cards over ten and then you are going to call him.  If you don’t win on the first call you should win on the second.