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TEXAS HOLDEM MANAGING YOUR CHIPS |
Size DOES matter. There's no doubt about it: when it comes to your stack, bigger is better. But what can you do when you're not so well endowed (with chips)? Roland de Wolfe reveals the strategies for tournament hold'em that could help you get out of a hole when short-stacked, and also how to squash the opposition when you're chip leader.
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There are certain players who you can destroy at a poker table but you will never have more chips than them. Oil magnates, self-made billionaires...... If you play cash games with these types, you can decimate their stack but they will re-buy in an instant without a second thought.
Even in a cash game at your local casino there will be players with bankrolls that are huge in relation to the size of the game. While these people and their continual re-buying may be good for your bank balance, you will never be in a position where your chip stack dominates them.
Tournament play, however, is very different. In tournaments, the worth of a man's play can truly be measured by the size of his stack. But, to coin a phrase, although bigger is undoubtedly better, it's not necessarily the size of your stack that matters, but what you do with it.
In tournaments, players will find themselves in situations to which they are unaccustomed. Sometimes, you will find yourself the chip leader, on other occasions you will be chip dog. In these two situations, the same hand must often be played very differently.
Big Stack
When you have a big stack, people take notice. Opponents are much less likely to steal your blind or raise into you. That's because in tournaments, once you lose your chips, you are history. One of the most basic rules is not to get involved with the chip leader unless you have to.
Much of what you do, as ever in hold'em, will be dictated by position. When you are in early position (for instance, first, second or third to act in a nine-handed game) you need a genuine hand to raise. Even if you are a massive chip leader, you don't want to risk losing your chips to people behind you. If you are on a slow clock (the blinds only go up infrequently), much of the play will take place at the final table and although your chip lead is important, you will not win the tournament when there is more than one table left. So from an early position you must have a premium hand.
You should avoid regularly playing medium suited connectors such as 6s 7s or 9h 10h. The reason for this is that in no-limit or pot-limit, after a couple of hours of play, the blinds will be big enough that you will be unable to call a significant-sized raise. If you do look down to find AK, QQ, KK or AA then it is better to raise. It is unlikely, if you're the big stack that you will get re-raised. Therefore, you are likely to face two or three players and will be an underdog to win the pot, whereas if you only have one caller, you will be favourite, unless he has a higher pair.
In mid-position (fourth, fifth or sixth to act in a nine-handed game) you can be slightly bolder than in early position. If you are sixth to act, you may think about stealing the two blinds. This is an advantage of having the big stack. As in late position, it depends who is to act after you. If they are rocks who will fold if anyone raises them when they don't have a premium hand, then it is worth exploiting when you have a passable hand.
You would not want to raise with 94 off-suit, but you could raise with A9 suited or J10 suited because - unless you run into a monster hand like Kings or Aces - you will see a flop and have a chance of flopping at least a draw. You can try and see more flops in mid-position when you have a big stack. Even if it just the big blind and yourself who see the flop, it may be worth a bet if your hand has not improved. That is because even if the big blind has bottom or middle pair they may not call a raise and risk getting into a battle with the big stack.
Conversely, if you do have a premium hand, you may only want to call a raise or make a small bet into an unraised pot. If you have Aces, your big stack will scare off A10 or AJ with a re-raise. It may be better for them to hit their 10 or A and think they have the best of it, thus enabling you to extract some more chips out of them.
Leave it Till Late
It is in late position that being the biggest stack is most advantageous. Playing on the button at all but the most aggressive players, you should try to steal their blinds irrespective of your cards. You should not even have to look at your cards!
Your opponents will really need to have a hand to enter a flop with the chip leader. If they have a monster, they will re-raise and you can put it down, but if they have a fair hand such as A10 or 99 and don't hit their flop, you can find this out with one bet and may well take a larger pot than if you had not raised it. You can also do this from one off the button or in the small and big blind. The exception is when facing a small stack as they may be forced to call to avoid being blinded away.
Don't Be One-Dimensional
Even when you're more heavily stacked than Dolly Parton, it is important to vary your play. If you keep raising, all but the weakest players will twig and start playing back at you. You want to take your fair share of blinds from late position, but don't want to be in every pot. Even in late position it is not advisable to continually be calling with AQ or QJ suited or any hand where if you hit you can still do your dough. You also don't need to be in the 50/50 pots.
Avoid calling when you think you are facing two overcards to your smaller pair or vice versa. You can raise with these hands, but you don't need to call as you don't need be in these gambling hands when you are chip leader. Be aggressive but don't be wild or have a laissez faire attitude to your chips. You may be doing well, very well, but the real money in most tournaments does not start until the final table, so you are not moving up the money ladder by gaining chips at this stage, just gaining a stronger foothold on it.
Work on your reputation. If you have become chip leader by playing solid, then loosen up - people will respect your raises. If you have got there through loose play and playing non-premium starting hands then tighten up; only play when you are favourite and you will be paid out on your hands.
Short Stack
The people with the most chips know that ultimately their main obstacles to the big stack will be the fellow chip monsters first at their table and then in the tournament as a whole. Often, though, the big stacks will try and delay confrontation with each other. Instead, they gang up on the smaller stacked players to try and eliminate them and move themselves closer to a guaranteed money finish.
The best way to play the small stack often depends on just how small you are. If you are really small and cannot survive more than one more round of blinds then, when you get a passable hand, you have to go all in, whatever position you're playing. If you find yourself in the big blind and the compulsory posting is half your stack, then you are pot committed and have little alternative but to go all in. You will not survive another round of blinds and even if you do double up, you will only be in the same position again one round later. It is true tournaments are about survival, but there is no point being blinded away.
Whatever two cards you have are unlikely to be that much of an underdog against any other two cards. Under different circumstances you may have mucked the hand you go all in with but remember that 85 is less than a 2/1 underdog against AK.
Short But Not That Short
If your stack is short but not dire then you have far more options. Playing in early position, you have to be even more careful what you raise with, as big stacks will be more likely to call you. If there are two of them on your table then they may put you all in and then not bet against each other, to try and eliminate you. If you have Aces or Kings then you will probably be happy to take your chances, but if you are holding AK or QQ, you may want to see a flop before committing all your chips.
In mid-position and facing only one big stack, you may want to raise with any Ace with Jack kicker or better and a pair of Jacks or higher. If you are unlucky enough to run into something higher then you will need an outdraw, but you may be getting your hand in with the best of it in a two-way pot or win the hand uncontested.
In late position, you will need a lot less to raise the pot. It is not advisable to try and steal the blinds from someone who is chipped up. They may call with less as they can afford to see a flop and may have the added bonus of decimating your stack and knocking you out. If you do want to nick the blinds, it is not worth doing so from a fellow short stack as they too are unlikely to pass even a hand as weak as one high card or anything suited.
It is the medium-sized stacks whose blinds are up for grabs. They will probably give you more respect if you are short stacked as they will reckon you have a lot to lose and would not want to risk tournament exit. Again, whether you want to attempt to take the blinds from the button or one off the button may depend on whether you think you will be called. If the blinds are rocks it may be worth trying to steal, but if they are loose or have been prone to defending their blind, it may be unwise, unless you are sure you will call a re-raise.
Some players may try to hang in there for as long as possible, but this is only the best strategy if you are near (or in) the tournament prize money and there are other short-stacked players. Being short stacked not only makes you a target for others, it bars you from many important aspects of a successful game such as seeing flops, playing drawing hands and picking up the blinds. It is vital to get out of the position as soon as possible.
Reproduced with the kind permission of Inside Edge magazine.
