How to play on
a short stack 
A player is
classed as being short stacked when they are holding the least amount
of chips on the table. This is a problematic situation to be in, as
the short-stacked player will sooner rather than later be forced out
of the game, due to their ability to meet the blind bets. Other
players at the table look at a short stacked player differently
because, like an injured animal, they are liable to act erratically. However if a
player finds themselves on the short stack, by keeping their head
while making calculated risks, they can reverse the situation fairly
quickly, through taking advantage of it. It
is difficult to exactly put a figure on what being short staked
means, Experts will tell you that a player at the table should have
enough chips in front of them at any time, to meet forty big blinds,
which if there are six players in the game, would translate to 240
hands, which is a lot. Probably going into the final time at a
tournament, the figure would appear very high, but assuming that the
blinds go up all the time, and players get eliminated, then the
blinds will come round a lot more often. When the game reaches the
level where just two or even three players are still involved having
the ability to survive between ten or even fifteen big blinds should
be enough. As far as
playing a hand is concerned, being short stacked makes raising or
bluffing a much more fraught situation, as a player will have one eye
on survival and the other on improving their situation by winning
more chips. That means mixing play as much as possible and even slow
playing whenever possible. If a short stacked player goes all in
every time, they are creating a trap for themselves as other players
will fold unless they have a very strong hand. Either way it is a
no-win situation for the short stack. Many players find themselves in a short
stack situation going into a final table at a tournament, and at
least in the initial stages it is better to play more conservative,
try and pick out a hand here and there to build their chip stack or
at least retain the status quo. Sometimes a situation will arise
where the cards are so tempting that they will stake all their chips
in an "all in" call. If things go well, and the get called
and win the hand, they will have at least doubled their chip stack,
while weakening someone else's position. If they lose they will go
out a hero. Sometimes a player whose chip stack position was strong,
will find themselves on the wrong side of a call, and will suddenly
become the "short stack" The trick here is to remain calm,
and not try and recover the position on the next hand, unless of
course they come in with a really strong set of hole cards. Other
players at the table expect short stacked players to make moves under
pressure, and it is possible to take very good advantage of being the
short stack. |
