Short stack poker strategy
The main idea of the short stack strategy is to play with the stack of 20 big blinds (20BB) or less. According to the strategy, you actively play only the strongest hands. You hand will often be higher than that of your opponent, which is important for a beginner to have a steady game. Meanwhile the small size of the stack allows playing pre-flop aggressively, and during the flop either go all-in or fold the hand depending on the situation. Your game therefore will be quite simple and you won’t be taking complicated decisions.
The game should be started at the limit of $0.10/$0.05 or $0.25(0.20)/$0.10. The limits that are higher are way too aggressive, the lower ones are too loose (it’s actually hardly a game of poker anymore). To increase the limits you have to keep to a tight bankroll management: move on to the next limit having no less than 30 stacks.
Our bonus that you can receive later will help you move on to the next limits faster. My recommendation would be to choose TitanPoker or Carbon Poker (for U.S. players) as a poker room for short stack game. The software is very convenient and user-friendly, there is a good support service, and you get your bonus gradually – in $10 payments.
Choosing tables
To play according to the short stack strategy you need to play at full tables (7-10 players). If the number of players at the table is less than 7, you should leave it and join another one. There should be as many players with full stacks (more than 50BB) as possible. When you join a table your stack should be 20BB. When your stack reaches 25BB or more you should leave the table, as it [your stack] has become too big for the short stack strategy, therefore making your game becomes nonoptimal. If your stack has reached 10BB or less you should buy more chips to have 20BB.
To join the game you should wait until you are in the position of big blind and only then place a bet required to start the game. You should leave the game when you are up for posting a big blind, leaving the table instead.
Pre-flop
Firstly, you need to define what your position is relative to the dealer. Player’s position in poker is an important element of the game that radically influences the way certain hands will be played. (Read detailed article about poker positiona)
The table of starting hands for the short stack strategy looks like that :
| Hand | Early Position | Middle position | Late position | Small Blind | Big Blind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AA, KK | *Raise* | *Raise* | *Raise* | *Raise* | *Raise* |
| QQ, JJ | Raise 1 | Raise 1 | Raise 1 | Raise 1 | Raise 1 |
| TT, 99 | Fold | Raise 0 | Raise 0 | Raise 0 | Raise 0 |
| 88-66 | Fold | Fold | Raise 0 | Raise 0 | Raise 0 |
| 55-22 | Fold | Fold | Call 3+ | Call 2+ | Check |
| AK | Raise 1 | Raise 1 | Raise 1 | Raise 1 | Raise 1 |
| AQ | Fold | Raise 0 | Raise 0 | Raise 0 | Raise 0 |
| AJ | Fold | Fold | Raise 0 | Raise 0 | Raise 0 |
| ATs, A9s | Fold | Fold | Raise 0 | Raise 0 | Raise 0 |
*Raise* - always raise
Raise 1 - if < 2 raises before us - raise, else fold
Raise 0 - if < 1 raises before us - raise, else fold
Call 3+ - call if before us were more than 3 calls
Call 2+ - call if before us were more than 2 calls
All hands not specified in the table should be folded. The only exception is a game from the big blind position, when if there is no raise has been made before us, we can check and see the flop for free.
Raise
If according to the table we have to raise, and there was no raise before us, we should raise the big blind before us four-fold + 1 for every player that joined the game (for instance, if 2 players joined the game before us, a 6-fold raise should be made). In case 3 or more players joined the game we should go all-in right away.
If there was 1 raise before us, and, according to the table, we need to make a re-raise, it should exceed 3 times the raise made before us (for instance, if the raise before us was 3BB we need to raise up to 9BB). If the size of our raise exceeds 10BB or at least one player has already called the raise we go all-in right away.
If there was a raise after us: Here we’ll have to calculate the ratio of the remaining stack to the size of the bet (for instance, if we stake 4BB, and have 12BB left, the ratio is 3:1). Then we either go all-in or fold, according to the table below:
| stack : pot | all-in |
|---|---|
| 4:1 or more | AA-QQ, AK |
| 4:1 – 2,5:1 | AA-JJ, AK, AQ |
| 2,5:1 and less | AA-66, AK-AJ, ATs, A9s |
Post Flop
The game according to the short stack strategy during flop and onwards, just like the game during pre-flop, is based on playing your hand aggressively. At the same time we have an important advantage – a strong hand (as we play only the strong hands), as well as initiative (since during the pre-flop we behaved aggressively, many players will see us as dangerous and we’ll often win the pot even bluffing). Often another advantage can be added to the ones mentioned – it’s position. In general, winning players during post-flop try to play in the position to their opponents, which is why you should also seek to do the same. There is one rule for the post-flop game: if our stack amounts to ½ of the pot or less we go all-in regardless of the number of players and their actions.
related articles
1. Low limit texas Hold'em strategy
2. Poker tournaments strategy
3. starting position in texas hold'em explained
4. Texas Holdem rules