Playing an Extremely Short Stack – Part 4

This column continues a series of columns on playing an extremely short stack in tournaments. First I want to summarize some of the main points I have already made.

One of the most important skills a tournament player can develop is the ability to make the correct decisions with and against extremely short stacks. The reason this skill is important for tournament players, and relatively unimportant for cash game players, is because short stack situations occur very frequently in the crucial stages of tournaments, starting just before the money and continuing to the end of the final table. Thus they have a huge impact on your tournament results. In cash games these decisions are less frequent, since players add chips, and less important, since they represent only a small percentage of your result.

Fold equity is created by going all-in and winning an uncontested pot. If your stack becomes extremely short, you have little or no fold equity. This means you will need to beat one or more opponents often enough to have plus equity in these contended pots. You should make every reasonable effort to go all-in while you still have fold equity.

If you no longer have fold equity, you have an extremely short stack. The situation is already desperate and, it becomes correct to play increasingly weak hands.

This theme of calling with very weak hands was exemplified by a discussion showing why a big blind call with 7-2 offsuit was correct against a relatively tight player if your stack is small enough. Today I want to continue examining the idea of calling with very weak hands. This is something that regular cash game players, like me, often find very difficult to do. It goes against all our instincts to call with extremely weak hands. We have been programmed not to be “calling stations,” and call off all our chips.

Let’s assume you have reached a stage in the tournament where you stack has become extremely small. Since you have little or no fold equity, you are looking for any spot with plus equity to get your chips into the pot. There is a 100 ante. The blinds are 400-800. Thus there is 2,100 in the pot (nine-handed.) Let’s look at three stack sizes, and see what you should do with them against a middle position raiser, who has a relatively tight range. You assume he is raising with reasonable hands. Let’s give him the following range – 8-8 plus, A-T suited plus, K-T suited plus, Q-J suited plus, A-Q offsuit plus.

Let’s look at 3 stack sizes you might have. They are 1,000, 2,000, and 4,000. You want to call whenever you have plus equity. That means that on average your stack after the hand is played with be larger than it is now. For example, if you start with 1,000, you can call if your average stack after the hand will be greater than 1,000. Your pot will consist of the 2,100 already in there, 1,000 from his raise and your 1,000. This equals 4,100 (it would be greater if one of the blinds calls. He would certainly call you alone for 200 more, but he may be afraid to get involved with the initial raiser, and thus fold). Since there is 4,100 is the pot, you need only win 25 percent of the time to have more than 1,000. Against his range, you can call profitably almost 100 percent of the time. I’d recommend folding 3-2 offsuit and 7-2 offsuit.

If your stack is 2,000, the total pot will be 6,100. Now you have to win at least 33 percent of the time you play to have more than 2,000. Now you can only play about 40 percent of your hands. This leaves you with a playable range of 2-2 plus, A-2 suited plus, K-2 suited plus, Q-5 suited plus, J-7 suited plus, T-7 suited plus, 9-7 suited plus, 8-7 suited plus, A-4 offsuit plus, K-7 offsuit plus, Q-8 offsuit plus, J-8 offsuit plus, and T-9 offsuit.

With 4,000 in your stack, you still have some fold equity left. This means that by folding this hand, you may be able to win an uncontested pot a little later. It is generally a poor idea in short stack situations to wait. If you have plus equity, go for it. Now you must tighten up to where you are only calling (or making a small reraise for the remainder of your stack) with about the top 20 percent of your hands. This means your range should be: 6-6 plus, A-4 suited plus, K-9s suited plus, Q-9 suited plus, J-9 suited plus, T-9 suited plus, A-9 offsuit plus, K-T offsuit plus, and Q-T offsuit plus.

I don’t expect you or anyone else will remember these exact ranges. Nor will you be able to pinpoint your opponent’s range this accurately. The important thing to remember is that as your stack gets extremely small, you should call with a much wider range of hands.

There are two important issues that I have yet to cover in this series. The first is what hands to go all-in with as the initial aggressor. The other is how the payoff structure influences your decisions. Money bubbles can totally change what the proper play is to make with a short stack. ♠

Steve “Zee” Zolotow, aka The Bald Eagle, is a successful games player. He currently devotes most of his time to poker. When escaping from poker, he hangs out in his bars on Avenue A — Nice Guy Eddie’s at Houston and Doc Holliday’s at 9th Street — in New York City.