When I Was A Donk – Ian O’Hara

Ian O'Hara

Shortly after graduating from high school, South Florida-based Ian O’Hara decided to become a professional poker player. But, he was just 19 and confined to Native American casinos and pari-mutuel facilities around the state. He still managed to rack up quite a few final tables and wins, earning just over a quarter of a million dollars before his 21st birthday.

When he was finally old enough to compete on the tournament circuit full-time, O’Hara began to really put up some numbers. In August of 2015, he took second at the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open $25,000 buy-in high roller event for $527,313. Later that year, he final tabled the Five Diamond World Poker Classic $10,000 event for $89,875. In September of 2016, he won the Coco Poker Open for another $212,830.

Here, O’Hara talks about the leaks in his short-stack game.

In 2012, back when I first started playing tournaments for a living, I think I struggled with my short-stack game. You might think that’s not possible, because there’s really not a lot you can do with a short stack, but I managed to mess it up often enough.

I had a lot of leaks with stacks between 12 and 15 big binds, such as calling preflop raises with suited connectors or small pairs, hoping to hit big hands. Sometimes I would even limp in. If you have 15 big blinds or less, you really can’t be limping or calling unless you are closing the action. It took me a little while before I realized how much I was hurting myself with these small mistakes.

The funny thing is that nowadays, there is a lot of room for creativity when it comes to short-stack play. You still can’t be passive, but there are a lot more options other than waiting to go all-in.

Stop-and-gos (when you call preflop out of position and then move all-in on the flop) are still a thing, but now players are kind of abandoning the play unless they connect with the flop in some way, either with a pair or some kind of draw. I think the reason for that is because players are more comfortable these days with a stack of less than ten big blinds.

I still like to be the aggressor when I’m short stacked. Since I look young, I don’t tend to get much credit for having a hand so it’s fine for me to just put in 12 big blinds preflop. There’s usually no need to get tricky. ♠