How To Play Draws When Short Stacked

If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush the games, check out Jonathan Little’s elite training site at PokerCoaching.com/CardPlayer.

One of my Twitter followers recently told me about a hand that illustrates a few errors that many recreational poker players (and some pros) make on a regular basis.

Deep in a $1,000 buy-in live tournament with blinds at 2,000-4,000 with a 4,000 big blind ante, everyone folded to the button, an unknown player who seemed reasonable, who raised to 12,000 out of his 60,000 effective stack. The small blind folded and our Hero decided to call in the big blind with 7 6.

Right from the start, Hero’s call is almost certainly a mistake unless the opponent has significant flaws in his post-flop strategy. While 7-6 offsuit may seem like it has some potential, it is actually a fairly weak hand when playing 15 big blinds deep and it is not getting the proper pot odds to call and see the flop.

If Hero instead faced a min-raise (to 8,000), calling would become acceptable, but as the raise size becomes larger, Hero should defend with a tighter range.

The flop came 9 8 3, giving Hero an open-ended straight draw. Hero checked, the opponent bet 8,000 into the 30,000 pot, and Hero called.

With a marginal draw, Hero’s check-call is ideal. While check-raising either to 30,000 or all-in may seem to have merit, you would much prefer to check-raise with draws that have even more equity, such as Q-J.

The turn was the 10, completing Hero’s straight. Hero led all-in for the opponent’s 40,000 stack into the 46,000 pot.

I despise this lead. If the opponent has nothing, he will certainly fold. He may fold even a decent made hand that is drawing dead, such as K-9 or A-8. Hero does not have to worry too much about getting outdrawn if the turn checks through because the only terrible rivers are queens and jacks, and even then, there is no guarantee those will give Hero the second-best hand.

Hero should instead check, allowing the opponent to value bet with his made hands and bluff with his junky draws. Notice that the only time leading gets called is when the opponent has a strong made hand which he will almost certainly value bet if checked to. Leading forces the opponent to play well, which is the exact opposite of what Hero wants to happen.

The opponent called with J 7 for a better straight plus a flush draw, busting Hero.

Hero shared this hand with me because he thought I would care about this “bad beat” story. While Hero is certainly going broke once he turns a straight, he should not have been involved with this hand to begin with.

When playing shallow stacked, you must be keenly aware of how your pot odds dictate your preflop play. While small preflop errors usually won’t cost you too much, this time Hero lost his entire stack. Hero should file this one under “bad play” instead of “bad beat.”

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Jonathan Little is a two-time WPT winner and the 2024 PokerGO Cup champion with nearly $9 million million in live tournament earnings, best-selling author of 15 educational poker books, and 2019 GPI Poker Personality of the Year. If you want to increase your poker skills and learn to crush the games, check out his training site at PokerCoaching.com/cardplayer.