diudecude1988.netlify.com › Texas Holdem Cash Game Strategy ∎

For many players who regularly sit down at cash tables in the modern game, once they have found some level of comfort with the quality of their 'full stacked 100bb' skills, one of the ways in which they frequently find themselves in awkward situations is when faced with an opponent wielding a stack typically sized between 20 – 50 big blinds. Here I hope to shed some light on short stack poker strategy to help improving players who are looking for some answers on the matter.

The good news is that once we find ourselves in a situation where the money is often going in preflop, we can use some simple mathematics to make quality decisions. We are also happy to hear that the vast majority of short stackers are players who started their session with a full or close to full stack, but haven't re-bought. This is an indication that the player isn't following any particular strategy related to stack size, which any competent player will do.
This information, along with our HUD stats should allow us to nail down exactly what strategy to use against them. No more guessing, or even better, no more nitting it up. Many players fall into the trap of folding too much against a short stacked opponent for reasons such as having a fear of getting shoved on and not knowing how wide they can profitably call. They just have a feeling that they don't want to get involved, assuming that it isn't so important anyway.

Well it is important, as these guys will eat into your win rate if you let them get away with it!

I'll start with some general principles and adjustments we need to make. As the effective stack size decreases our implied odds also decrease. This affects the range of starting hands we should be opening pre flop and also our cold calling range.
The shorter the stack the more extreme your adjustment should be. Rather than posting a number of hand charts for each stack size, I will attempt to give more general advice so you can think for yourself in-game, and do your own EV calculations to make yourself more comfortable.

For our purposes we should distinguish the starting hands between high equity type, and low equity type/speculative.

Hands such as KK and AKs are high equity hands, they will often be the best hand on the flop, and will win an all-in confrontation with a high frequency. With high cards you will simply get to showdown with the best hand a lot more frequently than low cards.

Once the effective stack size decreases below 50bb, the post flop skill edge we might have playing 100bb+ deep has been greatly reduced. We need to be aware when our implied odds have been reduced, and look to tighten up our cold calling range by removing some or all of this hand type.

One adjustment we can make with this hand type is to 3 bet them in position when a full stacked opponent opens and we have short stacker to our left. This way we side step the increased probability of getting 3 bet if we cold call and having to fold, but at the same time we have a hand which can flop well, even if traditionally small suited connectors aren't at their best playing a pot with a small stack to pot ratio. Here we are also utilising our fold equity pre flop which may even work out to be more profitable than cold calling without any short stackers present.

Pocket pairs and suited aces are a special case, somewhere in between high equity and speculative. For example, if a 25bb stack opens from the small blind and we have 22 in the big blind, we should no longer be looking to flat call hoping to hit a set. We just won't win enough chips even if we can get the small blind to put all of his chips in the middle to make it a profitable plan of action.
However, one thing that pocket pairs are okay at, is bluffing in an all in situation where we are sure we have at least some fold equity, and even if we get called we can reasonably expect to have around 35% equity. Suited aces will have slightly less equity if called, but can be used to extend your bluffing range if your opponent is expected to fold with a high enough frequency.

Just to clarify, we aren't looking at calling off with pocket pairs and suited aces, having some fold equity is key to making your bluff a profitable move as we will see later when I do some example EV calculations.

When we do find ourselves playing multi-way with a mix of short and deep stacks we just need to accept that our creative play options against the other deep stacks are almost non existent. Fortunately, in the micro stake games we have an added bonus that many players will adjust terribly against the short stack and sometimes we will have a strong hand, this more than makes up for when we have to miss out on potential value to avoid a short stack exploiting us.

In a way, the need to to play more straight forward, makes our life easier, we get to play a value orientated strategy which gives us less to think about, and less scope for errors which will reduce our win rate.

Over recent years the average open raise size has reduced from all positions on average, but one spot where we should be as small as possible is from late position with a short stacker still to act. I recommend 2.4bb from the CO and small blind, and a min raise from the button.
This means we lose less when we get re-raised pre flop, and we also make the pot smaller to begin with, making it a less attractive steal opportunity. Most short stackers at the micro stakes play a strategy which is too rigid, meaning that when we use a smaller size to steal with, they are unlikely to adjust enough to counter.

It should now be obvious that one of the benefits of playing with a short stack, is that we can steal in many situations. Even bad players learn quickly that they can get many folds in a variety of situations. One of the most common spots is when there is an open raise preflop and one or more callers. The average short stacker will be shoving all-in with a wide range and expecting to get plenty of folds.
So it logically follows if we have a premium hand it is worth considering cold calling instead of the usual squeeze play, and hoping that the short stacker shoves. Not only has under representing our hand helped us to trap one player for all their chips, the original raiser might now feel they can get us to fold by shoving the remainder of their 100bb stack.

There are many different types of useful EV calculations we can do to work towards perfecting our anti-shortstack play. Here is probably the most simple, a method to work out what range of hands we can 3 bet shove all-in against a short stacker.

In our example an unknown 30bb stack open raises to x3bb from the cut-off in a 9 handed micro stakes cash game. The button and small blind both fold

Our hand is ATs and we are in the big blind

First we need to make an assumption about what range of hands villain will call with if we shove. It doesn't matter if you consider this range accurate, the mathematical method is what's important here.

So lets assume villain is opening 25% of hands and will call with 22+, A2s+, K9s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T8s+, 97s+, 86s+, 76s, 65s, 54s, ATo+, KTo+, QTo+, JTo, T9o. This works out to about 50% of his original opening range.

ATs vs this calling range has 36.24%, leaving villain with 63.76%

Part 1 – What happens when all the chips go to the middle.

Using the standard EV formula

EV = [Probability(Win) * what we win] – [Probability(Lose) * what we lose]

EV = [0.4222 * (1.5bb(the blinds) + 3bb(villains open raise) + 27bb(the rest of villains stack))] -

[0.5778 * (30bb]

= 13.229 – 17.334 = -(4.03bb)

So when we do get called we can expect to lose on average a little more than 4bb

Part 2 – What happens when we take into account fold equity

FE = 50%

Using the same formula as above

EV = [0.5 * 4.5bb] – [0.5 * 4.03bb]

= 2.25bb – 2.015bb

=0.235bb

Now with fold equity taken into account we now have a slightly profitable shove, although I haven't mentioned rake yet which won't change things too much but still shouldn't be ignored entirely when looking at close decisions.

The world of online poker can be a difficult place to navigate. The allure of easy money draws many people in, but most lack the understanding of the types of online poker, and the difference in strategies required for each. Sit-N-Go style or SnG is your basic and most popular type of online poker room. The games always only start with a full table so you always know how many people you are playing against, making it easier to predict card distribution. SnG typically offers less of a financial reward, but is the best option for those just looking for some fast cash. SnG style offers a typically faster play style that is appealing to those on time constraints. However on the same note, games wont start until the required table is full, so you can be stuck waiting for long periods of time to play.
Inversely the in the Multi table tournament format or MTT you never know how many opponents you will have from round to round, but the play is for a much larger payout. Strategically for SnG style games the best strategy is to start slow, and go faster as the game progresses. What that means essentially is play tight the first few hands. Don't bet big, control the pace of the table, check often, raise in small amounts, and be conservative. Typically a couple of people at the table will tire of the slow pace quickly, become reckless, and end up knocking themselves out. Once that happens it's your time time to shine. People are on a high from the quick eliminations, and if you pick a smart hand to be aggressive on, they will call you on it. This allows you to clean them out. Once it is down to the last few players, continue your aggression, bet hard, bluff harder, and control the table. That's the best recipe for quick money success.
For the Multi table tournament style, the strategy is different. This is in part because the mindset at the table is different. MTT players lean towards playing conservatively consistently as they understand that it is a long tournament. This is where it pays to be a patient poker shark. The strategy here really is 'stay the course.' Patience in this scenario will help you read the table, and get a feel for the other players style of play. Playing the long game, tilts the table. The longer the game goes, the more likely the other players will begin to bet aggressively. Stay out of the firefight. Wait for your opportunities to strike. While they go head to head with each other, bide your time, waiting for your golden hand. At that point you can sneak in and typically win a few large pots. After that, go dormant again. This process is exhausting, but effective.
While the idea of playing both the Sit-N-Go style of poker and the tournament poker requires you to remain playing until you have been eliminated or, in the better circumstances, you actually win, Cash Games are different, in the sense that you can actually come and go as you please. With this in mind, you poker strategy is going to change a little bit. Some players prefer the Cash Games as they do not have much free time, so want to play some big poker. The issue with that is the fact that these types of players are going to go into hands recklessly, as they will want to get some action before they have to leave again. So if you do choose to play a Cash Game, you really do need to be careful of the players just in it for some action.
There are not a great myriad of differences between the three game styles of online poker we have talked about here, since it is all still Texas Holdem Poker. However it's often the small details that separate the winners from the losers. Online poker is a mental game, and choosing the right strategy for the right game at the right time could be the differences between being ITM (In the money) or out of the game.
Now that you understand how the different types of tables work and how your strategy will need to change between them, get out there and start playing some different variations of the Texas Holdem online poker. Good luck and enjoy playing.