Understanding Stack Sizes

[mojo6911]

First post here,

I have been playing poker for about a year, off and on. One concept I have never understood is understanding how our stack sizes and the stack sizes of the opponents should dictate our play. Anyone have a link to an article or book that explains this? I am talking about ring games.

Thanks.

[ShadesAA]

Hey Mojo , welcome to the forum ,

good short stack play involves only playing top 10% of hands and lookin to get all in preflop or on the flop , deep stack allows u more moveability to play small pp and sc , theres waaaay more to it than that tho , for a beginner lookin to short stack read gettin started in hold'em by ed miller but really you will want to play deep so id advise u to read harrington on holdem : cash games .. its aimed towards full ring but its the best cash game book out there

[mojo6911]

Thanks for the help, but I always buy in for the full amount. What I mean is, how should the opponents' stacks alter our play?

[D3rvish]

Basically, you want to play more hands that have the potential to flop deceptively huge the bigger the effective stacks are.

[richyl]

Originally Posted by mojo6911

Thanks for the help, but I always buy in for the full amount. What I mean is, how should the opponents' stacks alter our play?

Vs shortstacks implied odds hands like small pocket pairs and suited connectors go down in value, and big pairs and broadways go up in value.. I usually make my steal raises smaller when they are in the blinds, and will isolate them if they limp with hands like A10, KJ etc.

[ThatDeviant]

Shorter stacks = hands w/ good high card or showdown value ie. pairs and obv high broadways or aces

Larger stacks (not effective stack) = same as above but hands w/ good deep stack value, so throw in some suited connecters you'd normally fold to 3bets with etc.

You don't want to 3bet with a suited gapper against a half stack for example as your impled odds are already slashed in half - but you might 3bet the same hand against a full stack or a deep stack.

Basically try to think about your hands postflop value based on how many streets you're likely to see. Against a short stack then you're going to be making a decision whether to get it in on the flop or not, so strong top pairs are good here.

I could elaborate a lot on this topic.