Stack Size In Ring Games

How deep are you?

In big-bet poker, one of the most important considerations in how to play your hand is stack size - that is, the sizes of your stack and the stacks of the other players in the game. (For those not keen to poker lingo, this refers to how much money you have at the table. It is also referred to as how 'deep' you are.)

(Stack size is virtually irrelevant in fixed-limit poker. The only important consideration is that a player who is nearly all-in will often be desperate to get all his chips in with a worse hand than usual. You should always have enough money in front of you to play a hand all the way through, which is 12 big bets in hold 'em or Omaha, and 16 big bets in 7-stud.)

So why is stack size so important, and how should it be used to evaluate how to play a hand?

Implied odds

Any good no-limit hold 'em or pot-limit Omaha player knows that the games are all about implied odds, especially in terms of preflop play. For example, in no-limit hold 'em, if another player makes a small preflop raise and you hold a small pair, it is usually worth playing even if you know everyone else will fold, despite the fact that you are getting less than 2:1 odds on your call. Though you will only flop a set about one time in nine, you may be in position to reap a big payoff if you do, well over eight times the cost of your preflop call.

The key idea here is that you are "investing a toothpick to win a lumberyard". In big-bet poker, always aim to win the opponent's entire stack on one hand. If you and your opponent each have $100 in front of you and he raises to $3 preflop, you have a clear call with a small pair, hoping to flop a set. If, however, your opponent only has $20 in front of him, you ought to fold. Remember, even though you have $100 in front of you, you can only win $20 from him. The same idea applies when you have a short stack. (This explains why you always want to buy in for the maximum in a big-bet game.)

Reverse implied odds

But can the opposite also be true - that certain hands actually lose value when there is more money on the table? Yes. These are hands that are good, but are unlikely to solicit a big all-in call from an opponent, unless you are losing. Examples include A-K in hold 'em on a K-8-5 flop, or 2-2-4-4 in Omaha on a board of K-8-2. The less money you have on the table, the better these hands will be; you are depriving your opponents of implied odds, and avoiding losing a bundle if your opponent is ahead of you. Hands like 2-2-4-4 or A-K are much better with shallow money.

Taken together, these two effects produce this general rule of big-bet poker: It is much better to have a starting hand that has a small chance to hit an awesome flop, than one with a moderate chance to hit a good flop. Remember, missing a flop costs you nothing beyond your initial investment, but a good flop can cost you your whole stack if it happened to hit someone else harder. This means that if someone has made a small raise preflop in no-limit hold 'em, you much prefer holding 5-5 to A-Q or even A-K, even though these hands are three times as likely to flop top pair as the fives are to hit a set.

A good rule of thumb

Bob Ciaffone and Stewart Reuben present a good rule of thumb about no-limit hold 'em: with a hand such as a suited connector or small pair in good position, you should call preflop if it costs you less than five percent of your stack, and fold if it costs you more than ten percent. ('The rule of five and ten') In between, you have a close decision that depends on other factors, such as how well the opponents play, and just how good your position is.

In pot-limit Omaha, the math is different, because hands have a better chance to hit good flops, but lose much more often when they do. Here, the key consideration is how likely it is that you will get paid off if you hit your hand, as well as the chances of stealing the pot with a bet if you do not.

Adjusting to stack sizes

Most online poker sites allow you to buy in for 100 big blinds, but the most popular server, Party Poker, only allows 50. This provides a good example of how stack sizes should adjust your play. 50 big blinds is very shallow money. Most preflop raises (with .50/$1 blinds) are to $4 or $5, so most of your small pairs should be folded to a preflop raise unless several players are in the pot. Also, because there is less money out there, it is easier to get an opponent to call a preflop all-in. Thus, if someone has made a fair-sized raise in front of you, it may be correct to simply push your stack in, holding A-A or K-K, and hoping for a call from a pocket pair or A-K.

In the 50-BB game, on the flop, if it was raised pre-flop, top pair-top kicker with A-K or perhaps A-Q is usually a big enough hand to commit your money. This game actually plays similarly to limit hold 'em, since the reward for hitting a super hand and the danger of holding top pair are both greatly reduced by the shallow money.

On the other hand, if you are playing at a server where most players have the full 100 big blinds in front of them, you should play looser when facing small bets and tighter when facing big ones. The rewards for big hands like nut flushes and sets are now huge, and you should be playing primarily in the interest of hitting one of these big hands and winning big with it. Lesser hands are more dangerous, since they usually have reverse implied odds and your opponent is taking advantage of his implied odds against you. 100 big blinds is not a ton, but it is enough to be considered fairly deep. Unless someone makes a very big raise preflop, you can see the flop almost every time you hold a pocket pair in this game, and in a passive game any suited ace or suited connector in good position merits a play if it does not cost too much.

Naturally, if the money is even deeper than that, you can play looser still. Refer to the rule of five and ten, and if you have a close decision, tend more towards calling if you are a better player than your opponent, or if he is so loose that he is more likely to pay you off if you hit your hand.

In pot-limit Omaha, both high and high-low, your strategy should generally remain the same up until the turn. Since you will not have the chance to extract more money on the river, play more tightly with drawing hands. You shouldn't be playing longshot draws in this game anyway, so the main importance of implied odds is when you can get an opponent to hit a worse hand at the same time you hit yours. When you might be on the wrong side of this confrontation, you are better off with less money in front of you, so you can minimize your losses if you are behind. Thus, hands like nut flush draws and top set gain value when the money is deeper, and king-high or queen-high flush draws and bottom set are better with shallow money. (This alone doesn't mean you should always play these hands, just that their relative values change.)

The bottom line

Big-bet poker is a game of implied odds, but if there is not enough money in front of the players, it plays a lot more like limit poker. My best advice is to seek out the sites that will let you buy in for 100 big blinds, so you can take full advantage of your superior skills.


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