In my opinion, what is really missing is specific situational play for SSS players. Most people will say HU play, but please realize that the majority of people who post on the boards are not necessarily the number of people who read the strategy articles provided by PokerStrategy.com. The reason I think that this is important is the fact that the Short Stack Strategy is probably PokerStategy.com's single largest played strategy (ie. more people play it than BSS or SNG's).
For some, it provides merely a stepping stone to building a small bankroll so that they may play Big Stack Strategy. For others (myself included) SSS provides a way to build a large bankroll. I feel more comfortable playing short-stacked, and over about 40k hands my personal winrate is higher playing 12 tables of SSS than playing 4-6 tables of BSS.
Now as to the missing subject, I feel an article on very specific situations would be helpful. Although I play about 1k hands per day, everyday I see new situations that I haven't seen before. I have recently gone through a very thorough review of my hands played and noticed a few situations in which I am losing money, even though I am following the SHC. For instance, look at this situation:
Hero is in the late position with JJ. UTG has limped in and a player in the middle position raises to 5xBB.
According to the SHC the hero should raise 3xRaise (which is 15BB), and since this is more than half the hero's stack so he goes all-in for 20BB. According to the SHC this is the correct play.
Now here is the interesting part. If we put middle position on raising the top 20% of starting hands (66+, A4s+, K8s+, Q9s+, J9s+, T9s, A9o+, KTo+, QTo+), then there is a likely chance that he is holding at least one card which has a higher value than our own (ie and A, K, or Q). Also, if we put the UTG player on limping the top 30% of hands (55+, A2s+, K5s+, Q7s+, J8s+, T8s+, 98s, A7o+, A5o, K9o+, Q9o+, J9o+), now there is a very good chance that one of those players holds a card which could beat the hero's jacks.
This is confirmed by Equilator. Running this exact situation shows (preflop) that Hero is going to win 40%, UTG wins 28% and middle wins 32%.
Sure, statistics are all in good, but what about the real world?
Well according to my database, I have been in this situation, or one similar to it, 17 times. 3 times I have been folded to preflop. The other 14 times it has gone to a showdown. I have won 5 times, sp 1, and lost 8 times. Now, some people may say that this sample is too small (and I agree, partially), but it does show something interesting. Perhaps in this particular situation it would be better for the Hero to fold than to reraise all-in?
For me, I have lost exactly 20xBB's playing this situation according to the SHC. When you include the rake on the winning hands, that is an additional 4xBB's lost.
I know that there are many other situations like this, but it would be really hard to right an article like this. Also, this article would definitely be an advanced article (probably Gold level), as you would not want someone who hasn't played a lot of hands to start modifying the SHC until they have a really good feel for the game.
I could show a few other situations were the SHC makes the complicated world of poker a little too simple.
I know some people won't agree with me on this, but SSS isn't just for begineers, there are some extremely analytically complicated situations that could be delved into. I feel that this would be an excellent area for PS to expand their strategy section into.
-Brian
