Playing deep stacked
Our play depends on many factors, among other things, of course, it depends on the hole cards of our opponents, the history and if we get that far, on the board texture. It's not less necessary to consider our stack and also villains stack size...
by MiiWiin
A lot of our moves have been gradually standardised, in particular as
for preflop-all-ins, bet sizes, bluff induce or value bets. When
holding a very good hand, we want to be all-in until the river and
stack villain. This fundamental idea which we should have already
internalised, is related to a play with 100BB which is the maximum
buy-in. Today we want to go through some thoughts about what's
happening when we are deep stacked with over 200BB.
Our play depends on many factors, among other things, of course, it
depends on the hole cards of our opponents, the history and if we get
that far, on the board texture. It's not less necessary to consider our
stack and also villains stack size. We know that we have to play
differently against shortstacks than against fullstacks. The same is
true for midstacks. We don't have huge implied odds, which means that a
„call for set value“ or basically playing a draw is not overly
profitable any more. Instead, we can go broke mostly with „Top Pair Top
Kicker“ because we equally have less reverse implied odds. The move
„bet/fold turn“ is no longer possible most of the time since villain
with his small stack would be already all-in after our turn bet.
As a matter of course, things can go backwards. If we are deep stacked
with over 200BB as well as villain is, we basically have a different
situation than we both would have with a „normal“ stack size. What
follows are some thoughts about the most important points.
1.) Villain
The character of villain is naturally of high interest. It's obvious
that our implied odds increase against more opponents, which reveals
that we can call more hands in position than if we would play with a
normal stack size. Especially against reasonable player (TAGs, LAGs),
we should basically not switch our play. If we play more aggressive
with marginal hands and therefore 3-bet more often, we will get more
often a 4-bet in return. With such a deep stack we have the possibility
of playing 4-bet/fold which we seldom have when playing a normal 100BB
stack. The Bluff-4-bet gains increased significance here but it should
be handled cautiously (see point 7). As a result, we get either
involuntarily into bigger pots or we have to give up the hand anyhow.
Moreover, we can assume that villain, as a relative good player, will
also have no worries when sitting at the table with 2 stacks.
Naturally we are inclined to act more offensive against calling
stations and generally worse players. We want to be involved into big
pots which are usually a difficult task for villain. We hope to win
through our better playing skill or that villain is a bit scared with
his 2 stacks and is even able to fold some of his good hands. Hence we
should impose pressure upon villain.
2.) Preflop-Play
It's already outlined in point one that our implied odds are
increasing. One of the most important facts is that you can 3-bet
without any concern for set value whilst you should think more about
implied odds with a normal stack size.
This concerns even weaker starting hands like, for example, suited
connectors, suited-one-gapper-connectors, suited aces, etc. Normally we
don't call these hands preflop after a raise without precise reads. Is
there another coldcaller before us, we can call profitably in position.
But most of the time, it's not worth a call out of position. It's
possible to 3-bet in position, however it depends on your opponent
because this hands are drawing hands and we have to win often enough
without a hit through 3-bet preflop or continuation bet on the flop.
That's simply because of the implied odds because we're hitting the
board seldom good enough. If villain has a very big stack, the expected
profit is increasing, of course. Hence we can take a look to the flop
in a more profitable way.
But we have to be cautious when holding strong hands preflop. It should
be clear that we play for considerably more money than with normal
stacks. As a matter of principle, we always go all-in with KK preflop
for 100BB. The same applies against very aggressive villains with AK
and QQ. Nevertheless, we should consider if we really want to go all-in
with hands like these for a coinflip-situation. Not only we're risking
more than a normal stack, also villain is supposed to know this fact
and therefore his range is tighter.
Maybe an aggressive player likes to go all-in preflop with QQ and JJ,
but this could be easily different with a stack of over 200BB. Against
a tight villain who doesn't raise a lot preflop, you should worry when
he is 5-betting our 4-bet with KK. As it is a standard all-in for
100BB, here, in such a situation we can also fold such a hand. We will
run into aces most of the time.
3.) The Variance
In addition to point two, the variance is also a topic here. When
searching for coinflip-situations, it's obvious that variance is
increasing with such huge stacks. At the end, not only two stacks are
involved , but 4 and 6 stacks and sometimes even more stacks are
switching their owner. As mentioned earlier, villain is only willing to
invest high amounts into the pot when he is holding a very good hand.
Due to this fact, we should reconsider our standard moves. An overpair
on the flop means not that we automatically invest our whole stack like
we would do it with 100BB. Every decision is at least twice as
expensive as before and unless you are a friend of high variance, it's
better to fold when you are unsure with your hand.
4.) Pot control > Protection
Pot control is naturally more important than protection. We don't want
to go broke with these huge stack sizes when holding marginal hands
like Top Pair Top Kicker or an overpair, in particular. If necessary,
we afford to give a free card or fold due to a scary card on turn or
river. Here as well, we need to adjust the hand ranges. Even if an
aggressive villain often likes to raise a draw, it's easily conceivable
that he just calls with a big stack in order to continue playing only
when he improves. You want to go all-in for more than 200BB with a draw
only reluctantly.
5.) Less Bluffs / Bluff induce
This brings us to the next point. Basically, the higher the stack size,
the less inclined is someone to bluff. As mentioned earlier, the ranges
of villain gets tighter since he is also unwilling to throw away his
big stack due to a inappropriate move. Bluffs are seldom seen in such
big pots, especially when you're on the turn and the pot has increased
significantly (the normal bluff raises are still common on the flop, of
course, since everyone plays his standard moves there).
Therefore we should handle bluff induce cautiously. There are often
situations where you check behind on the turn in order to induce a
bluff and any river calls. Especially with such high stacks you should
be twice as much cautious. On the one side, the bets already have an
enormous size, on the other side, villain is less inclined to place a
big bet as a bluff. Here again, the variance comes into play. Even if
we would think that villain is capable of an all-in bluff on the river
because we showed weakness due to my check behind on the turn. We still
have to ask ourselves if it's really worth to bring this to light for
100BB+.
6.) exploit weakness
In return, we naturally should consider if we might could get an
advantage through aggressive play in order to exploit villains weakness
in such big stacks. We don't talk about the above mentioned all-in on
the river which is definitely too expensive and would only cause a
higher variance. We rather bluff preflop or on the flop.
The above listed thoughts are also noticed by villain in a similar way
and therefore he will play more careful in such big pots. That's why we
can bluff-check-raise on the flop more often in order to let him think
his marginal hand is not good enough to be involved in a very expensive
pot. Here we have quite a possibility to force better hands into a fold
unlike it would be the case in a 100BB stack.
7.) The Bluff-4-bet with increased fold equity
So we want to exploit villains weakness and try to force him playing
for a big pot. Then again we want to avoid expensive decisions with a
marginal hand on the turn. Apart from the already mentioned aggressive
play on the flop, we also can easily 4-bet with a weak hand preflop
once in a while because we are not committed afterwards. Especially
against LAGs that raise and 3-bet a lot preflop, we can play 4-bet/fold
with marginal hands. Villain will fold a lot of better hands. With a
good read you can even 4-bet with 56s and when he pushes his 200BB+
stack we have an easy fold since he is going to push only with a very
strong hand. We have a very high fold equity because it's difficult for
villain to call a 4-bet. Furthermore, he has just a few hands (from his
3-bet range) left for a push.
| Conclusion | |
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We have to act cautiously when we have a 200BB+ deep stack and meet other players with similar stack sizes. We need to know exactly with whom we are playing, so reads are very important. Our implied odds are clearly increasing preflop as well as the reverse implied odds after the flop, of course. We can be involved in a lot of too expensive pots with our marginal hands. As a result, the variance will increase considerably since we are not playing for two stacks, but at least for 4 or (far) more stacks. Those hands with a good showdown value should be played until river if If we find ourselves in a critical situation and we aren't able to |
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