Opponent Profiles: The Short Stack
Introduction
In this article
- Not every short stack is a good poker player.
- Table selection
- Avoid tilt calls
The number of players sitting down in ring games with small stacks and leaving as soon as they double up has been increasing for some time. We're talking about the so-called short stacks.
This article will teach you about the nature of short stacks, how they think and how you can make a profit playing against them.
What a short stack is and how to recognize one
The name is pretty clear in and of itself. A short stack is obviously a player with a small stack in front of him. Once you've spotted one at the table, you can place him in one of two categories.
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The Fish
This type of player rarely has any more money other than the little bit he has at the table. He wants to bet it all on a single hand to double his bankroll or go broke. You can make a lot of profit playing against him; he is too loose and makes too many all-in bluffs.
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The "professional" short stack
This type of player is a tough nut to crack. He purposefully plays with a short stack, and does so to his advantage. He usually multi-tables and makes tight steals and resteals.
Why short stacks choose this style
Professional short stack players choose this style for several reasons. The strategy is easy to learn and can be perfected with enough experience.
The simple structure of the strategy combined with very tight play allows short stacks to play at many different tables. This not only gives him an enormous share of rakeback but the high volume also allow him to quickly figure out his real win rate.
Weaknesses of the short stack strategy
You could almost say this strategy doesn't have a weak spot. This is also somewhat true. However, most short stack players don't follow their strategy consequently and are prone to tilt when they encounter high variance, which is part of a short stack's game.
A downswing can rob them of their confidence; they often end up beating themselves. They also tend to end up on auto-pilot, which is to their disadvantage.
A short stack needs to make correct reads on opponents' ranges and the table dynamic to make the right decisions. Multi-tabling often leads to negligence.
The problems short stacks bring to the table
If you're a playing with a big stack in a full ring game, you probably won't even notice if a short stack sits down. He'll play his game and you'll play your's.
You won't have a big problem until several short stacks sit down at the table, or if a very good short stack sits down at a short handed table. The problem: if you, as a big stack, adapt too strongly to short stack hand ranges and play, you will lose on expected value against the other big stacks.
Your dilemma will be making the right adjustments to the situation at hand. Furthermore, you can rarely estimate a short stack's hand range correctly without having played this strategy yourself.
How to play against a short stack
The first step is understanding how a short stack plays. You have to understand your opponent and estimate his hand ranges correctly. You will be able to make the right adjustments to counter an opponent's short stack strategy if you can learn do this.
You should, if possible, read all the strategy articles on PokerStrategy's Short Stack Strategy in order to truly understand short stack play. Trying it out yourself is the best way to put yourself in your opponent's shoes.
You will learn how a short stack has to react to play for the highest possible expected value. Once you know this you can spot opponents' mistakes and use your knowledge to take advantage of their leaks.
Sometimes it's extreme, sometimes just a general tendency. Either way, you will often find players who are not conciously playing the Short Stack Strategy for maximum EV, whose play is simply too loose or too tight overall. You can be somewhat more liberal against such players. They are rarely thinking about hand ranges and tend to go broke playing too loose in the wrong situation.
"Professional" short stacks tend to go in the other direction and play too tight. You can often steal his blind if you notice his resteal range is much too tight, for example.
If, on the other hand, a short stack has a very good and loose restealing range from the blinds, you can try to get him into unfamiliar situations.
You must also pay attention to the short stack's position and the actions of other players in blind positions.
Min-open raises are a good option when the short stack is the SB. The pot doesn't grow too strongly with a min raise, which means the short stack has to be tighter when restealing, since he can now collect less dead money, due to the enormous fold equity he creates. He has to pay more attention to his hand's performance when going all-in.
The short stack will stray from his "ideal" strategy and his long term expected value will decrease if he doesn't adapt. You can expect a lot of calls or 3-bets if the other player in a blind position has a full stack, but that shouldn't worry you too much.
After all, you will still have initiative and position after the flop if you get called. If the full stack starts 3-betting more often, you get better odds to call these 3-bets when you have position; he will also be playing out of position in an unfamiliar situation against you. All these factors make a min raise from the BU possible.
Things get more complicated when the short stack is the BB, since you now have to pay attention to the player in the SB. The last thing you want is for him to call your open min raise and give the short stack a chance to squeeze. His normal hand range for a 3-bet against an open raise fits well into the "optimal" squeezing hand range. The result is that you haven't put the short stack in a difficult situation, but rather yourself.
Take careful note of how often the SB calls an open raise from the button and use this information when considering this move.
Once you learn to accurately read your opponent's hand ranges you can start planning some of your actions in ahead of time. For example, you should know what you are going to do if the short stack 3-bets your open raise with KJo and all others fold.
It's not "losing" if you leave a table with too many good short stacks. You will have a hard time playing your A game with a big stack; the short stacks will force you into too many uncomfortable situations.
Leave the table and find a new one if things get out of hand, or just sit out for a few rounds and see if enough short stacks leave for you to return.
Let's say you just started a session and have position on two very poor players at a short handed table. You can consider playing loose and going broke at the start of the session against a short stack who has position on you.
The only thing you're trying to do is maximize your long term EV at that table. If the short stack spends too much time at the table, you will often end up in the following situation too often: a poor player limps in, you raise to isolate him, then the short stack pushes.
The short stacks robs you of the chance to play in position after the flop against players with large stacks. The only way to avoid this dilemma is to get the short stack to leave the table. The problem is, if you bust him he will only end up rebuying.
The only chance to get rid of the short stack is to double him up so that he leaves voluntarily. It's kind of like paying a bribe so that you can play in very profitable situations later in the session.
This doesn't mean you should seize the opportunity to go all-in with 72o against the short stack. You should try to retain decent equity. The point is, if you get called and end up having made a -EV decision, the result is that you can make a lot more +EV decisions in bigger pots once the short stack is gone.
Don't be loose calling all-ins before the flop. Don't ever start thinking, "I can call that, it's only 13 BBs!
These 13 BBs will add up and you will notice small, permanent losses in your win rate. A tilt call against a short stack is costly, even if it doesn't seem so at that moment.
Conclusion
This article has shown you how to adapt to an opponent's short stack strategy without having to fully understand this strategy yourself. This is the only way to correctly estimate a short stack's hand range and to recognize any mistakes he might make.
You will see that many short stack players stray from their "ideal" short stack strategy and end up making many mistakes. Your profit will come by recognizing and exploiting these mistakes.
Remember the following when playing against a short stack:
- Not every short stack is a good player.
- Min raises can be very effective in the right situation.
- Try to plan your actions in advance and keep them as simple as possible against short stacks.
- Select your tables carefully, avoid playing against too many good short stacks.
- A –EV decision against a short stack can result in +EV in the long run.
- Avoid making calls on tilt.
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