Stack Size

Players wanting to profit from poker games - both live and online - could greatly benefit from an understanding of how stack sizes affect your strategy, yet many people completely ignore this important factor. This article gives you 5 tips for profitable adjustments due to your chip stack and that of your opponents.

There are many ways of measuring stack sizes in both cash game and tournament poker including 'M', 'Q' and even more complex formulas. Here we will simplify the discussion by using a simple number of big blinds indicator.

Poker Stack Size Strategy Tip #1 - Implied Odds

When you enter a pot with a small pair or suited connector you will usually end up folding before the showdown. These folds are made up for by those times you hit a hidden straight or trips and win a huge pot - for example from an opponent with a high pair. Stack sizes are critical here, you can not call the initial bet if either your stack, or that of your opponent is too small. Trips need 12 times the big blind and suited connectors 20 times to consider playing, this includes a 'buffer' for those times you make your hand but do not get paid off by your opponent.

Poker Stack Size Strategy Tip #2 - Pot Commitment

Any time a bet early in a hand makes the pot much larger than the stack of one of the players, they can be thought of as being 'pot committed'. This is to say that it is likely that the rest of their chips will have to go in at some point in the hand, due to the huge pot-odds on offer. You need to spot this before raising and decide if your own hand is strong enough to play for the full amount of an opponent's chips.

Poker Stack Size Strategy Tip #3 - The River Bluff

You set up a hand against an opponent you suspect to have a weak holding. He chases against the odds and apparently fails to improve by the river. You bluff, hoping to induce a fold - and then realize your chips are too few to get a fold. By not adapting your bet sizes through the hand to ensure you have enough chips for a credible river bluff you have ensured that the weaker hand calls you. Plan in advance to avoid this error.

Poker Stack Size Strategy Tip #4 - Re-Stealing