I haven’t been running as good in Fixed Limit lately so I’ve been considering No Limit. The handful of times I’ve tried to play NL cash games it’s been a disaster. I enjoy playing tournaments and met with some mild success. What I’ve learned from playing tournaments I’ve tried to translate to a few cash games and I’m beginning to understand why it hasn’t worked.
I just finished another book from my poker mentor, Ed Miller called Getting Started in Hold’em. The section on FL is a great overview and was helpful as a review for me. But, the section on NL turned a light on! Conventional wisdom in NL tournament play is it’s always desirable to play with a big stack. With a short stack your options become very limited and you are very vulnerable to being knocked out by a big stacked opponent who risks very little of his own tournament life. I’ve always took this notion to heart in cash games and tried to buy in for as much as I could, trying to avoid being pushed around by bigger stacks and wanting to extract maximum value when I get a big hand.
Ed turns the “always buy in for the max” notion on its head. He says that big stacks are a liability for beginners. Expert players are able to ply their trade on later betting rounds, post flop. They are better at reading hands, understanding their relative strength of their holdings compared to the likely hands their opponents have and making good betting decisions based on that analysis. The only hope a beginner has is to find a way to nullify that post flop advantage experts have. The best way to accomplish this is to always play with the minimum buy in. As a novice player the only edge I’ll ever get is in preflop hand selection and then trying to get all my money in the pot as quickly as I can while I still have that advantage. Now, instead of opening myself to getting out played on the turn and river, my strategy becomes a whole lot simpler.
An example would be if I got AJ in late position with a medium sized stack and I’m covered by everyone at the table. An earlier player limps and I raise four time the big blind. Everyone folds back to the limper who calls. The flop comes good for me with A-9-8. The limper checks and I bet half the pot expecting to take it down but the limper calls. The turn is a 7 and now the limper bets into me with a big 2/3 of the pot sized bet. Now, I have to think what my opponent could have. The turn probably helped him, but how? He could have the straight but many aggressive players will bet out when they turn a good draw. He could have made two pair, in that case I may have a good call here hoping the board could pair on the river, counterfeiting him or giving me trips or a better two pair. The 7 could have made a set for him, leaving me only drawing to two outs. At any rate I’m in quite a tough spot and being put in these sorts of situations is what leads novice players to make big mistakes.
Now say I’m in the same hand with a short stack, enough only to just play the first two betting rounds. I raise and get called as in the above example. When the flop comes, I only have a little more than what is already in the pot so I just move all in after being checked to. The limper calls and we both turn over our hands and he shows K-7. The river fails to improve my opponent’s hand any more and I win the pot.
In the second example my short stack strategy has negated my opponents post flop advantage because I no longer have any more money to bet with. My superior hand selection has won me the pot.
It goes without saying that ultra-tight hand selection is a must for this strategy. I can only play A’s-10’s and AK in early position. I can add a few more pocket pairs in middle position as well as A-Q and J. In late position I can play pairs down to 7’s and add A-10 and KQ. In front of a raise I can only play with A’s, K’s and AK. With a re-raise behind I move all in if my original raise was half or more of my stack. If my original raise was less than half my stack I have consider how strong my hand really is. Most of the time it will be a fold.
It goes without saying that ultra-tight hand selection is a must for this strategy. I can only play A’s-10’s and AK in early position. I can add a few more pocket pairs in middle position as well as A-Q and J. In late position I can play pairs down to 7’s and add A-10 and KQ. In front of a raise I can only play with A’s, K’s and AK. With a re-raise behind I move all in if my original raise was half or more of my stack. If my original raise was less than half my stack I have consider how strong my hand really is. Most of the time it will be a fold.
The couple times I’ve tried “short stacking” it’s worked like a charm. With my bankroll taking a hit the past few weeks, I’m hoping to gain some ground back.
