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Poker: Strategy is crucial when playing short-stacked
Published: 2006-04-21
 When playing in a poker tournament, you'll often find yourself in situations where you're short-stacked in relation to the blinds.
This can happen for a number of reasons. Maybe you've lost a big hand, or perhaps the cards just haven't been coming for you.
Whatever the case may be, you have limited options, but you do have options.
Too often, I see players go all-in with garbage hands, essentially giving up, because they are short-stacked. Well, would you believe that World Series of Poker champion Jack Strauss actually came back to win the main event after being down to just one measly chip?
The old adage "A chip and a chair" is a motto to live by.
Rather than just giving up and throwing your chips in foolishly, here are some strategies to get you back into the game and on the right track when you're short-stacked.
WAIT FOR A DECENT HAND. Now is not the time to try and see a lot of flops with weak hands. You need to look for a hand that plays well, hot and cold, meaning one that has a good chance of being the best hand before the flop. While hands like 5-6 suited are enticing, they obviously don't do very well hot and cold. But hands like A-10 or K-Q would have a very good chance to win if you were lucky enough to hit a pair.
GO ALL-IN. When you're short-stacked, you have limited weapons, so when you do decide to play a hand, go all or nothing and bet everything you have left. If nobody calls, you'll win the blinds and antes that will help you claw your way back to respectability. In fact, when playing short-stacked, your goal should be to win those blinds and antes.
BE THE FIRST PLAYER TO ENTER THE POT. It's much better to be the first one into the pot when you play as a short stack. If someone has already raised in front of you, and then you go all-in, the chances that they'll call your bet increase. You simply wouldn't have enough chips to scare them off.
Since your goal as a short stack is to attack the blinds and antes, logic dictates that if someone else already has shown interest in seeing the flop, it will be more difficult to get them to fold if you go all-in.
AVOID THE BIG STACKS. Unless you have a premium starting hand, avoid going after the blind of a player who has a big stack of chips. He's more likely to defend his blind since your puny short stack won't do a lot of damage to him. Instead, you want to target other short stacks and average-sized stacks. Players with average stacks can't be as careless with their chips, so it will be easier to take their blinds.
DON'T GIVE UP. Just remember Jack Strauss. He became a world champion when it looked like there was no way he could win another hand, let alone the whole championship.
You have to stay positive, dig deep and try to claw your way back into the tournament. Too many players give up, inevitably saying something like, "I didn't have a choice. I had no chips, anyway."
Well, you always have a choice, and the decisions you make as a short stack aren't insignificant at all. In fact, they are extremely crucial.
Here are a couple of final thoughts on the topic.
It's important to figure out just how short your stack is. If your stack is just below average and the blinds are relatively small, there is no real need for drastic adjustments to your strategy. But if you find yourself with just one big blind left, you can't afford to wait too long for a hand to play. You'll have to lower your starting-hand requirements significantly and hope for the best.
The last thing you want to do is ante yourself to death. When your stack becomes excessively short, hands like Q-7 suited or A-5 offsuit are clearly playable. Go ahead and toss all of your remaining chips into the pot.
And keep your fingers crossed.
Visit www.fullcontactpoker.com/news to submit your questions and comments to poker champion Daniel Negreanu.
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You can't run a 'calling station' out of a hand, so watch your step with them
Published: 2006-04-22
 Hard poker truth: You cannot bluff the unbluffable. These opponents are known as "calling stations" because they call just about every bet and raise. It is almost impossible to run these types of players off a hand.
But that doesn't stop even the best players from trying.
With the blinds at $200-$400 at last year's Five Diamond World Poker Classic at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, a player with a reputation as a calling station drew pocket 6s and raised to $1,200. Gabe Thaler, a talented young cash-game pro who won more than $200,000 in tournaments in 2005 and made a World Series of Poker final table in 2004, called with 9-7 suited.
"I called it because we both had a bunch of chips -- $40,000, $50,000," Thaler said.
The flop came 3-10-8, rainbow, giving Thaler an up-and-down straight draw and a backdoor flush draw. His opponent bet out $2,000. Thaler called on the value of his draw.
The turn came the 10 of spades, pairing the board and making a full house possible.
"He checked," Thaler said. "So now I'm going to take one shot at it because if he's unpaired, he's going to give up now. If he has A-K or K-Q or two of the big cards, he's going to give up now. I bet $5,500 and he called it. I'm thinking he has second pair, a small pocket pair. I know he's a bad player and I know he wants to call, but he's not going to call me unpaired. That wasn't his M.O."
The river came the 10 of diamonds, which is the worst card for Thaler's bluff because it makes a full house for any pocket pair. His opponent checked, and Thaler fired at the pot again, this time making a bet of $12,000.
"It's not really a bad play," Thaler said. "Most people won't make that bluff, so any reasonable player is probably not going to call the $12,000 on the river, because I can have any pocket pair now. I can be betting with any hand now because it doesn't look like he has a 10 because he checked with three 10s on the board, so I can be betting second pair and he can't beat it. If I had 9s, I'd bet two 9s on the turn also."
But he tried to bluff the wrong player.
"The river is the worst card for me to try to get him to throw his hand away because it improved his hand," Thaler said. "It was a really bad bluff. I broke the first rule of poker for about the millionth time in my life: Don't bluff the live one. Don't bluff the live one because they want to call. I should've just given up, but I don't have a lot of give-up in me.
"I can't win if I check. I have zero chance of winning, and I don't like having zero chance of winning. I could've picked a better number. I could've bet $6,000. It's probably the same as $12,000 if he's going to call."
Table talk
Up-and-down straight draw: An open-ended straight draw, such as 7-8-9-10, where a 6 or a jack completes the hand.
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