Short Stack poker comebacks

[Minnow]

On the flipside of badbeats.. There's nothing like recovering from almost dead to in the money, is there? I think it's funny/annoying when others in the game get all pissy over "badbeats" when you, as short stack, are forced to push in and start winning. Their anger is misplaced.. if they need to vent at all it should be directed at the guy (oftentimes Mr Fat Stacks calling your all-in with crap cards) who let you back in.

[Minnow]

Strategy for playing against short stacks-

from parttimepoker.com

Playing Short Stacks in Shorthanded NL Holdem
Justin Howell

Playing against someone with a short stack can be tricky. You must be selective of when you are aggressive, because if your short-stacked opponent calls you on the flop, he is likely to go all the way in before the hand is over. If you make a bluff or semi-bluff against the short stack on the flop and you get a call, you must slow down if the turn does not help you. If you continue to fire at the pot with no hand, a lot of times you will get called down because the short stack does not have much to lose.

If you feel that your opponent was on a draw and missed, while you have a decent hand, it is often best to check the river and let the short stack throw the rest of the chips in. Trust me, the majority of the time, the short stack will bluff at the pot with no hand when a lot of the his/her chips are in the pot (which is not a bad play if the pot odds warrant it). If instead you make a value bet, the short stack will give up. This is a good chance to break the short stack.

Some people that like to enter a game short-stacked will play very tight and simply wait for a monster to double up. You must constantly apply pressure to these people as they will fold quite often. If the tight short stack is playing back at you, you must evaluate your hand and decide whether is good enough to continue. Against this type of person I like to constantly raise him preflop when I have position. If he calls, then fire another shot at the pot on the flop whether you hit or not, as he will only be hitting the flop 1/3 of the time, and this type of player is not the type that will want to continue putting a big portion of their chips in without a premium holding.

If the player is loose/aggressive, you must be a bit more selective, but you also must be willing to play back at him. If he is constantly raising preflop, you must reraise a good majority of the time on mediocre holdings. When I am playing this type of player, usually after about 3 or 4 reraises, he will push all in with a speculative hand. Now it is decision time. Let’s say that you have Ax suited, or KJ, QJ, KQ, maybe a middle pocket pair. You must look at the pot odds. OK, for example this is the hand:

Heads up with a loose aggressive player, 5/10 NL, he has $200, you have $1000. He is constantly raising you when he has position with a lot of poor holdings. You pick up As7s in the SB, he throws in a raise to $30. You have a nice hand for heads up play, and he has been raising with a lot of cards, so you reraise to $90. He thinks for a moment and goes all-in. It is $110 more to call with $290 in the pot. At this point you may think that you are badly beaten or at least running way behind, but this is not the time to let this hand go. He is giving you over 2.5:1 on your call. You are a big underdog to Aces, over 7:1. You are a 2:1 underdog to KK-88. You are a 2.4:1 underdog to suited hands like AK-A10. You are a favorite against KQ, KJ, QJ and worse. And there is always the possibility of a bluff on a poor holding. We should allow about a 10% chance of a total bluff on a junk hand. He may be tired of you coming over the top of him and want to try to stay in control of the table. A lot of people do not like to be disrespected by being raised. They want to be the master of the table and win the majority of the pots, so they make a stand like this that to say “you cannot run over me”. In this particular hand, these pot odds are just enough for a call in my opinion. You may lose this hand more often than win it, but in the long run since you already have put $90 in the pot, calling is the right decision and will make more money than folding.

Playing against a short stack can be frustrating, as a lot of your usual strategies are ineffective at best, counterproductive at worst. With some slight adjustments, however, you’ll find that picking off short stacks is not only relatively easy, but a great way to build up ammunition for battles with your real targets at the table - the players who can double you through.

[Minnow]

And a related article regarding playing with short stacks, from the same site. What do you think?

Things to Keep in Mind Facing Short Stacks in No Limit Holdem
Jace Thomas


Players on a short stack can be some of your most frustrating opponents in no limit, simply because the complex style of play you have developed is pretty much useless against people without a lot of money in front of them. No limit is largely about the threat of taking someone's money; when an opponent is short, that threat is small or nonexistent, since they have little to lose. A brief overview of some adjustments you have to consider making when you're in a hand with a short stack [especially if you're heads up]:

1) Forget about fancy raising plays with draws. Raising with draws, checkraising with draws, betting the turn after you call the flop and your opponent checks - forget all of them. If your opponent has any type of reasonable hand and is short stacked, chances are you'll be called - and almost all of the above mentioned moves are only successful because of the decent potential for you to take down the pot with just the bet.

2) Tighten up preflop against raises from the short stack. Especially with smaller drawing hands, just fold to preflop raises. Drawing hands are basically useless against a player who is likely to move all in on the flop. Stick to pairs and big cards, and don't be afraid to reraise with these hands to isolate the short stack if they've been pulling the same trick a lot in recent rounds.

3) Bluffing isn't going to work nearly as often. See #1.


4) Don't make the mistake of connecting short stack with bad player. I see a lot of people give loose calls to bets from short stacks that they would never consider making in normal circumstances. The most common scenario goes something like this: Player 'x' has about $85 in a 2-5 NL game and raises to $20 preflop. Everyone folds to Player 'Y' in the BB who calls and flops bottom pair. Player 'Y' Checks, Player 'X' goes all in, and player 'Y' calls like a shot - even though he would almost NEVER call bottom pair at less than 2-1. If you sense a short stack is desperate, fine. But just because someone is low on chips, don't completely abandon your usual calling standards. Short stacks get big pairs with the same frequency as players on large stacks.

5) If you're to the right of a short stack who is tossing around some chips preflop, consider using them for a 'springboard' raise when you hold AA or KK [even QQ - 10 10 and possibly AK works for this as well] in early position. Basically, you open for a smallish raise, enticing the short stack to reraise all in. More often than not, given the phenomenon described in #4, you'll get players after the short stack calling, and then you can come over the top with a massive three bet, either taking down the pot right there or trapping another opponent into a call at unfavorable odds.