Monday, September 11, 2006

Scraping by on the SnG short stack

One of my best traits at the poker table is my ability to sip on a short stack until the money comes in a SnG.
It is unfortunately, something I've had a lot of practice doing.
I'm fine with that. I prefer to wait for good starting hands instead of think I'm Phil Ivey and shove my chips in with, say, A,4, as many of my opponents prefer to do, at least at the levels I play ($10 + $1 is my highest stake, but I've started to play those more frequently).
Actually, I don't even think Phil Ivey does that.
Anyway, probably half the time I play, I find myself nursing a short stack and waiting for a good opportunity.
You probably do to, if you're like me and:
• You fail to catch a fish
• You fold to most raises and refuse to get involved early on in the game unless you've got a hand you simply can't fold
• You are satisfied with cashing most of the time instead of taking chances so you can win
• You bluff sporadically but not enough to steal more than once per orbit
• You get a cold run of cards
• You suffer at least one suckout (par for me in an SnG is at least once, usually when something like my A,K loses to 10,3 sooted)
• You think patience, rather than aggression, gets you more money in an SnG (anyone who believes differently can look at my 67 percent ROI according to Sharkscope and see how they match up)
So, you've played good poker and you've been rewarded by having half as many chips as three of the other world-class poker players who doubled up by playing J,10; Q,K and 5,5 to a raise, respectively, the last guy tripling up when he went all-in against QQ and KK and spiked his 5 on the river.
Here's a few tips on how to make the money. This is mostly the same as Harrington's low-M stragety and his short-stack advice in his latest, Vol. III. But read on because you may offer a few more tips after mine here.
• When you're in, you're all in - Your equity gives you a good reason to push with hands like 9,8 soooted or Q,10 if your M drops below 5. On the bubble, most players won't take a chance of getting crippled unless they've got a monster, and if they do, well, there's nothing you can do.
But...
• Don't call an all-in unless you either have a great read on a guy, and you might by this time, or you have a 10-percent hand like AA, AK sooted, KK or maybe QQ and JJ. Anything beyond that and you're likely in a coin flip, unless, again, you think the guy is a maniac.
But....
• Trust your instincts. In fact, players become chip leaders in SnGs because they're idiots, took chances and got lucky. If you have A,10 and you're against one of those players, and you're really short, call. Occasionally you have to take a chance to win at SnGs.
However...
• If you do call a maniac, or you push all-in because you're close to gasping for air, try to push with a hand that won't be dominated. Avoid hands like A,4, where someone will mostly likely call with any A, leaving you dominated. Try to push with, say, Q,10 or possibly 9,8, giving you a greater chance for a pair.
Also, if you get a pair, any pair, run with it if you're below 4.
And...
• Don't wait until you're almost dead to push. Your equity is your best weapon. If you have an M of 2, all you're doing is pricing someone into calling you. You have to have the chips to hurt someone if they call. If you do, most of the time, they won't call, and you've stolen some significant blinds.
Finally....
• Once you're in the money, you can loosen up, but only slightly. I can't tell you how much extra money I've won because players go back to their usual "Hey, I've got Q,5, I'm pooooshing here" and knocked themselves out. Obviously push if you have to, but don't just go all-in on the next hand because you've barely doubled your buy-in with third.
Good luck riding that short stack.

1 comment:

TripJax said...

"When you're in, you're all in - Your equity gives you a good reason to push with hands like 9,8 soooted or Q,10 if your M drops below 5. On the bubble, most players won't take a chance of getting crippled unless they've got a monster, and if they do, well, there's nothing you can do."

If I get below 10M or if we are close to the bubble, I start ramming and jamming not only to take advantage of the situation, but to take advantage of players like you who are much tighter than me.

Don't get me wrong, I don't donk of my chips left and right, but I'm rarely low on chips at the bubble either. I think we just play so differently that it would probably be neat to play in some SNG's together. I imagine it would be like sitting across from GCox and I love playing sng's with him.