Learning how to Play your Stack

If you fancy yourself moving towards expert poker player status, then you’re going to need to make some very serious decisions about playing your stack correctly. The short and sweet of it, is that you really need to consider how many poker chips you have in front of you, and how many chips you can win from your opponents. It's no mean feat. Let's say that you have a monster stack – 500 or more Big Blinds equivalent. That's a whole lot of firepower right there. Now compare this to having a poker stack of less than 30 or 40 Big Blinds – it's quite a difference. All your decisions in poker tournament play are effectively based around the size of your chip stack. This is especially true of tournament play. As the professionals say in poker - 'Play your stack not your cards.' - this is true where the money is about to balloon out of control. So keep your eyes on the prize and focus on stack sizes, especially in no limit cash games.

Poker Sharks have a Big Appetite

I got to level with you: one of my all-time favourite strategies to make a ton of money at poker tables is when I sit down with players who don't know a whole lot about playing deep, but they play deep anyway. Chances are that if they have a formidable chip stack, sometimes I will bluff off a buy in, or two, in a totally bizarre spot. And guess what happens? They take the bait and more money gets thrown into the middle, and I set myself up for a monster pot. A caveat is in order – this is not for novice poker players. Playing deep is one of the best strategies you can undertake and many professional players love to play this way, especially against poker greenhorns over a long session of play.

Believe it or not, but there are myriad opportunities to set up your opponents for that one killer hand; that one hand that is going to rob them of their entire chip stack. A lot of the time, though, it is set against some crazy 2 or 3 gap inside straight that does a lot of carnage. Remember, your opponents are likely to be bamboozled by your bluffing and your psychology etc. So they won't really know when you have hit your straight. A lot of the time, 2 big stacks will result in opponents putting all of their poker chips into the middle. Over the years, I have managed to hit paydays of $15,000 in $1,000 buy-in no limit games.

The Masters of the Small Stack

We've got to be realistic too. There are many poker players who simply cannot afford to have 500+ 'big blind' buy-ins worth in their stack – that's okay. There are loads of players who have 20+ big blinds in their bankroll. These guys have the intention of pushing before the flop, with any pair bigger than 8's, any Ace/King combination or Queen. This particular type of strategy can yield profits. In any event, the most important thing to bear in mind when you play your stack, is to keep an eye on your opponent’s stack. Many LAG players (loose aggressive players) will typically raise before the flop, with a much broader range than a short stack, and will therefore be priced in to call the additional 16 big blinds against the short stacks’ range. The egocentric nature of the big stack player encourages the call.

What I Like to Do

One of the best things about having a big chip stack in front of you is that players will oftentimes assume that you are bluffing when you make massive bets. Let's face it, poker players are wily characters – they know that a player with a lot of money to push around is oftentimes bluffing, but are you? Your opponents will call you when they shouldn't be calling you. Given the choice between a small stack and a big stack, I always opt for the latter. You can literally push your opponents around as you see fit. Get them angry and get their cash. That's how I roll!

Implementing Stack Play into Your Poker Game

• Effective big stack play against loose aggressive players requires you to loosen up and play more hands in position • Make use of implied odds when you take your opponent’s stack into account • Confidence is key: use small stack strategy until you are ready to use big stack strategy