shortstacking

[uley]

I posted a hand on the micro limit forum and got good/helpful responses - one thing that came up though was the question why was I shortstacking or was I shortstacking on purpose - the answer would be I was not even really paying attention - I had enough to play several rounds etc and all I did was had my stack dwindled by the blinds etc.. so what is the proper way to handle this or why is it important to be comparbly stacked against my opponents - hope that made sense

[AKQJ10]

In limit there are few good reasons to shortstack, though I've done it to reduce variance in a game I wasn't really bankrolled to play. So the general consensus to always have 16 big bets in front of you at the start of the hand is pretty sound (although it's a bit silly to take that number too seriously, because it's extremely rare for a limit hand to get capped on every round).

In no-limit poker there are some very good reasons for beginners to short stack that don't concern us here.

[SmartBugger]

Yea just have atleast 10BB ... 16BB to be safe.


And don't be one of those people who sits down at a .25/.50 limit game with 5 thousand dollars. Never really understood why people do that.

[kayaker]

Read the link provided by AKQJ10. There is some very good advice there about why you should consider short-stacking (not buying in for the max amount).

Once you have done that, understand that more experienced players will mostly prefer to buy in for the max - and fill up to keep it there if they lose a hand or get blinded off. This is mainly for two reasons: We want to be able to apply maximum pressure on our opponents when necessary and we want to be in position to take maximum advantage when we hit a monster and someone is willing to give us their money.