Short Stack (Article)

[Red_Diamond]

There was a little article in Bluff this month regarding short stacks, and I’m curious on a couple things.

“Many winning tournament pros spend a lot of their tournament time below average stack. The main reason for this, and some pros may even be unaware of it, is that the fewer tournament chips you have, the more each tournament chip is actually worth.”

Well, maybe I agree with that, and maybe I don’t. I suppose in a certain way you can link this to that.

But lets read down a bit further…

“As a poker tournament progresses, increasing the blinds and implementing antes mean that your opponents have to put more in the pot prior to the hand being dealt. These increasing amounts are ultimately what give your chips more value.”

I’m not 100% sure on this. I used to be under the impression the main reason chips go up in value as you get short is because you are paying back a less percentage of your stack when crossing the bubble. This is all related to the payout prize structure, and is why your chips don’t devalue when you grow a larger stack in a winner take-all tournament.

The author goes through an example of winning little blinds, vs larger blinds in relation to stack size. And mentions how when the stack is shorter in relation to the blinds, it gains more % wise of its size when winning. And while I sort of follow this, I still think there are some conflicting items here.