chip-stacking styles

[Rijeka]

i have been playing a lot more B&M the last few months, and a lot less online, as i'm really fascinated by the fact that there are just so many more variables to take in and process.

anyway, i'm curious to hear if what you all think chip-stacking styles say about a person's game? let's stipulate that this isn't going impart a great deal of knowledge to you in and of itself. but, i think there are some generalities that you can use in combination with other information to get some more insight into people.

a few styles i've seen are:

a) giant phallic-type stack with one or two towers. they are often LAGS, and take the game personally. they're more likely to pull off huge bluffs and show you both their bluffs and 'big laydowns' to show how good they are. table-coaches also tend to be phallic-stackers.

b) anal-retentive style stacking with side chip-markings lined up. they seem to fall into one of two categories. they're either tight-passives or 'artist' types who are more interested in making an elabourate play than they are in actually making money.

c) sloppy style, with different sized stacks and different denominations mixed in together. i haven't figured out any particular stereotype with their playing.

d) people who prefer to have a lot of low-denominated chips to create a fortress, rather than having fewer chips that are coloured-up. they tend to newbie/unsophisticated players.

what do you guys think? agree/disagree, or have any other stacking styles and personality types? i'm not trying to make this out to be some big thing, but i think it's at least worth paying attention to at the tables when observing, and i'm interested in other theories.

[govman6767]

Response

a) giant phallic-type stacks....... I disagree if they were the take it personally type LIKE I AM when my big bluff got picked off I would smash the table and look like a fool when the chips fell over.

b) anal-retentive style stacking with chip-markings lined up: I disagree and agree if they are the Tight-passive style LIKE I AM the it is possible they are just bored out of their minds from playing two hours without a hand.

c) sloppy style, with diffrent sized stacks and different demoninations mixed in together: I'll explain it to you if you are a Lazy poker player LIKE I AM you just don't have the energy left from all your good play to stack your chips...so I just leave them there. OR OR OR You could be the devious type player LIKE I AM. I use this trick to hide all my black chips in NL play so no one ever has an Idea how much money I actually have.

d) people who prefer to have a lot of low-denominated chips to create a fortress, rather than having fewer chips that are coloured-up : I'm assuming you mean someone who just has stack after stack after stack after stack of small chips that are just expanding everywhere.

I don't think you can draw any conclusions about this and find it odd you would think they are newbie's since they are clearly winning.

On the other hand I personally (the truth this time) stack my chips in an alternating flower pattern that builds what some ppl in atlantic city, vegas, and WA call " The Castle " It takes a lot of chips to build my castle I once had to play a 175 hour marathon at the 1-3 stud game at El Cortez just to get the first layer built 7 dollars was a good earn for that session and in future sessions I built my castle over a 3 months period that enabled me to destroy the 1-3 stud at the El Cortez for 49 dollars. It's never been the same.
But I feel I can hold my own so I don't understand why you would think we are newbies the average age at the 1-3 stud game at the cortez was 84. So choke on that !!!!!!

[kb09pkt]

I am usually a B&M player and will give you my feelings on chip stacking which are pretty much in line with Mike Caro if you have ever read Caros Book of Tells.

Phallic stacking-Usually loose players and stack their chips so high so that it is easy to make the only move they know, all in. Of course that is if you play NL like I usually do. 1 big stack is a lot easier to push into the pot then 10 smaller ones.

Anal retentive stacker- Almost always a tight player, the reason they line up every marking on the chips is b/c they play so few hands that they have the time to do that.

Sloppy stacker- Usually a loose player, they play so many hands that they dont have the time to make any type of order with their chips.

Low denomination stackers- I agree with you that they do this to make it look like they have more chips than they actually do. This type of player pisses me off more than any other player. Although I love winning any pot off of anyone I hate when I have have to color up their $200 in $1 chips into $5 reds. I know a guy personally who admitted to me that he plays with the low denomination chips b/c he knows it irritiates people like me and feels it allows him to win more pots b/c people don't want to have all the low chips. For me personally, I love to take his money and immediately ask for a color up.

One last type that I didn't see you mention, the person who stacks their chips in multiple small stacks instead of stacks of denominations of 20 or 30 chips. People usually do this b/c they have an amount in mind that they will get up and leave when they hit it. They usually hate dipping into their profit stacks and IMO, they are the best to play against. If I am sitting with someone like that, I am much more likely to bluff a guy and get away with it when I know it is going to pain him dip into his original buy-in amount. He will fold more often than most.