Strategy question: Shortstacking

[AE6]

i've tried shortstacking and i die a little inside everytime i have to fold suited connectors on the button.....play full, short is just not worth the pain.

[youcanhaveitall]

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Oh and FWIW I don't think there is anything wrong with shortstacking. The thing with shortstacking SSNL or uNL is that most opponents are weak enough that a good player is sacrificing a lot of EV by not buying in full. But in super aggressive games with good players who you don't have an edge over playing with a 20BB stack is a great way to stay out of trouble and still win.

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TY that was the kind of answear I was looking for.
What range would you in general say that you would try to get it all-in pf with a 20 bb stack?
I know that there dosent exist an ABC guide over which hands to play, but applying some general guidelines would still be awesome

EDIT: and before people here start hating me, I currently have no plans for playing as a shortstack. I believe that I will be able to beat nl50 in at least a week.
I just think this is interesting for 2 reasons:

Regards, Youcanhaveitall

1) to get a better grasp of the game and potential strategy
2) knowing our opponents and developing a good counterstrategy

[ikestoys]

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Even if you dont like shortstacking you could try and help me answearing the question as to why its a succesful strategy.

Furthermore it has to be useful to know how a good shortstacking player thinks, so you can find a way to beat him

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oxymoron sir

[kitaristi0]

The two books I mentioned have some discussion on what kinds of hand ranges you should have when playing shortstack. Generally you want to play very tight and just focus on getting all your money in preflop or on the flop with your premium hands. NLHETAP also has a chapter on calling preflop shoves, the Sklansky-Chubokov rankings and other stuff that you will want to read.

You mentioned wanting to find strategies to beat a good shortstacker. The problem with this is that there really isn't any way to beat a very good shortstack player. Luckily for us, I don't think anyone at 200NL and below fits the description of a very good shortstack player.

[youcanhaveitall]

Kitaristi0 -> are you implying that shortstacking then is the perfect strategy in a vacum?

[kitaristi0]

I'm not quite sure I understand your question but I assume you are referring to my comment that you can't beat a very good shortstack player. I only say that because of his limited stacksize there really is no room to outplay him, and since he is always playing only premium hands the only way to get the upperhand on him is to steal his blinds a lot, and then just fold everything but your very best hands when he plays back at you.

That said I still believe that a good player with a 100BB stack will always have a better winrate then a good player with a 20BB stack. So it's not the best strategy, it's just a lot easier to learn how to play shortstack well than to learn how to play a full stack well.

[MatthewRyan]

READ:

Shortstacking is good when 1. you are below the average skill of your opponents and 2. when they play so agro that you can push hands with showdown value when the opponents start reraising eachother and overall slinging poop.

This is why its good at HSNL. It is bad at SSNL because the game conidtions are not like HSNL. very simple.