(uNL Strat) Tells from stack sizes

[BotOnTilt]

This is something I’ve been noticing when playing NL5 and NL10, I’d like to get your feedback and opinions if any of this makes sense. I haven’t played that much at the cash tables <20k hands, so I’d greatly value input from more experienced players. Maybe you may this interesting, or maybe its obvious or maybe you disagree. If you have anything to add please do so, and do you think I’m generalizing too much?


Short stacks:

1. Player who buys in for the minimum (for instance $2 at NL10) and limps a lot and doesn’t raise much. PT stats could be around 35/12 for instance.

These are the weakest players IMO, usually they are passive post flop and call with almost any draw even though they kill their own odds by being short. Since they play very differently from an optimal short stack style they can’t be profitable in the long run. I figure these players buy in for the minimum to limit their losses. This is annoying when you do have a hand, because they often call raises PF and will call your C-bet with any piece of the board, at which time you are committed since they only have a pot sized stack.
I have been playing around with the thought that since they like to watch a lot of hands and see if they hit I will deny them of this by putting them all in pre flop if I figure my hand is above their range. For instance I’m in the BB with KQo and two of these players limp and SB completes – I raise to 20BB putting them all in. I’ve only had this situation come up once or twice but it worked, they both folded and SB didn’t call.

2. Players who buy in for about half the max buy-in, but are otherwise like the short stack mentioned.

These are similar to (1.) but perhaps slightly less prone to get stacked with any piece of the board. Often they limp a lot and are passive post flop. I think value betting the heck out of your good hands, and c-betting less with air works okay as a basic strategy. Especially I feel I often get called on drawy low boards when I c-bet.


3. Short stacks (20BB) who play very tight and their PFR is equal or almost equal to their VPIP.

These are a bit harder to play against, since they will play their hands aggressively, even when they miss the flop. When HU I like to think pre flop whether or not I think I’m ahead of his range and either put them all-in or fold. I have also been thinking of doing stop-n-go’s when they have position on me, i.e. flat calling their raise and pushing any flop. I figure I might get FE in case we both have high cards and the flop missed villain (even though we also missed).


Full Stacks

4. Player who buy in for the max amount, and doesn’t reload until he only has half a stack or less left.

These often seem like people who play for fun, they don’t think about extracting max value of their opponents. They reload to full stacks when they bust or when they just have a very small stack. Without reads I’d assume them to be decent players, but not very good. Also I think they often play fairly straightforward poker.

5. Player who buys in full and then constantly reloads even when being just a few BB’s down.

I think these players didn’t come here to chat and have fun, they want my money. Without reads I’d assume that this is one of the better players, or at least thinks he is. This player is more likely to make all kind of plays and plays aggressively.

[Ironic]

Nice post. I agree with point 5.

[bottomset]

just assume they are all terrible, until shown otherwise

[BotOnTilt]

[ QUOTE ]
just assume they are all terrible, until shown otherwise

[/ QUOTE ]

I sometimes do, but then I get into this "my middle pair is good so just lay down you bluff, fish"-mentality and get repeatedly stacked [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[skydancing8]

2a. players who buy in for the poker stars recommended amount are usually the worst type of player and the ones that I want to play pots with.

[BotOnTilt]

Cool, thanks for the info [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I will get a stars account when I feel I'm ready for NL25 and I need to keep that in mind. I remember hearing about this recommended amount, how many BB's is it?

On the Ipoker network where I'm playing ATM the buy-in is set at 10BB's which is crazy, luckily there is a button for full but it sucks if I multi table and accidentally only have 10BB's when I post.

[swainy]

i refer to group 1 as MBIM in my notes - Minimum Buy-In Monkeys. I attack them in the blinds, i attack them if they limp and I punish them when they flop a pair with KQ.....

[ElectricWaffles]

I've seen all these guys on Party, most $10NL tables have at least half the seats occupuied with a $2 stack. My own personal rule is that i'll leave the table if more than half the table has less then $2.50, which is frustratingly often.

Type one is the most common, my strategy is to put them all in as often as my hole cards will allow and not bother with any post flop play. Often they'll find it hard to lay day JT or K9s after they get reraised PF where they'll lay it down on the flop unimproved.

Type 3 is not as common but easier to deal with. There is one regular multitabler at party who is 1.2/1.2/inf over about 400 hands, he/she always buys in $2 and in my opinion is a waste of a seat.

Types 4&5 are what i'm looking for, type 4 especially. They allows me to play my more drawy type hands and play more than RaiseAI/fold poker. Oh joy!