5555th post- A complete guide to shortstacking mid-high NL cash games.

CaseS87 · #1 08-01-2007, 06:28 PM

I've been getting a lot of PMs lately asking me how I own so hard so decided now is as good a time as any to post this guide I wrote up. This can be applied to full ring or 6 max games, but probably not 3 handed and HU.

I'll probably get flamed hard for educating you guys on how to own 2+2 deep stack fish, but it is their fault for not adjusting.

So here it is.

First things first, always buy in for 20bb, and if you get up to 30bb, leave the game and find a new table. This is crucial if you want to be a successful short stacker.

PREFLOP-

--You don't have to raise preflop that often 

Since you are 20bb deep, you can afford to keep the pot small with your marginal drawing hands (AQ, AKo, AKs etc) because it is so easy to get all the money in post flop. Also, if you happen to miss the flop, you only lose 1bb instead of your standard open raise amount (typically 2bb or sometimes 3bb)

To illustrate this point, I have created two fictional poker hands:

You are dealt AK offsuit UTG and you raise it three times the BB. The button calls and it is HU. Flop is J53 with 2 of a suit. You check fold.

As you can see, in this example your EV is -3bb.

Lets now take the same hand, and pretend we limped instead:

AK offsuit UTG, we limp, 2 others limp behind and the BB checks. The pot is 4bb. The flop brings J53 with two of a suit. The BB and you check, one of the limpers bets, and you fold.

The second example is clearly the better play. Your EV in this hand is +2bb (-1bb for your limp, and +3bb for the other players when you flop top pair and win)

--Your raise sizes can be small

This is kind of the same idea as the previous concept I talked about. At a normal mid or high stakes cash game you can usually just raise 2xbb with your strong hands. Raising more than that is pointless because A) you won't get called as often, and B) you'll still be able to get the money in when you flop an overpair easily.

--Hands that can make top pair have a lot of value

When you are deep stacked, it is correct to fold Q2o-Q8o on the button. When you have 20bb on the table, folding these hands becomes a massive mistake. These hands that some "TAGs" would tell you are trash, are actually big winners. If you flop top pair with them, you can get all your money in against 2nd pair and be up to a 3-1 favorite!

--Position is almost entirely meaningless

They'll tell you that position is everything. Well, that may be partially true when you are deep stacked, but when you are 20bb deep, position means nothing. You should be calling raising from the blinds with all the hands that you would limp on the button with. This includes all suited connectors, most suited cards, good top pair hands like Q5o, and most unsuited connectors.

POSTFLOP

Lol, yeah OK...

Ok so thats it. If anyone has any further questions (I can't imagine any, I covered this pretty thoroughly) ask them in this thread and I'll do my best to answer them.

Oh, and if anyone needs any proof that I crush high stakes short stacking, heres a PT screen shot: