Huge Stack Of Poker Chips

2020 WSOP Main Event - WSOP.com. 2020 WSOP Main Event - GGPoker 2020 WSOP Main Event - WSOP.com Show All Events. Presuming you are a winning player, the chips in front of you represent only a small amount of the chips you have won over a lifetime. When I look at my chart from the last 7000 hours of play, even the largest stack I have ever wielded at a table is about one pixel tall. Life is one long poker game. Joe McKeehen's play in the 2015 World Series of Poker Main Event was a classic case of using a big stack effectively. He entered the final table with 63.1 million chips. Zvi Stern was in second.

A skill that is commonly overlooked by novice tournament poker players is that of chip stack management. Managing your chip stack refers to an awareness of the number of chips you have and how your stack size compares to those of your opponents. The changing blind levels and how this relates to your stack and those of your opponents also need to be considered.

The first step is to equate the size of your stack to how many big blinds you have available. This is calculated by dividing the current big blind by the number of chips you possess and dropping any fraction. Thus, a player with 2250 chips at a 50/100 blind level would consider himself to have a 22 big-blind (or 22BB) stack.

Many players typically buy-in to a cash game for around 100BBs, but poker tournaments can vary greatly from that number. For example, most SNGs will start with anywhere from 75 to 150BB stacks while large online tournaments can offer as much as 200BB stacks to begin with. Live deep-stacked tournaments often start with as many as 300BBs – so there’s quite a difference. The depth of stacks will have a significant impact on the strategies you employ at the poker table.

Effective Stack Size

Before we mention how stack sizes influence our play in certain situations, it’s important you understand the concept of effective stack size. As a poker tournament progresses the stack sizes will vary considerably. You may have more chips or fewer chips than an opponent at any given time. The shortest of these stacks is what is considered the effective stack size of the hand since this is the most chips that either player can win from each other. You might have a 50BB stack, but if your opponent only has 10BBs available then your strategy needs to reflect that fact.

It’s now time to examine how the size of your stack size will affect your play. Let’s start by assessing the strategies you can employ when you’re sitting there with a deep stack.

Large (45BBs+)

You have room to play your normal poker game. The early stages of tournaments can often reflect what you might see in a ring game, particularly if the players are really deep-stacked. With this many big blinds in everyone’s stacks your full bag of tricks is in play. You can re-steal and still fold to aggression, 4-bet bluff, call in position and speculate with suited connectors and small pairs. You have room to manoeuvre with semi-bluffs, traps and speculative hands without much fear of severely crippling yourself with a mistake or bad read. You have leverage but once the ratio of your stack compared to the blinds starts to get smaller many of these plays can become inefficient. If you are in the 45-60BB range then you also need to be acutely aware of any potential blind level increase.

Medium-Large (35-45BBs)

With this sort of stack size you still have most of your plays available. However, you should generally avoid re-raising in a spot where you would not be willing to call a 4-bet/shove. You will most likely be committed to the hand at this point when comparing the pot odds to the range of hands most opponents would play back at you with. An exception to this would be when you’re playing against someone who will fold a very large portion of his opening range. This player is probably raising light with his weaker hands (in an effort to steal the blinds) and will only commit all of his chips with the very best of holdings. Against random opponents you will usually not have that read so avoiding the situation is usually best.

Medium (23-35BBs)

With this stack size you have some breathing room but will need to be cautious in what hands you decide to open raise with. Limping small pairs and speculative hands is no longer an option as your implied odds are just not available with this stack size. However, this isn’t to say that you can’t raise with them in the right situation. Just be very selective when you’re in early position. In late position you can be very aggressive, especially if the players in the blinds are not liable to re-steal or re-raise very much. Also, if you’re considering a re-raise from the blinds with the high end of this size stack (30-35BBs), a good tactic may be what is known as a “go-and-go”. This is when you make a re-raise to roughly 30% of your stack and, if your opponent just calls, you can shove on any flop – unless you happen to flop a very strong hand. A hand like A-Q or A-J is ideal for this tactic.

Medium-Short (14-22BBs)

Almost any hand that you decide to raise with should be one that you are willing to go with all the way, should you be re-raised pre-flop. In fact, this is very often the ideal stack size to re-raise all-in with. If you are going to re-raise then it will be for at least half of your chips. By doing this you are committing yourself to the hand so you might as well go ahead and get it all in. This also means you can take advantage of any fold equity you might have, which is your ability to make your opponent fold and take down the pot uncontested.

Short (8-13BBs)

You’re now a short-stack and don’t have much room to play with. Your aim should be to double up and get back in the game. Any move you make pre-flop that isn’t a fold should be an all-in shove. While you should be somewhat selective with your hand ranges, you don’t have time to wait for Aces of Kings. Other factors may determine just how wide your range of shoving hands will be (like the bubble of a SNG) but you should not be afraid of playing for your stack. If antes are in play then shoving when you have as many as 15BBs in usually correct – since the size of the pot is that much larger and worth fighting for.

Very Short (4-7BBs)

When you’re this close to the felt you will need to act fast. The blinds (and antes if in play) are going to take a significant chunk of your chips so you need to build your stack back up and out of the danger zone. If you play a hand then it must be for all your chips. You have no room for traps and tricks. In fact, things like limping and min-raises will draw more suspicion from your opponents than an all-in move would.

Critically Short (under 4BBs)

If it folds to you then you’re probably going to have to shove with any two cards, no matter what your position at the table. Unless there is a very good reason (the bubble of a satellite for one) the best thing to do is to push-and-pray, especially if it is still early in the tournament. Clearly, you have no fold equity and won’t threatenanybody with your stack. The odds are that you will be called by just about anything and will have to win at a showdown.

Conclusion

Realize that many poker players at the lowest levels will not know about the concept of chip stack management. They will instinctively know that it’s correct to shove a short stack or call a bit wider in some spots, but you will find many of your opponents to be generally unaware of how their chip stack should be used.

Your chips can be used as weapons and are often more important than your actual cards. The more weapons you possess, the more options you have available to you during the course of a poker tournament. A large stack gives you the most flexibility while a short stack will constrain you greatly, often limiting you to a push-or-fold strategy.

Huge Stack Of Poker Chips

Keeping track of your chip stack and be able to effectively adjust your playing strategy is perhaps the most important skill a tournament player can possess, especially with regards to the endgame or final table play. With practice you’ll be able to master this skill and have a considerable edge over the vast majority of your opponents. Take the time to recognize these situations and good luck at the tables.

By Rick 'RyckyRych' Perlini

Rick has been playing poker since 2007 and is a low-stakes online SNG specialist. He has been a highly active and well-respected member of the Pokerology community for several years.

Correctly Playing A Big Stack In A Poker Tournament Can Make The Difference Between A Mere Cash And A Huge Score – We Look At Some Common Big Stack Errors Here!

Successfully turning a big chip stack into a big final table score is one of the things which differentiate great tournament players from the field. This article looks at 5 common errors made with a big chip stack during poker tournaments and shows you how to avoid them!

Big Stack Poker Tournament Play – Error #1 – Over-Relaxing

Time and time again players build a decent stack during the early stages and then take their foot off of the gas too soon. Before you know it you have allowed several of your opponents to catch up – seriously reducing your ability to put pressure on the rest of the table. Keeping up your momentum and drive to accumulate more chips is a key factor in making a big score in poker tournament play.

Big Stack Poker Tournament Play – Error #2 – Too Much Calling

Since it is (relative to your stack) ‘cheap’ to see a flop, many players with big stacks will call too many bets in the hope of hitting a solid flop, further compounding this by choosing easily dominated hands to do it with. While calling has its place in a balanced strategy, you should be looking to be the aggressor in hands where possible. Taking the initiative against players who know you can bust them will allow you to win many pots without a showdown – calling just ends up building pots when you have slightly the worst of it.

Big Stack Poker Tournament Play – Error #3 – Effective Stack Sizes

When deciding on the best play it is the stack sizes of your opponents which are often the critical factor. For example, you have built a 200 big blind deep stack and each opponent remaining in the hand has 15 blinds or less – here your maximum gain from a single opponent are those 15 blinds. This means that your decision to raise, call or shove should be based on the smaller amount, even though you have a lot of chip the ‘effective’ stack in play can only equal those of your opponents.

Big Stack Poker Tournament Play – Error #4 – Bubble Pressure

Putting pressure on opponents at the money bubble or final table bubble is a pleasure. However big stack mistakes are made here too. Common errors include calling raises from mid-stacks with weak hands (since they are often unwilling to raise you here without a strong holding). Failing to raise when folded to is also an error – those blinds and antes are there for the taking, make sure you use the bubble to accumulate as many as possible!

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Big Stack Poker Tournament Play – Error #5 – Not Respecting Other Big Stacks

While you should, generally speaking, look to take any positive expectation situation that arises – it is often prudent to avoid confronting other big stacks in the late stages of a tournament. The concept is that you are in a great position to exploit the smaller and medium stacks, and risking busting while conditions are this favorable requires an extra equity edge. Simply showing some respect to the other big stacks can leave you in a great position to go after the ‘scared money’ during the late stages instead.

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Big Stack Of Poker Chips

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