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This is Part 2 of a series on playing no limit hold ‘em cash games with a short stack (approximately 20 times the big blind). To get up to speed, you should read the no limit section of my book Getting ...
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I recommended that simple, automatic reraise because many players would otherwise be tempted to call and bail if they miss the flop.
So if I have AQ in late position, I call a raise and the flop comes Kxx (where x doesn’t matter). The opponent goes all in. Should I call, following the ‘either in or out’ rule? Ditto if they just c-bet? Does it change if there is more than one opponent?
How do you avoid getting blinded out while playing so tight? Reload when you drop below a certain amount and hope to be able to double up before your reloads get so much that a double up would still be a loss?
I’ve been trying out short stack play with a reasonable amount of success but do struggle with these issues sometimes.
Chris,
If you won’t know how to handle a c-bet, then don’t flat call. Reraise instead. Notice that the example I gave had you acting first, not second. That gives you the right of first bluff, so to speak. The fold equity is important.
I’m not saying that flat calling is bad in position. Sometimes it’s good. But it’s not good if you wouldn’t beat your opponent into a pot against a c-bet. If missing the flop and getting bet into is going to make you cringe, then don’t let yourself get bet into. 
After all, you’re going to miss a whole lot of flops.
The “either in or out” rule is pretty solid. It would take a weird hand to break it, one involving multiple actors on the flop probably. I can’t, off the top of my head, think of a heads-up situation where I would break it.
As for getting blinded out, it’s a common question. It’s a little weird, but actually there’s no such thing as getting “blinded out” in a cash game. You don’t have to rebuy to any specific level to be profitable. You could buy in for exactly one big blind and play profitably (as long as the game was loose or there was no rake).
Remember, it’s table stakes. If you have $10, then as far as you’re concerned, everyone has $10. If everyone has $10, then who’s the one who is getting “blinded out”? No one is. It’s symmetric. Everyone is on equal footing.
The reason you feel like you’re getting blinded out, at least if you play the strategy in GSIH, is that you’re actually playing too tightly, particularly in the blinds. For GSIH, I made the strategy intentionally tight. I wasn’t trying to make an awesome strategy. I wanted a “can’t lose no matter how newbie you are” strategy.
I’m writing this series of articles to try to improve upon the GSIH strategy to make it more awesome. One of the major changes will be loosening up, especially against loose-aggressive players.
Ed could you discuss bankroll requierments for the sort stack play in the future
skillzilla,
I may talk about bankroll, but if I do, I’ll probably save it for near the end. The major issue with talking about bankroll is that it depends heavily on your winrate. If you make 3PTBB/100 you need way less bankroll than if you make 1PTBB/100. So it can be dangerous giving out general guidelines because everyone will have different winrates… some wildly different.
FYI, a standard shortstack strategy standard deviation (which is incorrectly calculated by PT) is 20 PTBB/100.
OK I’m the idiot. What does PTBB mean? I assume BB is for Big Blind in no limit (it would be Big Bet in limit) but what is the PT?
JJS,
Don’t worry, you’re not the idiot. PTBB is PokerTracker Big Blinds which is, by weirdness of PokerTracker, twice the big blind. I guess PokerTracker was written for limit hold ‘em and then kind of hacked to accomodate no limit. For limit, BB/100 is big bets per 100 hands, and a big bet in no limit is twice the big blind.
Meh.
The following isn’t intended to be an unexploitable strategy.
Have you been reading The Mathematics of Poker?
For bankroll stuff, you may (or may not) find these useful:
You need to know standard deviation and winrate.
If I didn’t get the tags right, I can’t edit, so:
What’s a c-bet?
Ed, can you explain why you lose money if you evaluate your hand on the flop and then fold sometimes if you think you’re behind? My common sense tells me that folding in spots where the board is heavy connected (maybe 89T of diamonds) and someone is putting you all-in (if he doesn’t bluff a lot) helps you. It just seems to wrong to me to not use the flop-information you have payed for. I don’t understand the game as well as you obviously, so maybe you could help me on this.
MadeYaLook,
A “c-bet” is a continutation bet, which is the follow-up flop bet by the preflop raiser.
The reason you lose money if you reevaluate on the flop with stacks this short is that a continuation bet doesn’t give you particularly more information than the original preflop raise. You’re getting odds (usually in the 2-to-1 range) so you can be a big underdog (35 percent) and still call correctly.
Often the preflop raiser will c-bet whether they hit the flop or not. If you thought you had the best hand preflop, then even if you airball the flop - even if the flop is a scary-looking one - you’re still in decent shape… decent enough shape to call getting 2-to-1 or so.
The point is, there’s almost no flop scary enough that, if you were ahead preflop, you are now so far behind to justify folding getting 2-to-1ish odds.
Just so we’re clear, reevaluating on the flop is critical if you’re playing regular-sized or deep stacks. This reasoning only works if your stacks are short enough that you can put the rest of the money in on the flop and get good odds on it.
Thank for the explanation. It’s great that you take time for question that are way below your knowledge. Thanks a lot. In which other hobby or sport can you get direct answers from “celebrities”? I think that’s fantastic. Your explanation makes sense to me.
[quote]If you thought you had the best hand preflop, then even if you airball the flop - even if the flop is a scary-looking one - you’re still in decent shape… decent enough shape to call getting 2-to-1 or so.[/quote]
In the situation where it’s heads-up on the flop and either you or your opponents made a 4x BB raise preflop, you will have less than 2-to-1 on your money if you drop the hammer on the flop (if I’m not mistaken). But I think that’s what you wanted to tell me with “2-to-1 [b]or so[/b]” - right? If there is maybe a 2nd preflop caller then this situation may compensate for the times you only have one preflop caller (still takling about a standard 4x BB PF raise). Other reason may be that your answer was actually refering to a very scary flop, which is more an exception than the normal situation. Feel free to critise my thoughts.
P.S. I ordered T&P. I know the basics of Odds & Outs etc. Played Limit and need adjustment to NL. I hope I can skip your GSIH safely.
The Anonymous was me.
Hi Ed,
I am playing around and slightly modified your short stack strategy towards a more aggressive approach especially with a pocket pair. Results so far have been encouraging (at $0.5/$1) tables but I would like to hear your opinion.
So, say I have 77 in LP with 25BB. One limper and a raiser in front of me. In this case I am usually all-in. If I have a medium-low pair in EP, I may limp. If no-one raises I see a flop, if someone raises me, I move all in irrspective if the raiser is called. In this case, I am usually more concerned with the raiser as the cold callers probably would not have high pairs.
The reasoning behind is that I am usually called by the high pairs only and big offsiut cards. Medium pairs that may have me dominated will tend to fold against my all-in move so I am getting what I want (fold equity + calls from high cards over which I have a slight advantage and necessay pot odds).
Yesterday I was involved in such a game. UTG raises 5x BB. Everyone folds to me on the button and I am move in with pocket sevens. Big Blind calls and UTG, after some thought, folds. BB shows AK and my sevens hold up. UTG later moaned about my move with 77… he holded pocket tens.
I would very much like to hear what your thoughts are about this before I hurt myself
I may have to try your idea of playing the medium PPs more aggressively. ISTM that this would be particularly interesting if you occasionally limp your AA, KK or AK then reraise all-in when someone attacks your limp (something I am known to do on occasion).
This sounds great, will try it out tonite.
Good stuff. I look forward to your thoughts on playing the blinds (and possibly stealing). Hands from the blinds comprise more of your played hands because you have to play so much tighter when shortstacked.