Building Your Short Stack and Playing with a Big Stack

Poker Player John Juanda reveals how to take advantage of tight players and build up your stack as the money guarantee approaches

Author: John Juanda

IN THE MAIN EVENT AT this year’s World Series of Poker, because the field was so large, they went into hand-for-hand play with seven people left before we would be into the money. At the time hand-for-hand play started, I had about 140,000 in chips. And by the time hand-for-hand play was over, once seven more people had busted, I had increased my chip stack by about 50 percent, to about 215,000. I’ve had tournaments in which I’ve gone from being the shortest stack on the table to the chip leader while waiting for the bubble to burst. Hand-for-hand play is a great time to build up chips, as long as you can handle the risk—in other words, be willing to go broke—to take advantage of the situation.

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The World Series is the perfect example of a tournament where you can do serious damage as the money is approaching. I’d say about 70 percent of the people in the World Series got in through satellites. They bought in for around $200, and now they have a chance to cash for over $10,000, so they’re thinking, This is a huge score for me. At the table I was at, there were two good players who knew how to play on the bubble, and the other seven were playing extremely tight because they didn’t want to go broke. So I just raised almost every hand, and increased my chip stack by 75,000 in a short period of time.

The key, regardless of whether you’re the big stack, a medium stack, or the shortest stack at the table, is to be the aggressor—the one doing the raising and re-raising, not the one calling other people’s raises (unless you have a big hand).

When the bubble is approaching, you have to remember that most players are going to get very tight. People might throw away a good hand, like a pair of jacks, or even a pair of queens or A-K. They might think that they have the best hand, but they’re not sure, so they just throw it away because they want to make it into the money. They play differently than they did the rest of the tournament. And because you know people are trying to play more conservatively, you can play more aggressively against them.

HOW TO PLAY IF YOU HAVE A SHORT STACK

When I have the short stack, I generally just try to find a hand that I like and go all in with it. But here’s the key point: I’ll be the one raising or re-raising all in; I won’t be the one calling (unless I have a premium hand). If you think about it, the cost of calling is very high. Let’s say you’re short stacked, and someone makes a raise that would put you all in. By calling, you have to beat this guy after all five cards to win the hand. But if you’re moving all in first, a lot of the time you’re not going to get called. And when you get called, you still have a chance to win. So, by moving all in, you have two chances to win: Either nobody calls you, or, if somebody does call you, you might win after all five cards. When you call somebody’s all-in raise, you have to have the best hand at the end; that’s the only way for you to win. You have one way to win instead of two.

And remember, other people are thinking the same thing as you. They don’t want to be the caller, they want to be the raiser. So that makes it even more likely that people will fold when you go all in. That’s the beauty of it. When the bubble is coming, it’s so much more likely for your all-in move to work.

HOW TO PLAY IF YOU HAVE A BIG STACK

When you have the big stack, it’s just plain easy. If you’ve been playing at that table for a while, and you’ve been doing your homework and paying attention, then you know who is doing what. You know which players are playing tight, and you can steal from them. You’re the big stack, and they’re not going to mess with you.

But one of the mistakes that I see the amateurs make when they have the big stack is to call all-in raises with weak hands. Let’s say the small stack, somebody that has been playing conservatively, moves all in. Good players would never call that guy without a premium hand. You know he’s not going to be playing bad hands. He’s one spot out of the money, so he’s going to be playing very conservatively. But I’ve seen the bad players with big stacks just call with hands such as A-7 offsuit or K-8 suited. Those are things that good players will never do. Why get involved in those hands? You’re in such a unique position where you can keep stealing. You don’t even need a hand. You can just wait until nobody raises, then you raise, you become the first one in, and a good percentage of the time, everybody’s just going to fold because they don’t want to mess with you. When you’re the big stack, you need to play smart and just take advantage of the situation. You want to raise somebody that’s easy pickings, instead of just calling and calling. Remember, people will fold most of the time. When you get on the bubble, about nine out of 10 times, there will be no flop. By raising and being the aggressor, most of the time you’re just going to win it right there.

HOW TO PLAY IF YOU HAVE A MEDIUM STACK

This is where it gets tricky, because when you have a medium stack, you have a lot to lose. Let’s say you have 50,000 in chips, after starting the tournament with 10,000. And if you get into the money, they pay you $10,000, or close to that. Now, if you lose your whole 50,000, you end up with nothing, and that’s a lot of chips to lose and not get any money.

But here’s one way to play when you have a medium stack: Let’s say the big stack has already folded in front you, and now it’s just you and players with fewer chips than you left to act—when this happens, you become the big stack. Now you can play very aggressively, knowing that players with fewer chips are not going to defend their blind or call your raise unless they have a huge hand.

Also, it is possible when you have a medium stack to take advantage of players with big stacks. Remember, if an experienced player has the big stack, then you know he’s going to be playing very aggressively. He doesn’t even need a hand. By knowing that, every time he raises, you can just come over the top of him and re-raise him, even though you don’t have a hand. This guy has a million in chips, he doesn’t need to have anything to raise, he’s going to raise with 7-2 offsuit. Knowing that, you can say to yourself, All right, I have nothing either, but if he makes it 10,000, I’m just going to make it 50,000. I don’t think he can call, because he most likely doesn’t have anything. It’s kind of a risky play, but it works a lot of the time—especially when you have a good read on somebody. Sometimes people have tells, such as raising different amounts when they have a good hand as opposed to when they don’t have a hand. You can really take advantage of that. I’m going to close with another example of something I’ve seen that really illustrates how to execute high-level strategy on the bubble. A few years ago, I was in a tournament, and there was this one guy, a really good player, and we were down to hand-for-hand play. A short stacked player moved all in, and this guy, who had been doing well during hand-for-hand play and was now the chip leader, looked at his hand, and he had A-K in the big blind. And he just mucked the hand! And you know what: It was the right play.

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Here’s why: At the time, at the table that we were at, it was so easy for him to steal. He was the huge chip leader, everybody was afraid of him, so he must have been thinking: Why would I call with A-K? I might lose with A-K. I’m just going to throw it away, then the next hand I’m gonna raise and win the blind again, then the next hand, everybody’s going to fold, and I’m going to raise again. If he had called and busted this guy with his A-K, then hand-to-hand play would be all over. We’d reach the money, and his huge advantage would disappear. He wouldn’t be able to make these moves anymore. But by laying down his A-K, he can raise nine of out of the next 10 hands, and probably win eight of them. Which one is more profitable? To do that, or to call with A-K?

Sometimes, it makes sense to throw away the best hand, because when you’re the big stack, you’re in such a unique situation. This is something that a lot of the math guys don’t understand. They’ll think, Oh, I’m getting good pot odds here, I’m like a 20 percent favorite. But who cares about being a 20-percent favorite when you can just rob people blind? Yes, the odds are in your favor here, genius, but just throw it away, because you’re the huge chip leader, everybody’s scared of you, and you can just raise every hand after that. And most of the time, you’re going to win every pot with virtually no risk.

John Juanda, who finished 31st in the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event and made 15 final tables in 2004, plays poker at www.fulltiltpoker.com.