Men Nguyen - Down But Not Out, Words From The Master

By Men “The Master” Nguyen

PLAYING WITH A SHORT STACK might be a little bit different for me than it is for you. If you’re not a world-famous player with a bull’s eye on your head, then you don’t have to be so worried about people gunning for you, hoping to bust you. One time, a guy beat me and took an ordinary pot, and he acted like he just won the tournament. He jumped up and yelled, “I beat Men The Master! I’m going to go tell my son I beat Men The Master!” So when I’m short stacked, it’s risky for me to go all in, because I might get several players calling me, hoping to be the one to knock out Men The Master.

I was in a tournament recently in which I was down to my last $675 in chips. But I didn’t give up. I waited until I got a solid hand—in this case, a J-10. I knew if I limped in, people were going to raise. And I knew that if I pushed all in, several other players would call, trying to break me. So I was smart enough to just go in for $400, leaving myself $275. Then the guy behind me raised, everyone else got out of the way, and I was left with one-on-one, instead of having a bunch of people come in. It’s hard to win if you have four of five people in against you. But one-on-one, he’s holding two cards, you’re holding two cards, and whoever hits better on the flop, turn, and river wins it.

If you’re not a target, you can play differently, and there are situations where it’s wise to go all in instead of just raising a moderate amount. Here’s an example from the World Poker Tour Championship tournament in April, when I made a mistake—yes, even Men The Master makes mistakes sometimes—by not going all in with my short stack. I had K-6 of hearts. If I had a lot of chips, I might not have played it at all, but when you’re short stacked, you have to play some hands you’re not supposed to play.

I had about $10,000 left, and I raised $4,000. The big blind was $800, and my $4,000 wasn’t enough to discourage Tom Franklin in the big blind from calling me. If I had gone all in, Franklin might have thrown away his K-Q, but I didn’t raise enough, and both he and Phil Gordon called. The flop came K-3-3. I had no choice, I pushed all in. Phil Gordon mucked his hand, and Tom Franklin called. That was the end of it for me. I could have gotten Franklin out of the hand earlier by going all in, but instead I only raised about half of my stack and it backfired. When you’re short stacked, and you have a halfway decent hand, it can be a safer move to go all in before the flop, in the hope that some players holding better hands than you will choose to fold.

Here’s an important tip: When you’re short stacked, and the blinds are going to get to you and wipe you out before long, you should push it in the first decent hand you get where you’re not one of the blinds. The idea is, if you’re the big blind, and you get everyone to fold by going all in, then you’re not picking up many chips from other players—you’re mostly just collecting your own chips. But if you’re not one of the blinds, and you win, you’ve got the big blind and the small blind’s money.

Ultimately, you have to find some luck and some good cards to rally when you’re short stacked. Hopefully, some guy will think you don’t have a hand, think you’re acting out of desperation, and you can double your chips and come back. But you can’t wait too long for A-A or K-K or A-K. At some point, you have to take a risk. If you don’t take chances and make plays, you may last a little while, but you’re not going to win a tournament.