The cash game is very different from the Tournament game. Not all players have the same amount of chips to start with, so your hand selection, your pre-flop play as well as your post-flop play all become dramatically different, depending on your size of stack. There are two very different approaches, being the deep or short stack buy-in. Short stacks are usually defined as being between the minimum buy-in and 50x the big blind. Deep stacks are usually close to 100x the big blind and above. In this two part strategy article, I’ll let you know what you need to be thinking about, depending on how many chips you bring to the table.

Part 1 of 2: The Short Stack

The first benefit is that while playing on a short stack, you minimize your risk. If you have fewer chips in front of you, you have fewer chips to lose. This comes at the cost of minimizing payoffs. If you only have 50x the big blind, you can only win 50x the big blind when you hit a big hand.

The second benefit to short-stack play is that your decisions tend to be much easier. If you have a decent hand, but not the best (for example: top pair, top kicker), it is much easier to play the hand with less chips than a full stack. You can get your money into the pot, without having to worry too much about sets, two pair or drawing hands. Your basic concern while short stacked is to get your money in while you’re good, and you should be doing so on the flop or the turn. This is so that you don’t have a difficult decision on the river and also, to prevent draws.

This leads to a third benefit. If you are a tournament player or someone who is uncomfortable with post-flop play, you can avoid those harder decisions by making use of a short stack. In this case, your hardest decisions tend to be whether or not to play a hand in the first place and whether to continue after the flop. Because you have fewer chips, there is less profitability past the turn, making it far easier to make all your moves pre-flop or on the flop.

Of course, while your decisions are easier, so are those of your opponents. You will have a hard time bluffing when short stacked. Your strategy may often be to hit a flop or give up altogether.

It’s evident from these issues that playing short is best for new players or those who play tournaments most of the time. The bottom line is that playing with fewer chips means you don’t have to worry about protecting your stack from draws, but it comes at the cost of higher payoffs.

Part 2 of 2: The Deep Stack

When playing with a full buy-in, Hold’Em is a more complicated game. It’s far more situational, and as stacks grow, this becomes even more the case. What might have been easy decisions with a short stack become more nuanced with a larger stack. For example, you can’t really push with top pair, top kicker, simply because you have far more to lose. That said, many players make better decisions with larger stacks, because they no longer have the tournament “push or fold” mentality. Deep stack no-limit Hold’Em encapsulates the essence of poker. Bluffing, semi-bluffing, trapping, and other powerful moves become meaningful and useful as stack sizes increase.

The first benefit to deep stack poker is just this; you are able to employ a full range of strategic moves. This gives experienced and skilled players an edge over their competition. If you’re not comfortable with these additional aspects of play, you should avoid deep stack and stick to short.

The second benefit is the obvious one. If you hit a draw or have the better of two made hands, you’ll get paid more. Of course, you’ll lose more when you lose, but that’s part of the game.

There is one major problem with deep stack play. It occurs when your opponents are short stacked. It can be very annoying to contend with short stack play, as it steals your opportunity to play the poker that you’re capable of. That said, you can make adjustments to deal with short stack tables. Don’t raise speculative hands but do raise strong starting hands, and be willing to call re-raises from shorter stacks. High card hands go up in value, whereas speculative hands go down because the possibility of larger pay-offs are gone. Most of all, you should make sure you’re still playing sound poker and not just calling raises from the short stacks just because they’re short! Be willing to gamble with them when the time is right, but don’t simply start gambling wildly with them because their stack size doesn’t scare you.

Cash games are an entirely different experience from tournament play and you need to keep that in mind. Perhaps your most important choice is to decide what kind of stack you want to sit down with. Once you’ve made that decision, following these techniques can help improve your odds while playing!

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