Shortstack Play Poker Strategy

Understanding how to play as a shortstack is vital because it's a position most poker players find themselves in frequently, often through no fault of their own. You lose the ability to make moves on every round of betting with a stack less than 10 times the big blind, normally the only worthwhile play is to go all in or call all in, with a clear preference for going all in because of first in vigorish. Your primary goal is to double up, the secondary goal is to win the poker blinds and antes in an uncontested pot, so the all in move puts you in a position to achieve those objectives. Calling is generally incorrect, you should aim to play just one opponent heads up, rather than a multiway pot, therefore aggression is favoured over passive play; the only time where it may be worth trying to create a multiway pot scenario is, if you are so shortstacked that a double up won't make much of a difference to the size of your stack in relation to the blinds and antes, it may then be worthwhile accepting the trade off of multiple callers for a bigger pot to win.

Obviously, shortstack play is'nt just about going all in; there are many factors worth considering when making the decision to put your tournament life or bankroll on the line. Hand strength is important, but far less important than if you had a bigger stack; your choices are becoming limited due to the chip disposition, your starting hand selection should be much looser because the need to double up outweighs the need to have the best hand in a showdown. Put yourself in a position to double through while doubling through would actually make a significant difference, don't necessarily wait for a big hand if it means becoming severely shortstacked, it's better to gamble once or twice to put you in a better position to meaningfully double up.

Many well known professionals advocate a tighter starting hand selection, but it can be argued that their advice is more appropriate to the much higher level games they play in rather than the ones likely to be filled by the majority of low stakes online players, a looser approach may be more appropriate for most readers, although they are well advised to modify their starting hand selection as they move up in table limits.

Bluffing is worthless to a shortstack, especially severely shortstacked players with less than 2-3 times the big blind, because it is very likely that you will be called, you have lost the ability to scare opponents out of pots. Hand selection is simple, any pocket pair is worth playing, the higher ranked the better. Any two high valued cards such as J10, KJ and QJ are perfectly fine hands to gamble with, rag aces hands are also acceptable, especially if the action has been folded around to you in middle or late position although they do suffer badly from kicker problems. Suited connectors are preferred to one gap suited cards, but both are acceptable especially if they are high ranked cards, any other better hands should be played aggressively and all other hands not listed should be folded. This range of hands will give you sufficient opportunity to pick a suitable spot to go all in.

Picking a suitable spot to make an all in move is arguably equally important as starting hand selection. It is preferable to be the first player to enter the pot to increase your chances of getting heads up with just one opponent because of your first in vigorish. An exception to this guideline is if a deepstack opponent has made a significant pre flop raise, you may choose to call all in understanding that your fellow opponents may be scared off from calling the bet because of subsequent betting that will likely occur on the later betting rounds. Prefer making moves in middle position and very much so in late position, especially when you are the first to enter the pot.

Your poker table image also plays a part. Despite losing much of the value that a table image affords you, it is still possible that your image will influence the decisions of some of your opponents. If you have a tight image, you are more likely to influence your opponents to folding, if you have a strong image, your opponents may fear doubling you up and subsequently fold, if you are loose, expect to get called and possibly by multiple opponents.