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Best Poker Online Free Games Guide To Why Stack Size Matters So Much

A lot of poker players, especially new ones in free online poker games but also on cash tables often play their hands with little regard for the situation context. This often results in expensive errors despite the fact that they may actually have a pretty good hand.

One common mistake I always see players make is neglecting to take into account the way the size of their chip stack may dictate the best way to play their hand. When I started playing poker around five years ago, I made the same mistake.

The optimum play with a particular hand depends on many factors including your chip stack. A good move for someone with a large chip stack could be a dangerous move for someone with a tiny chip stack.

The fact is that in poker, size does matter. Bigger though is not necessarily better though. Being "deep-stacked" has its advantageous, but small stacks can be equally effective at the poker table.

A Deep Stack Expands Options

For the sake of this article, I will define deep stacks as stacks that are roughly 125 big blinds or higher. Others may define a deep stack as a bit less or more than that number of big blinds, but almost no one would consider a stack of 35 big blinds or less as a deep stack.

I generally adhere to the idea that deep-stack play is better than small-stack play. Most pro pokers would concur.

It is because deep stacks give you more room to take advantage of implied odds. Quite simply, you're allowed more freedom with starting hand requirements. You may play small pocket pairs looking to flop your set or small suited connectors looking to flop a flush or straight.

If you don't get the flop result then you can just fold and wait for a better setup. You can be more patient because the blinds aren't much of a concern; they won't eat up your chip stack that much.

Deep stacks are also very good for maximizing profit. If you are the biggest stack is it a lot easier to extract maximum chips from your opponents. This is not true for short stacks.

Let's consider a good example of this: If you are the largest stack with $900 chips and one player calls your all-in bet with his $600 in chips and you win, then you take all his cash.

Now let's consider another example: If you are a small stack with $five hundred chips and the biggest stack with $eight hundred in chips calls your all-in bet and you win, you cannot take all his money. He'll be left with $300 chips since you didn't have enough money to play for all his chips.

That's one of the pitfalls of the short stack, but there are some benefits.

A Shorts Stack Encourages Tight, Hyper-Aggressive Play

If you are short stacked it forces you to play for all your chips in every hand you play. This forces you to play premium hands like big pocket pairs and big face cards.

You often won't be getting the right price to play small pocket pairs and suited connectors. Those hands need to see the flop cheaply, and every hand played is expensive for a short stack.

The best move is to get all your chips in the middle with big pairs prior to the flop or to shove when you hit top pair on the flop. You do not have the chance to wait since the blinds will eat you alive.

One obvious advantage of this essentially all-in or fold strategy is that it forces you to play tighter. Another advantage of this style of play is that it's harder to be outplayed by more experienced post-flop players.

Your decisions are simple: push or fold. There's no need to concern yourself with the subtleties of the game like betting the right amount or knowing when you should fold the second best hand.

There's also the strange psychological advantage you will have. For some reason, many deep stack players don't treat short stack players with much respect. They assume you are buying in for a small amount since you have a small bankroll or aren't very competent.

It's actually not unusual for the big stack to pay off a short stack player by calling with weaker than usual hands.

I still believe that deep stack play is best, but I've faced some challenging short stack players and wouldn't underestimate their ability.

If you want to play poker online free or after reading this realize that your stack play could do with attention then the fastest way to improve fast is to play free poker games online. When you play risk free you can try things out without having the pressure of possible money loss and that makes a significant difference! And if you want learn to play poker for beginners courses then the free poker sites have great intro lessons too.