In big stack no limit Hold’em, one can be successful with a large variety of preflop strategies. Many have beaten the games online playing very tight, perhaps 15% of their hands at a 10 handed table, while others play as many as double that. When playing a big stack, the actual hand you are holding is not as important as what hands you could be holding in the eyes of your opponents. The reason for this is simple – unless you are playing incredibly loose opponents, most hands do not go to a showdown.
Such is the nature of no limit hold’em – you simply don’t make enough big hands to warrant calling big bets. The result is that in no limit, the players doing a lot of betting in the small pots, without losing too many of the big ones, tend to show the biggest profits over time. Hence the loose strategy can be successful – other players, knowing that the threat of running into a big hand is always there, have to fold hands that they think may be best due to the threat of having to play a big pot against a possible bigger hand.
The game essentially becomes a game of chicken where each player puts in bets taking small pots until both players pick up a big hand, which is rare, or someone decides to take a stand or make a big bluff with a marginal hand.
But with short stacks the game is very different. Here you need to have the best hand preflop, because your opponents WILL be calling you a lot both pre and postflop, as the threat of having to play a huge pot is not there, plus, you don’t have the implied odds given you can only win a maximum of five to seven times your preflop raise. So you have to play fairly tight, especially out of position. This part of short stack strategy is boring, but on the other hand, you do get to see a lot of all-in showdowns, which are fun if you like to gamble like I do.
Without further ado let’s begin by discussing the various types of opening hands:
The Biggest Hands
These are the hands that you will be opening with in any position and are willing to go to the felt with in all cases. With a short stack, this is probably jacks through aces and ace king. With these hands simply put in the raise that you have decided on (preflop raise sizing) and hope you are reraised so you can put your chips in the middle.
The Second Tier
The second tier of hands in short stack no limit poker is something like eights through tens, ace queen and maybe ace jack suited. These hands are strong, but going all the way with them is not automatic, even with 20bb. In addition many flops are going to be tough to play with these, especially out of position. For this reason you might consider folding the weakest members of this group in the first three positions of the table.
Late Position Hands
In late position you can play many more hands, even with a short stack. Two from the button you can probably add a pair of sevens, ace jack and king queen, while in the cutoff you can play stuff like sixes, ace ten, and king jack as well. This is still pretty tight – such is the nature of the game.
The Button
On the button if no one has come in you can really open up your range, even with a short stack. Definately any ace suited is playable, as well as probably ace seven or better. I would also recommend playing any two broadway cards and a pair of fives. In position your advantage is so strong that starting with a little worse of a hand can be easily overcome.
The Small Blind
I don’t like playing out of the small blind. You are stuck out of position for the whole hand, and the big blind never believes you when you raise. You end up being called a lot preflop and feel compelled to bluff on the flop, where your bluffs get no respect if the blind is a decent player. To me it’s one of the worst situations in poker. Unless you have a read that the blind folds a lot, it’s a really awful situation, even with a short stack. I usually play tighter from here than I do from the button, and I might even raise a little more than usual to try and win the pot right there.
Your choice from these categories depends on the amount you have chosen to raise preflop – add a few more hands if you are going with the 2.5-3 bb raise, and play roughly like this guide for the 4-5 bb raise. Even if I am raising 4-5 in other spots, one thing I like to do is raise less on the button. The button is so advantageous that you usually are looking for action, even with your weaker hands. The small raise tends to encourage people to call against you and play out of position, where they will usually make mistakes. Even if you are not confident in your postflop play, you almost can’t be bad enough to not be able to outplay your opponents from the button. It is the best spot in all of poker.
A specific “starting hands chart” is not possible for no limit hold’em, even for the somewhat formulaic play inherent with a short stack. As always adjust your play to the table – if you are getting reraised often, switch to bigger hands and vice versa.
Brian Stubiak is an experimental physicist and long-time winner at online texas holdem cash games. To learn more about texas hold’em and read many articles just like this one, go to donkeydevastation.com.