NL Hold'em Tournaments - Basic Short Stack Strategy

It is a situation that just about every novice poker player finds themselves in all too often. The stacks around you are growing, and yours just seems to be getting closer to the felt way too quickly for your liking. The problems is that the strategy you should follow when short stacked is counter intuitive. You instinctively want to protect the little bit you have left, but the reality is that a conservative and protective strategy will have you on the rails in no time at all.

This is a subject often covered in poker literature, but it is still a major problem area for most players, even up to advanced levels. You get yourself into a position where you are fighting for survival. The strategy I have found what works the best to recover to a decent level is to steal as many pots as possible. Now I am not suggesting you just go all in at every opportunity, but well times steals when the situation is right can be very effective. The reality though is that there is only one play that works and that is all in. You see too many people on a short stack, trying to make a raise of about 3 to 4 times the BB. The will inevitably get re-raised all-in by one of the big stacks (or even someone who is also in your situation). If you are willing to commit half your chips, but not the whole stack, you are looking for trouble.

This is where Dan Harrington's "M"-factor has been very useful to me. Basically, your "M" expresses your "health" in relation to the big blind plus small blind plus antes (if any), and serves as a very good guide to help you decide whether it is time to make a move.  An "M" below the 6 to 7 mark is the red zone, and implies that you need to make a move fast. The problem however is that many people leave it too late, i.e. they are going to get called by a bigger stack with a marginal or even a weak holding. The big stacks will take a shot at you as your small stack probably won't hurt them that much.

When you are still sitting on around an 8 to 12 M, your all-in move will pose a threat to the big stacks, as they are likely to commit a good 20%+ of their stack. Once you go below an M of 7, you are highly likely to get called, so you are basically praying for good cards.

Position and your chips count are always important, but when you find yourself behind a dwindling stack, you need top become super-alert to the button position and your "M".

The other important factor in short stack play is to try and create a very tight image. You want people to think that you are waiting for a big hand. By the time you make a move, they will hesitate to call. Displaying a tight image will enable you to steal a few pots, even from early position, holding rags. 

This short stack strategy is not one that will help you to recover fully, but it will help you stay alive until you hit a big enough hand to win a decent sized pot.

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