Cash Game Stack Strategy: Short Stack vs. Deep Stack

Recently, I wrote a piece on the advantages for buying a small amount of chips (20-40x the big blind) in a no-limit cash game.

While there are several surprising advantages for beginners to purposely be playing on a shortstack, experienced and confident players will also find many advantages in buying in for the maximum amount.

I will often buy in for the most possible for three main reasons. Let’s take look at why you probably want to as well if you’re an intermediate-or-beyond player:

Advantages of buying in for the maximum in a cash game

1. You can simply make more money

The first motivation for buying in for the maximum is purely about profit. If you have a big stack in front of you, you can simply win larger pots and make more money in less time.

Since all online poker tables and casino cardrooms operate on table stakes you are entitled to win as much of your opponents’ money as you have in front of you.

If you’re playing a big hand against an opponent who’s been winning at the table and has $400 you can go all-in with your $200 and possibly win $400. If you started with $40, you could only win $80.

If you have the bankroll for the stakes you want to play the easiest way to maximize your equity in the game is to start off with a big stack.

2. Bring the most soldiers to the battle

I believe it was Johnny Chan who once said something akin to, “Poker is a war and your chips are your soldiers.” Usually, the side with the most soldiers is going to win the war or at least the battle. Arm yourself with the most soldiers at the table.

Chips and position are power in Hold’em and should always be looking for any extra edge that you can take. A big stack is also more intimidating to your opponents than the one that amounts to little more than scared money.

This is just as true in cash games as it is in tournaments. They see what looks like a winning player sit down with an adequate bankroll. Your opponents will have their first sign that you mean business and they will tend to avoid confrontations with you because you can break them.

Also, if you believe you have a skill advantage over most, if not all, of your opponents you want to be able to win more of their chips via a big stack.

3. Comfort and the ability to draw

I occasionally buy in with a short stack for the advantages mentioned in my previous article, but it definitely isn’t a comfortable cash game experience. When you don’t have a lot of chips, you’re constantly battling the blinds and just hoping to pick up a monster hand.

Even if you do win an all-in pot or two with a short stack you probably haven’t made a significant amount of money.

On the converse, a sizable stack allows you to play plenty of rounds without the blinds affecting you. You can be more selective about your starting hands and play large pots when you have the best of it.

Also, you may be more willing to gamble on open-ended straight or flush draws when it won’t cripple you or force you to be all-in.

You’re almost always going to want to buy in for the max with a skill advantage

If you feel as though you have a skill advantage in a no-limit hold’em cash game, plan to be at the table for a while, and don’t feel like battling between the blinds and all-in moves then I thoroughly recommend buying in for as much as you can.

Having a big cash game stack will allow you the flexibility to play a patient yet aggressive style of play, project a powerful image to your opponents, and make the most money in the shortest amount of time.

Remember, you only need to win that one monster pot to be a big winner for the session. Be patient and play the cards and situations that you know will put you in the best position for profit.

Most poker experts, authors, and professional players will tell you how preferable it is to buy into a no-limit cash game with the maximum possible buy-in.

While there are several benefits to having a large stack in a ring game such as intimidation, comfort, and the ability to win more when you hit, there are also numerous advantages for buying in for the minimum allowed at the table.

Let’s dive deeper into an unorthodox strategy that can actually work for you at cash tables.

Advantages of purposely giving yourself a small stack

1. Less financial risk

The first, and obvious, advantage of buying in for the minimum is the lower financial risk to your bankroll.

The typical minimum buy-in is 20 times the big blind at a no-limit ring game. That means that you can buy into a $1/2 game for $40 or a $5/10 with $200.

Most poker experts will tell you to avoid playing in games over your bankroll.

That is sound advice for beginning players, but if you feel you can take on bigger games why not give it a shot for the minimum?

Of course, you’ll need to feel comfortable enough losing it and playing on a short buy-in for it to be worthwhile. If you only have $200 to play with, buying in $40 a few times gives you more leverage than possibly losing all your money on one bad beat.

2. Your decisions become less complicated

When you don’t have very many chips in front of you, decisions can become much easier and thus can work well for beginners.

Instead of putting in a second raise preflop you can just shove your whole stack in. Because larger stacks might not see it as much of a risk you will often get paid off more with your big hands than you would if you had more chips.

When you move all-in, you don’t have to make any further decisions in the hand.

If you get called, you just watch the cards fall and hope for the best. If you don’t get called you’ve picked up more ammunition for future moves. At the same time, your opponents may try to run over you.

They often (incorrectly) assume that you’ll play extremely tight as the short stack and that you will be intimidated by bets of exactly your chip stack.

If you’re going to buy-in for the minimum, you can’t be afraid to move all-in.

3. Greater chance of doubling up

When considering how much to bring to the table you should realize that just because you start off small there is nothing preventing you from continuing to double up, dominate the rest of the table, and build a formidable stack that towers over your rivals’ pitiful offerings.

It’s a great feeling to buy-in with some small extra cash and wind up becoming the chip leader at the table because of some well-timed aggression and fortunate holdings. If you can quickly double-up your initial buy-in you often won’t be too far behind the average stacks at the table.

If the flop hits you getting all-in right there should be your goal

Hands that I’m willing to go all-in with preflop on a short stack include:

• Pocket pairs of J-J or higher
• A-K

After the flop you usually won’t have much left in front as a short stack so when you hit top pair with a strong kicker you should be thinking about getting all your money into the pot. If you run into a better hand, that’s poker, especially short stack poker.

When the money goes in there are almost always outs to make the winning hand. If you don’t connect, at least you didn’t buy in for much

Remember, you don’t want to just call a lot of raises with a small stack. That will deplete your chips and leave you without enough to go to battle with and make any serious money on future hands.

As a short stack, you’re better off going all-in with a quality hand preflop when you still have some money at the table.

Of course, this type of buy-in may not be for you, but I’ll sit down for the minimum about 10-20% of the time to challenge myself and try to make a big profit out of a small investment. That can be an incredibly rewarding feeling

Key Takeaways