Going After the Big Stacks

by Carl Sampson
Submitted on Sun, 12/10/2008 - 11:08pm

I don’t really know if the content of this article should be taken as advice or not. In fact incorrectly interpreting what I am about to say could have severe financial consequences for many people and especially those who are on short bankrolls or who are taking a shot at a higher level.

What I am going to discuss in this article is a tactic that I sometimes do depending on just who is on my table and how much money they have in front of them. So read what I have to say and even if it is only for theoretical interest then I hope that it will have provided food for thought for a few people.

Back in the old days (whenever that was), I basically had one single generic way of playing no limit Hold’em. I never varied my tactics based on my opponent’s stacks sizes or how good they were. In short, my game was mediocre and nothing more.

But when my bankroll and my understanding of the game grew then so did the number of tactics that I could implement at the table. I spend almost as much time railing my games these days as I do actually sitting in them. But if I sit down at a game with a player who I have already classified as a potential ‘provider’ then how much money they have in front of them is a big factor in how I want to play the game.

If I see my target sitting behind a 250BB stack then I know that they have been hitting some cards but the mistake that they are now making is that they should have cashed in. If I feel that a certain player doesn’t have the ability to play a deep stack well then I will try and increase my stack as quickly as possible and this factor will impact how I play at the outset.

When I sit down in an online game with no more than 100BB then I am in no immediate position to take this guys entire stack. With the quick turnaround of online players in most games then there really isn’t any way of knowing how long this guy is going to hang around for.

I would ideally like to increase my stack to 150BB as quickly as possible, any more than this would be a real bonus. If my other opponents don’t know me then my initial aggression will more than likely win money during the first few orbits of a six max game. Now it won’t be long before the other players will react to this style of play and players with HUDS will be quickly homing in on what I am doing. But that’s fine because it is a temporary tactic and it isn’t them who I want.

If I buy into a $10-$20 NLH game for $2,000 and my target is sitting on $3,500 then I will try to get to around $2,500 very quickly. Doing this will also affect the mindset of the other players but that is fine because this is precisely what I want to happen because they will be adjusting more or less at the same time that I am also adjusting.

It is for this reason that I prefer to single table at the higher levels, it simply suits my game better. If for example, I move in on someone on a draw and am unlucky enough to get called then I don’t necessarily view this as a bad thing. Combined with my overall level of fold equity should my aggressive play not get countered, my stack will rapidly increase after a couple of these plays.

Sometimes these moves get called but you still make your hand and then a $2,000 stack quickly becomes a $4,000 stack. Everyone on the table has seen this and seen how I have got lucky but I don’t mind this. Their mindset has been affected while I am still sticking to my plan. Only now I am playing solid poker against the other players and going after my target and a 200BB stack allows me to see a lot of flops for only a very tiny percentage of my total stack.

But an aggressive move like this can also lead to you losing a buy-in very quickly but if you are properly bankrolled then this really shouldn’t be a problem. Your bankroll needs to be used for more than just bad runs at the higher limits. It has to be used to enable you to open up and have a wider range of tactics at your disposal as well. But I want to play deep stacked poker and 100BB is deep but it isn’t deep enough for my liking

I also don’t want to hang around waiting forever before I get my deep stack either and especially with online poker. This strategy is multi-faceted because when you get ahead quickly then not only have you affected the mindset of the other players but you are also in a better position to win far more from your target. Then when you adjust and start playing solidly, your new table image will likely add value to any good hands that you happen to get as well. Like I said earlier, this isn’t a strategy that you may want to copy but it may be something to keep in mind.


Carl ‘The Dean’ Sampson is sponsored by Cake Poker and can be seen at www.cakepoker.com/thedean