Beat The Short-stackers

It seems that lately there has been an influx of short-stackers across the board, both on the big American sites that dominate the market and on the smaller European networks.

Personally, I find their presence irritating – they are the parasites of the mid-stakes world. And that isn’t just because until quite recently, I struggled to beat the good professional short-stackers.So, while some of my colleagues will fight the short-stacks corner, here is some hard-earned advice on breaking the rakeback warriors.

Types Of Short-stack

There are many types of short-stack, and although the good ones are a nightmare, in the main they are bad players. So why should we be thinking about adjusting our game to beat these guys?

Well, there are a few reasons. Short-stacks are generally bad for the game, they stop players being able to play a wide range of hands due to their push/fold style of play and they frustrate the fish.

Fish leaving your table is always a bad thing given how much tougher the game has got lately.So, discourage the short-stacks from even sitting down with you by smashing their win-rate, exploiting them without mercy and ultimately doing your utmost to send them skint.

Some of the fundamental things about beating short-stacks are only visible after you have a really good feel for how they play. The vast majority of them are multi-tabling non-thinking robots.This is after all, why they are short-stacking, as it enables non-thinking automated-response mathematics to beat the games.

As a result, short-stacks generally fall into a very distinct category, which will result in them being exploitable in one way or another.It is far easier to adjust and spot a short-stack’s strategy when you have a reliable sample size on them.

It is very worthwhile to build up big databases on the regular ones, and if the morality of obtaining hand histories by third parties is shady you should at least put as many personal hours in data-mining them as possible.As their strategy is so basic, once you have a decent sample you can tailor specific strategies to beat them.

This is much the same as how you would tackle other regulars, but against short-stacks it can be even more rewarding, as they rarely switch styles and generally play horribly predictably. Exploit and prosper.

1 Super-tights

These guys seem prevalent at the lower limits, but you do encounter them higher also.It should be pretty easy to figure out how to get the better of these guys: steal their blinds with reckless abandon and fold to all their opens.

You should get a really good read on their ranges and how your hand rates against their range. Often these super-tight short-stacks are positionally unaware.

Their mantra is find a premium hand and pray for a call. Remember to never give them credit for stealing your blinds or making any type of move.Don’t go any further than looking at your hand and making a calculated decision against that hand’s all-in equity against said shorty’s open shoving range.

If at all possible, pick this guy as your ideal big blind partner, as this guy in the big blind when you are in the small blind is the perfect situation.They will let you pick up that all-important small blind steal a huge percentage of the time, and your positional disadvantage is minimal as they have such poor implied odds.

Also they never get to abuse position, because they are playing all-in or fold poker.

2 Uber-aggro

These guys are the short-stacks that the fish hate to play. They go all-in with a wide range of hands from all positions.Generally, they will open smallish with a super-wide range from the button and the small blind.They will re-raise all-in over late position open-raises really wide from the blinds, with most Broadway holdings, all pairs and most Aces. Their three-bet shove is generally at its highest in the blinds against button open-raises.

These guys have realised that to make money as a short-stack they need to steal blinds. The short stack at your table is there for one reason, to steal blinds and get paid rakeback. With that in mind, how should you go about combating these aggressive blind thieves? Well the answer is don’t tolerate it, but try to remain under the radar just enough that you cannibalise their win-rate.

If an aggressive short-stack is in your small blind, continually min-raising to steal your big blind, then just click it back. Min-raise him back and watch the robots become flummoxed. They often have no real response. But don’t overly abuse them, stick to min re-raise bluffing them now and again, and let them have most of their button steals.

Turn that one big blind per orbit profit they were making into a 3.5 big blind profit for you. If you have one of these guys to your left, just be sensible. Don’t start isolating fish with such a wide hand range. Substitute those 5-6 suited hands for K-10 offsuit.

If they are shoving a wide range, you need to be calling with a wider range. But a range that makes top pair is going to have far higher equity in the long-term.

3 Good Shorties

Now to the crux of the article. Let’s get into a bit more depth about how to beat the short-stacks that understand position, understand the ins and outs of range, fold equity and stealing the blinds and give some more refined strategy for exploiting them. The first thing is you don’t need to worry about implied odds. Your objective should be just to outmanoeuvre them with superior skill, and steal and re-steal enough to beat them in a war of attrition.

Short-stacks make money in two ways: profitably three-bet shoving against those trying to stack each other and stealing a lot of blinds. The first thing to think about then is your bet-sizing. Min-raising first to act if you have short-stacks to your left is a good option as it is risking less for the same reward. In the same vein of thought, a short-stack that flat calls your open already knows if he’s check-raising, check-folding or whatever.

At least if he’s a professional short-stacker he will.Generally, he will have a pre-defined reaction to your continuation bet depending on the flop texture. The vast majority of them don’t take into account bet-sizing.

To them half the pot is the same as two-thirds of the pot, which is pretty much like three-quarters of the pot. The amount doesn’t change the way they will play their hand. In response, your adjustment should be to continuation bet less with 100% of your range. Instead of $18, use $12. This is just sound maths, as you are risking less to win the same amount, not bringing a gun to a knife fight.

Now, while it’s fine to three-bet these guys a huge amount of the time in position, how else can you take back the initiative? Against a super wide cut-off/button opener, min three-betting should be your staple move.What should you do if they adjust? You should incorporate calling and leading or check-raising all-in as part of an overall game plan.

Against robotic players, concentrate on making the singularly most +EV play in any specific situation.Don’t worry so much about becoming easy to play against – save those worries for combating good players. So, let’s say a 20 big blind stack min-raises from the button.

You have his button steal down as 50% over a significant sample. You have been going after him and hold 8s-9s in the big blind. In this situation, you want to min three-bet and fold to a shove all day long until he adjusts.

Once he seems frustrated by this – by open-shoving or four-bet shoving a lot – re-evaluate and use a more balanced strategy. But the reality is, 90% just won’t bother to think about what you’re doing.

Some short-stacks advocate three-betting pre-flop, simply because it looks so strong and people never know how to react. Here’s how to react: move all-in over the first minimum three-bet you are subjected to, then do it every now and again against that individual.If you see anything that looks like this guy isn’t playing pure premium when he does this, re-adjust.

Now you may think you are going to be horrendously exploitable once he figures all this out. But short-stacks enjoy a joyous existence, limited liability, low radar frequency and simple strategy.They are not looking at how they are being exploited in the main. Although you might well think your adaptations are somewhat primitive compared to your usual thorough thinking, don’t sweat the small stuff, they don’t think.