Big-stack power

The start of your tournament has been good to you. You’ve quadrupled your starting chip stack and are well ahead of the other players at the table. Too often, when players run into this situation they don’t know what to do. They play recklessly, feeling as if they are unbeatable, and before they know it they are back to where they began or even worse are out of the tournament altogether.

Knowing how to play a big stack in the early to middle stages can do two things. First, it can prevent the well-known big-stack meltdown that we’ve all heard of and experienced. Second, it can increase your chips in a controlled manner and put you in a position to not only make it deep in a tournament, but to find yourself in the high money positions, which is what tournament poker is all about. It is essential then to consider some strategies and concepts for playing a big stack in the early to middle stages of a tournament.

Before I get started on the various concepts, I want to explain exactly what a big stack is. If you double up on the first hand of the tournament, you are not a big-stack. Yes, you have more chips than anyone else in the tournament, but your stack is only two times the average stack. It also will only take one hand for you to be back to your starting stack. You are in a better position than when you started, but you are not a big-stack.

To me a big-stack is someone who has at least three times the average stack. If 1,000 players started with 10,000 starting chips and there are 500 players remaining, the average stack would be 20,000. To be a big-stack you would need to have a minimum of 60,000 in chips at this point.

BIG-STACK CONCEPTS

ASSESSING YOUR TABLE
The problem most players have with playing a big stack is that they try and let their chips do the talking for them. Granted, chips are a powerful weapon in a poker tournament. But blindly thinking your chips are a licence to win any hand you play is a mistake.

There are several different ways to play a big stack in the early to middle stages, but each of these are dependent upon the players at your table and how they are playing. This is the most important factor to consider when playing a big stack. When you read the following concepts, please understand that no concept can be applied without an understanding of how the players at your table are playing.

KEY POINT

While a big stack can give you power at the poker table it is important that you are aware of your opponents and how they are playing

OPEN-RAISE MORE

One thing you should do if you are the big-stack is open raise more often. I’m not talking about open-raising every hand (although doing so on the money bubble might not be a bad play), but it’s something you should be doing at least two to three times per orbit. Ideally, you want to attack blinds who are survival-minded and are more likely to fold. Another consideration is the size of the stacks left to act. If there is another large stack left to act, you should still open-raise but if the other large stack is the type of player who will often call or re-raise then you will need to tighten up.

Say, for example, you have a stack of 120,000 with the blinds at 1,000/2,000/ a200 at a nine-handed table. It is folded to you in middle position. The remaining players left to act have 23,000, 30,000, 27,000, and 15,000. You have 9?-7? and raise to 6,000. The four remaining stacks know that if they are going to play the hand they will have to play for all their chips.

Because of this, they will fold the majority of their hands and will seldom attempt re-steals. If, for example, the biggest of those stacks shoves all-in over the top of your raise, you will have to call 24,000 to win 40,800, meaning you are getting almost 2/1 on your money. These stacks know this is the price you will be getting and as such they will have a hard time pulling the trigger with all but the best of hands.

RE-STEAL MORE

One of the huge advantages of having a big stack is it gives you the chance to re-steal without jeopardising your entire stack. Other players at the table will often attack the blinds of weak-tight players regardless of the fact that you and your big stack is sitting in between them. If you are able to identify these players, a well-timed re-steal can be a huge source of chips.

Ideally, what you are looking for is a person who often open-raises when first to act and who does so on players’ blinds that you have identified as weak-tight. Pop them with a good re-raise and they will more often than not fold all but the best of hands. For example, let’s say you have a stack of 15,000 with the blinds at 100/200/a25. A good player in middle position with 5,500 in chips open raises for the third time in the past two orbits on a rockish players big blind. Their raise is to 650. You re-raise from the small blind to 2,000 with 5?-2?. The middle position player immediately folds and you pick up over 1,000 in chips while hardly breaking a sweat.

USE POSITION

A great way to use a big stack is by using position. What I mean by this is by seeing flops or making pre-flop re-raises. The re-raise can work in two different ways. Your opponents will fold or will call and defer to you on the flop giving you a chance to pick up the pot. Limping in or calling raises in position pre-flop will often lead to your opponents checking to you, giving you the opportunity to pick up a pot.

Let’s look at an example where you are taking advantage of a tight player’s fear of busting out. You have a 50,000 stack with the blinds at 300/600/a50 and a tight-solid player with 25,000 chips opens to 2,000 from middle position. You re-raise from the button with A?-9? to 6,000. The initial raiser calls. The flop comes 8?-2?-2? and your opponent checks to you. You bet 5,000 into the 13,350 pot and your opponent quickly folds.

Now this can also work well against looser players. Let’s give you the same table, blinds and stack size. This time a loose, aggressive player raises in middle position to 5,500. You call on the button with 9?-8?. The flop comes 6?-5?-5?. Your opponent checks and you bet 7,500 into the 12,350 pot and your opponent quickly folds.

SLOW-PLAYING

One advantage of having a big stack is that you are able to take more chances. It is usually not a good idea to slow-play big hands but when you are being active and aggressive and have a big stack, occasionally slow-playing could be a good source of additional chips. The key thing for setting up these slow-plays is to play the hand the same way you have been playing all your other hands. For example, if you have been open-raising frequently with three times the big blind raises and pick up pocket Aces, then do the same thing. If you’ve been flat-calling raises on the button and then betting when it’s checked to you on the flop, then do the same thing.

KEY POINT

Slow playing a big hand is not usually recommended but when you have a big stack it can be a useful tactic to add more chips, increasing your stack

PICKING UP BIG POTS

If you are playing a big stack well, there will be plenty of opportunities where you will pick up a large pot with a good hand simply because your opponent is either tired of you pushing him around or does not believe you. This reason is the basis for all of the previous concepts that I’ve outlined. Let’s look at examples of each to see what I am talking about.

1. OPEN-RAISE MORE
You have been open-raising on average two or three times per orbit Occasionally, you have folded to a re-raise when you were holding marginal hands. Despite this, you’ve still managed to turn a small

profit with your steal-raises. You are dealt pocket Kings and make your standard opening raise. A medium-sized stack in the big blind shoves all-in for twenty big blinds with pocket sevens and you quickly call. Your hand holds up and you’ve added 20 big blinds to your stack for the simple reason that your opponent was tired of you pushing them around.

2. RE-STEAL MORE OFTEN
You’ve only occasionally made a re-steal but on one occasion you made a player fold A-J pre-flop (he mucked his cards face up) and you showed him your eight high. He’s been gunning for you and you can sense it. He open-raises your big blind from the cut-off and you look down and see pocket queens. You re-pop him again and he can’t get all of his chips into the middle fast enough with A-J again. You call and take him out, picking up a substantial pot in the process.

3. USE POSITION
On several occasions, you have bet the flop when it has been checked to you and you were on the button. You don’t do it every time, but you do it more often than you check. On this particular hand, you called a raise with pocket fives and flopped a set. Everyone checked to you and as you have done so often, you make a bet of half the pot. Your opponent with pocket Queens in early position is clapping his hands quietly in delight as he checked to you fully expecting you to bet. He moves all in without hesitation and is shocked to see that you actually have the goods. More chips added to your big stack.

CONCLUSION

The key to playing a big stack? Attack! But be smart about attacking. At the poker table, chips are weapons. The more you have, the more fear you are able to strike into the hearts of your opponents and the more you can get away with. At the same time, however, it will often also put a big bullseye right on the middle of your forehead. Your opponents see all those chips and will want to get some of them.

If you have a big stack, you should be attacking with it, just don’t be attacking blindly. Know who you are going after and why you are going after them. Don’t be afraid to give up a pot now with the mindset of picking up a bigger pot later. Be smart about playing your big stack and it just might get so big that it equals all the chips in the tournament. That’s the best big stack of them all.