QUIZ: Managing Your Stack

[CRStals]

In conjunction with our recently concluded learning series on Managing Your Stack (You may want to go through this before answering --> CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index) let's throw this question at you:

You are in a 200 person tournament
Starting stacks were 50k starting stack
Tournament pays the top 15%
There are 45 people left and you sit 25th
You have 200k in chips
You are 4th in chips at your table with the chip leader sitting at 400k
Blinds are 10k and 20k

What should your strategy be and why?
A) Be the table bully and get aggressive
B) Sit back and let the short stacks take themselves out
C) Be balanced and target stacks similar to you
D) Other

Show your work now!

 

[MishkaZL]

In conjunction with our recently concluded learning series on Managing Your Stack (You may want to go through this before answering --> CardsChat Learning Poker Thread Series Index) let's throw this question at you:

You are in a 200 person tournament
Starting stacks were 50k starting stack
Tournament pays the top 15%
There are 45 people left and you sit 25th
You have 200k in chips
You are 4th in chips at your table with the chip leader sitting at 400k
Blinds are 10k and 20k with

What should your strategy be and why?
A) Be the table bully and get aggressive
B) Sit back and let the short stacks take themselves out
C) Be balanced and target stacks similar to you
D) Other

Show your work now!

B) Sit back and let the short stacks take themselves out
I suspect that this is not the best option, but it does not require much effort. Poker is 50% skill and 50% luck. So, you just have to be patient, let those who have to finish finish, and wait for a good opportunity to double up.

 

[eetenor]

Great job as always with these informative posts
---D table dynamics are the key here--- we are not looking to min cash in 200 person fields--we will if it is forced on us but not our goal. Therefore, we have to pick our spots and use aggression-- We have to steal blinds we cannot just chip down-we cannot be the table bully however because we most likely will not get multiple spots to play our stack it is just too short. Similar stacks playing a non-GTO TAG style should be open shoving most hands and when they do raise it is top of range which we cannot balance against as our TAG V are raising hands to go with off of 10bb most often--Even if they have a fold frequency it is too low for us to profitably balance against--the solver could do it but we cannot.

Again though all the above is based on table dynamics if there are solid GTO studied players on the table they can have 10bb opens and fold to 3 bet min clicks but most often TAGS will play as described above.

This is a spot which requires deep study. There is much more to our actions here because of ICM than using one of the above strategies alone allows for.

Great job creating the quiz to trigger deeper thought- Your attention to detail is excellent setting up a very good study spot.

 

[CRStals]

B) Sit back and let the short stacks take themselves out
I suspect that this is not the best option, but it does not require much effort. Poker is 50% skill and 50% luck. So, you just have to be patient, let those who have to finish finish, and wait for a good opportunity to double up.

I'm not sure there's a true right or wrong answer here - a lot depends on factors that we don't list:
- What's your typical playing style
- Are you playing to profit or win it all
- How are the rest of your stacks at your table - are they close to you, closer to the chip leader or closer to becoming dust?
- How are the playing styles of the other players - are they being aggressive or passive?
- Are you really willing to sit back only 5 players to the money line with 10 big blinds? Some would be; others not so much

 

[CRStals]

Great job as always with these informative posts
---D table dynamics are the key here--- we are not looking to min cash in 200 person fields--we will if it is forced on us but not our goal. Therefore, we have to pick our spots and use aggression-- We have to steal blinds we cannot just chip down-we cannot be the table bully however because we most likely will not get multiple spots to play our stack it is just too short. Similar stacks playing a non-GTO TAG style should be open shoving most hands and when they do raise it is top of range which we cannot balance against as our TAG V are raising hands to go with off of 10bb most often--Even if they have a fold frequency it is too low for us to profitably balance against--the solver could do it but we cannot.

Again though all the above is based on table dynamics if there are solid GTO studied players on the table they can have 10bb opens and fold to 3 bet min clicks but most often TAGS will play as described above.

This is a spot which requires deep study. There is much more to our actions here because of ICM than using one of the above strategies alone allows for.

Great job creating the quiz to trigger deeper thought- Your attention to detail is excellent setting up a very good study spot.

First off, as always thanks for your kind words!!

There is no right or wrong answer to this but your post is what I was going for with this question.

- We are not comfortable to cash and focus on playing for it all - yet as there are 20 players out of the money and only 5 between us and that bubble line
- We are not comfortable to sit back and let the blinds slip away as we only have 10 big blinds and would be at risk of being hyper short if we aren't more active
- There will be blood shed on almost every hand at almost every table though - the average chip stack is 222,222 and the blinds are 10k and 20k - meaning the AVERAGE player only has 11 big blinds - either there are a ton of players around average stack, or if there are bigger stacks out there, a number of players that are shorter than 10 big blinds - at least 20 that we know of below us - that will be in shove or fold mode.

Your action will most likely be dictated by what happens on the hand before; how many players bust; where you are in relation to the blinds and bigger stacks at your table, and what hand you get dealt.

 

[RhinoRyan89]

i would proceed with option C

I would be abit more cautious in regards to tangling with big stack as approaching ITM

But i would also still play balanced and try to take profitable spots as going deeper in the tournament is more important then a min cash.

When all the money is up top in mtts

 

[maronza1]

In this senario the bst option is to play TAG style
Get involved in the hand in which you are more likely to win, just go with premium hands

 

[Igor G]

B) Sit back and let the short stacks take themselves out
C) Be balanced and target stacks similar to you
I would actually choose a combination of these two options. I would let the short stacks finish the game, but at the same time I would be willing to take a risk if my hand was strong enough regardless of who my opponent was.

 

[pirateglenn]

Great question and scenario, for me - i play to win the tourney so where there is a spot to exploit, i will - this includes being ultra aggressive when the situation, board calls for it, i wont change up my style just because i am 4th in chips at my table, there are still a lot of players to navigate through to a FT and as i am sitting 25th - I have been in these type of situations many times and often faced up with a mega stack trying to exploit me - i once had KK and faced a tight all in call in a similar situation to this and i called the jam and i had KK v his QQ - thankfully it held and that hand alone made me hit the FT so it pays to be brave and fight when the board and the maths make sense.

So option C with option D is my deciding calls.

 

[najisami]

Considering the lack of information in this scenario, some of which you mentioned in post #4, I can't be the bully with my 10 BBs, nor can I sit there and let some short stacks double up. It would be more reasonable to adopt option C and hope for the better IMO.
And btw, thank you again Chris.

 

[dannystanks]

There is not a whole lot we can do with only 10 BBs here, we have to pick a hand and push all in and hope to get the needed double up. This is where studying a good push fold chart comes in. Buckle your seat belt, pick a hand and then we can change our strategy from 10 BB to 20 BB. If not, we bust and play again next time.

 

[sibkaz]

Playing from a position, with premium hands, watching small stacks make mistakes... And a rare bluff when possible)

 

[oriole]

Go with C) Play balanced and focus on stacks like yours, so you can apply pressure without risking too much against bigger stacks or getting tangled with short stacks near the bubble.

 

[19aleks57]

I would play two options B and C, switching from one to the other, depending on the situation at the gaming table and the presence of strong hands.

 

[redboy23]

Hello Poker fans,

I would choose D) Other

There is about 10 000 000 chips in play and with 45 players left average stack is 222 K. Putting me just below average stack size.

However, I am 10 BB and need to look for my premium starting hands, TT- AA including AQ - AK to play them aggressively by shoving. If I get the opportunity to steal the blinds in HighJack or Cutoff a resteal from late position or BB vs SB with a decent hand that is not premium against a shorter stack with 55-99 & KQ - AJ, I will take it.

Players are less likely to risk loosing 200K and I definitely want to fight for those chips!

I am playing to win not min cash! - learning this the hard way and desperately wish to shift gears.