Short Stack Poker - Hand Example 2-4-2008

I've been doing a lot of talk about short stack poker, and I've had a chance to play some short stack poker, here is a hand that I was involved in where having the short stack got me paid off.

MP1 ($24.75)

MP2 ($35.85)

Hero ($4.40)

Button ($19.60)

SB ($15.35)

BB ($9.95)

UTG ($14.75)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ac, Kd.

3 folds, Hero raises to $0.75, Button raises to $1.25, 1 fold, BB calls $1, Hero raises to $4.4, Button calls $3.15, BB calls $3.15.

(Here is where having the short stack works towards making pots three plus times bigger than your current stack because players often don't respect your bets.)

Flop: ($13.30) As, Th, 7s (3 players)

BB checks, Button checks.
(I'm all in, and I hit a nice Ace here on the flop, I'm pretty sure I'm coming away with this pot as long as no one is chasing a spade draw)

Turn: ($13.30) Kc (3 players)

BB checks, Button bets $5, BB folds.
(Even better, have two pair now, pretty much sure I have the best hand here. This also shows where I get fold equity for free, I'm all in and the button with his $5 value bet here forced out one more hand that could possibly beat me.)

River: ($13.30) 9c (2 players)

Final Pot: $13.30

Hero has Ac Kd (two pair, aces and kings).

Button has Td Kh (two pair, kings and tens).

Outcome: Hero wins $13.30.

(I can't believe the button would call such a big bet pre flop. I got my money in the middle with more than likely the best hand unless the blind had a smaller pocket pair.

Where my short stack helped me is that I no longer had any more decisions to make after the flop. The big stack made a decision to force out the blind after hitting his two pair on the turn. Suddenly my equity in this pot grew and I didn't have to do anything except watch.

Finally it showed that short stacks often don't get any respect at the table, you can often get all your money in the middle with a giant hand and still have 2 or 3 people call. This can potentially be bad as you have so many hands drawing against you, but you made a great decision if you still got your money in the middle with the best of it.

If you hadn't noticed, this example also shows that I probably didn't make as much money as I would have if I had a full stack. I had my opponent dominated and could have probably extracted his whole stack on the turn and river with value bets.)