Poker: How to Deal With a Small Stack

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Short-stacks:
In poker, when you only have a small amount of chips it is known as a "short-stack". Just like being a chipleader in a game of no limit poker, having a short-stack is easy to turnaround, and is not necessarily the end of your game. Again, what is important is not the volume of chips you posses, but the relationship between your chips and the force of the blinds. Occasionally the situation arises where you can very quickly become short-stacked during a tournament by a very strong hand being played or by a "bad beat" regarding the last card dealt, and the nature of the particular game can completely changed.

Returning from a long way back:
When the blinds are still relatively low, the management of a medium amount of chips is fairly easy. You have the time to play a few hands, and your comportment at the table should not change much from that which it was at the beginning of the tournament. The only enemies you have at this stage of the game are the calls or paying too many blinds before the flop, where the private cards are revealed- if you only have a small amount of chips it is an activity that you cannot allow yourself to play very often. Equally however, it will be easier to steal the blinds during the time of the tournament when your opponents are more concerned with observing the game rather than playing strong hands, i.e. the early stages of the tournament.
If you only have a few chips and the level of the blinds are still relatively low this is an advantage for you in that it may allow you to stay in the game longer term, it also means that you need to play more hands and take more risks in order to gain more chips and thus prepare for the future stages of the tournament. In effect, in the early stages of the game, stealing the blinds does not give much of a return on your chips and the pot is not that much more valuable. Do not forget that if you win against two opponents you will get triple the chips, and if you play against a single opponent following this and going all-in, you will end up by sextupling your number of chips! For example, if you have fallen down to 100 chips since the start of the tournament (blind 5-10), from a sum that was originally 1500, you will likely be able to play your best poker hands and manage to get back up to 600. The amount of chips that you have is not considered to be small if you are within one or two of the average number of chips of everybody else. In one hand, everything can change and you could come up to the average fairly quickly.
Thus, rebuild your chips progressively (from 100 aim for 120, 140, 180...) before putting it all back into the game. The more you are able to stabilise the amount of chips you have, before re-wagering them, the stronger your double and triple returns will be. Similarly, an amount of chips too close to the value of the blinds does not dissuade anyone; never allow yourself to lose further following a really big loss it is synonymous to poker suicide. Once your amount of chips has begun to rise again, go all-in on a really strong hand (pairs above 10, Ace-King, etc.) do not try to maximise your hands, if your opponent folds, you would have already won the bet from the start and this is sufficient in helping the volume of your chips progress in a positive way. Depending on the profile of your table and your opponents, re-establishing a decent amount of chips will be easier or harder. You will steal the blinds relatively easily at tables where players play in a very tight fashion, but take greater risks at tables where players are aggressive or loose.

Managing a small-stack at an advanced stage of the game:
Practically every player will pass through a bad stage when they are playing in a tournament. It is in these moments that you can establish who the best players are; they will never panic in the face of a small stack. There are several ways in which you can end up losing your stack, if you have wagered chips on a hand that is effectively useless, there is a very strong probability that your opponents will lose respect for you and they will no longer view your game as very credible, especially if the amount of chips played with is not particularly consequential. You will only be able to extract yourself from a bad run of luck if the image you have portrayed at the table has been fairly cautious and that you have shown good form since the beginning of the game. Losing with a very good hand can happen to any player (full versus square, suits versus colours, colours higher than your own, double pair against three of a kind, etc.). Beware of reacting too soon to such a loss by going all-in with the rest of your chips- unless you have an extremely strong hand. By doing this you will be seen as suspect, and most of your opponents will lose respect for your bet.
If your profile seems to other players to be valuable, you should never fall below the equivalent of five to eight big blinds, or you risk always being followed. Alternate the amount of times you steal the big blind so as not to give the impression of raising only under particular circumstance, if you are predictable your opponents will work out the method in which you play much more easily; do not hesitate to go all-in when you are to the left of the big blind but alternate the frequency of such play. The less predictable you are in your raises, the more your game will be respected. Additionally, defend your big blind by going all-in if they have nor been raised previously. Do not play so much in terms of your hands, but more in terms of the attitudes of your opponents; are they ready to pay the raises? Are they themselves a bit short on chips? In extreme cases, the value of your cards is not at all important and do not hesitate to raise when you are in the position of big blind, if only one or two players have followed you, with marginal hands like 3-7, 2-8, etc.
Be reassured, know that a majority of tournament winners often come back from a very large losing position; so long as you posses even just one chip, you are still a potential winner. This course makes it possible to re-tighten your game and to focus your aggression, and play better when you have fewer chips. There is also a strong psychological pressure applied to other opponents when a player comes back from a very small stack to a leading position. You will be, however, handicapped if you are moved from the table when you are in a weak position; your new table will only see in you a potential victim and no longer view you as a player with a proficient poker profile.

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