If you have the biggest stack and are in command of a table, it’s very easy to be aggressive with big bets and raises. After all, you’re in no real danger of being pushed out of the tournament, and you have the chips to bully other people on the table.
However, things are quite different when you are the short stack and have to fight for your tournament life. In fact, you’ll have to go all-in at some point (or multiple points) just to get back to a decent chip stack. Here are a couple things you should look at before deciding whether or not to go all-in with the short stack.
Hand Quality
This is one of the most obvious things you should think about before going all-in. If you’ve got Q-Q or better pre-flop then you absolutely have to start thinking about shoving. Even a hand like 9-9 or a drawing hand like Q-J might warrant going all-in if you’re really short stacked. Of course, good hands don’t always fall to us when we’re short stacked so there is another thing you should definitely look at.
Required Odds
One more thing you need to be aware of before making the decision to go all-in is what your required odds are. Basically required odds are really good odds that require you to go all-in when sitting on the short stack. If you believe that you’re getting 2-to-1 odds on any hand then you should be shoving.
For instance, even if you think your opponent has A-K and you only have 10-9 then you should still be shoving since this hand will beat A-K almost 40% of the time. When you put your opponents on this kind of range and get 2-to-1 odds or better then you need to be going all-in.
Keep stuffing that Turkey.
GSN created waves in the poker world when they decided to do away with one half of the High Stakes Poker broadcasting duo after firing A.J. Benza. The move was not only a shock to Benza who publicly complained on his blog about it, but it was also a shock to fans of the show since Benza and fellow co-host Gabe Kaplan played quite well off each other.
We are only four days into the Turkey Grand Slam and the jackpot is growing like crazy.
When we hear of the concept of playing poker with a partner, the word cheating immediately comes to mind. That’s because some people who play with a partner engage in the practice of colluding. But the truth is that you can have a partner in poker without cheating; you just have to know all of the details of playing with a partner first.
There aren’t too many poker autobiographies that I would be excited about. Doyle Brunson’s upcoming book, however, is one I’ll be buying. Godfather of Poker is slated for a November 11, 2009 release and is building a healthy buzz.
There are few better feelings in poker than when you look down at your hole cards and see an awesome pair. It’s an even better feeling when the board helps you land a monster hand later on. But just because you have a great hand does not ensure that you will get the maximum amount of money you should have from that hand. So it’s very important to take advantage of the really good hands that you do get. Here is a look at different ways you can make big profits from your great hands.
With the November Nine FINALLY coming up soon, we’re ready to go with more coverage, news and whatnot. It seemed like it was so far away, and now it’s almost here. It’s like Christmas… gambling Christmas.
Reality TV Update!
