When to Shove It—or Some Insights on Short-Stacked Play
April 8, 2009
Here’s a question, “At the short-stack, when do you push all-in?” The answer differs for every player. I personally know a lot of poker players who will hang around, searching for elusive Pocket Rockets and Pocket Kings until they are left to a single chip. Others subscribe to the 10 Big Blind rule, shoving all their chips in the middle as soon as they reach that limit.
My strategy is closer to the 10BB rule. I usually start making my move when I am down to around 15 BBs. This way, my opponents are less likely to call and I get to steal the blinds more often. By giving myself a higher limit than the 10 BB rule, I also give myself more time to look for that one good hand. I used to subscribe to the 10BB rule until I noticed that it wasn’t enough to sustain a bad run of cards.
When you’re short-stacked, you’re seeking to double up or steal the blinds all together. The next question would be, “Who do you shove against?” Consider the image of the players around you. If there are only two of you left in the action, shoving to a super tight player will usually give you the blinds outright.
You should also study the chips of your opponent. It is usually best to shove to those with average-sized stacks. The monster stacks will call you with some of the worst hands (and while doing it, they’ll mumble. “Sorry, duty call.”). Shove to the shortest stacks and there’s also a possibility that you’ll get an easy call. Those with average stacks are more cautious and are not likely to do anything crazy. It will be easier to steal the blinds off them.
Now that you know when to push and who to push to, the next question is, “What hand do you push with?” It really depends on how desperate you are. If you are at 15BBs, you can well afford to wait for anything that adds up to 21 or any pocket pair. If you’re down to 5BBs, don’t sit there waiting for that AK. You need to be more aggressive. Remember, the last thing you want is to be so short-stacked that you’ll have three people calling your all-in; checking you down until the river.
So those are my insights on short-stacked play. A lot of people may disagree with me, but with my style of play, the 15BB rule works the best.
Nice article, 15bb is a good time to really pick spots and push all-in. Not so urgent that you have to push into a crappy situation. you can still fold 88, when 2 or 3 other players are re-raising each other. yup I agree that 15bb would be a good time to start shifting gears… Just don’t force it… look for the right time.