Rakerace.com

People might think that starting stack sizes do not really change the way we should be playing our hands, but this is not true. Deep-stacked poker is much more complicated than short-stack gameplay.

This difference is probably the most evident in the case of cash games. If, say, we only have 10 BBs and get a pair of Aces, we should push without hesitation. If we are 300 BBs deep, however, we must always think twice before making a decision.

Deep-stacked games are more complicated and more dangerous, this is exactly why sharks favor them so much.


A game is usually called deep-stacked, if players have stacks bigger than 100 BBs, but deep-stacked games with players having four or five hundred BBs are also a common occurence.

Some basic concepts, like position and implied odds, get a premium role when playing deep-stacked games, as ‘resident cash game shark’ Nick Wealthall describes in a strategy article found on PokerPlayer.co.uk.

Nick emphasizes the power of position, implied and reverse odds, the importance of pot control, floating, c-betting and double barrelling, and advises us to be careful calling with straight and flush draws, as these do not have the fold equity they do when having small stacks and playing very aggressively.

You can read the full article here.