Short Stack

A recurring theme I see in cash games happens when someone loses a pot and becomes short. Some just rebuy, but over and over, I see players in this position jamming too often in little pots.

Tournament players know how to play the short stack or they shouldn’t even bother, but cash players are all over the place. Many are just ready to get it over with and on to something else.

I don’t know if any of you see this population tendency, here’s what I see:

People are not happy when they get short, because they lost to get there. I’m not talking about good players here, they probably rebuy. The first shove is always value, but it folds everyone when more money would be made playing it differently.

But if villain shoves again, a few hands later, it’s almost always a bluff. The first one got thru, I need to get my money back, so they can’t call this….

I would be interested if others see this happening. Obviously, sometimes you’re in no position to take advantage, but I keep seeing this pattern. Other than players that just buyin short (usually not great players), nobody stays short in cash games.

They either double up, or far more often they punt their stack and head upstairs to the table games.

So, when this starts to unfold, I don’t call that first bet without a monster even though the guy is clearly tilting. But if that gets thru, and he does it again, I’m calling with any kind of weak value.

It’s really not this simple, because there are a bunch of other players to account for. But if everyone else is getting out of the way, I don’t think you’ll be wrong very often.

Do you see this pattern too?
Any thoughts?