Poker Thinking
How many are constantly considering, “With this stack size, I should…”
I certainly consider stack size, but more as the play comes up. With a tournament coming up, been studying playing the short stack - It just kinda occurred to me that I should be more focused on asking myself that question often throughout the rise & fall of my stack.
Maybe being more prepared with my ranges in advance, instead of when it’s time to get involved.
All opinions or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
4 Replies
You'll have to be more clear on what you mean by your first sentence.
But yes, getting your preflop ranges down across all stack sizes is pretty important.
Have trouble explaining myself with words. I am thinking that instead of waiting until I look down and see a playable hand to consider effective stacks & their implications, that I should already be clear in my mind that I have 22 big blinds, with these possible options.
Always considering what I should be thinking during the game of poker. I think I miss some spots where I should be jamming, because I’m not thinking ahead.
I would sure be interested in people’s thoughts during play. I know a lot of things that I should not be thinking about, but what should I be thinking as play unfolds? As mostly a cash player, I’m reading the people, but I don’t think I consider some important things pertaining to tournaments.
Yeah, if you're mostly a cash player, then you're probably not used to the short-stack play that comes so often in tournaments. Drilling down your ranges at different stack depths and stages of the tournament will be a huge benefit to your game. And yeah, always being aware of the current situation is generally important. But even to what you're saying, what makes a "playable hand" depends on the situation. You might open 87s UTG at 80BB, but you wouldn't at 20BB, for example.
I wasn't sure exactly what you meant. I know some people take the approach where they prefer to play a certain stack size (particularly aggressive big-stack players), but I think it's more important to make the right decision for each situation you're in, to go with the flow, rather than to try to force the situation to better fit your liking.
Thank you. Good advice!
My general knowledge is strong
I think what you’ve got going for you is that this has become automatic & I need the same. In other words, take pot odds, I don’t ever have to think about it, it’s something I calculate unconsciously.
So, I should strive to know my stack size decisions so well, that my conscious mind can focus on other things. I guess I can’t escape memorizing. I’m pretty strong already with tiny stacks, but when I’ve still got a lot of fold equity, my feeling is that I’m missing some steal spots. Missing these spots is causing me to end up tiny.
