In theory, short stacks
I play in live 1/3 cash games, so I’ve seen a good share of short stacks. I’m not talking about took a beat shorties, but the guys coming in with that strategy from the start.
My experience is that they are by far more likely to walk off broke than the average player. Some do build a stack and play awhile, but they still eventually bust. Of course I see a lot of people lose the stack.
Why do solvers find shorties +EV ?
I don’t think most of the short stacks know their advantages and play the same as they would if they were rolled. They’re just playing short, because they lose.
Are there people out there playing short stack as a strategy? What do you do if you double up? Cash out and come back later? Would a winning player ever want to start out short?
1 Reply
It's mostly just selection bias.
There are two kinds of short stacks at a cash game table:
- 1. Players who can't afford to play deep - this is probably like 95% of cases
- 2. Players who have studied and honed a short stack strategy
Since most observable shorts are scared-money amateurs rather than solver sickos, you end up with the illusion that short = bad, even though it's not inherently the case.
