Poker Tactics - Stack Management

There are only so many chips you can have. And poker has a way of making them go up or down a whole lot in a little time. I have started with $20, won enough to make $40, and then back down to $5 without much consistency.

Another art in poker is knowing when to say when.  The most important factor is what kind of poker you are playing. And of course if you can't afford to lose the money then don't sit down in the first place.

If you are playing in a tournament, and I have won a tournament, stack management is not a problem at the beginning. The fact is that stacks don't really matter until the later rounds so you should not be too concerned with your stack getting low at the beginning. You are going to lose some chips along the way, perhaps even all of them with a re-buy, but you have to remain to the later rounds to win.  A good hand to go all-in with can settle your chances in that tournament or not. So you need to risk it from time to time.  In fact, when you are playing a tournament I would recommend that you go after winning hands at the beginning when the blinds are smaller so you do have a chance of winning and taking out some players.  So you should not worry too much about losing some chips when you have a chance to eliminate players yourself.  That does not mean chase bad hands and lose, it means take a risk on a medium strength hand now and again and you will have more chances to win. In fact, betting on an odd ball hand like pocket fours and then a good flop comes up is just the way to beat someone playing Ace King or pair of Aces. 

If you are playing a cash game, I would be ultra conservative.  I would start with your original total and stop if you get just below half of what you came to play with.  If you lose more than half your chips, and you are a good player it should tell you something. You might be getting no help on the flop - and that goes in streaks and you should accept that - in which case you will have a harder time winning them back.  It could also mean you are making bad decisions on hand strength, in which case you could be tired or not concentrating and then you are not playing poker  you are just donating your money.  It could also mean that someone at that table has figured you out so you better leave - leave very fast - and take a break.

If you want to control the speed at which your stack increases or decreases there is a simple rule.  Stack size varies with how good a hand you decide to play.  If you play lots of medium strength hands instead of just the very good hands then your stack size will go up and down.  If you play only the best hands then your stack size will stay the same, dipping at one time or another, and then you can control the stack size easily.

There is a simple reason for this rule.  The way to play poker is easy, you will learn most of the tactics, table talk, and betting behaviours in a few days at most.  The betting will make sense when you succeed and fail when your bets become won pots and when your bad bets become loses. So then there is no real mystery.  Once you learn that you will win and lose at the right times, sometimes lose at the wrong times, and so you will win chips and lose chips with regular frequency.

Good hand strength doesn't change.  Only the flop changes and that is what  varies whether your bet was a good one or not.  As I discuss in my other post about cards, there are really only three ways to win most hands. Straights, sets, and flushes.  So there is little to master in term of difficult skills or hard concepts.  Chasing riskier hands means you are going to slowly lose chips.  Betting on only the best hands means you will only play the best hands and you will probably win those hands - not all - and so your stack size will stay the same and you will do a lot of waiting.

If you are playing a tournament, then of course your goal is to get all the chips and so you need to be aggressive from time to time and that will mean going all-in to win it all. You need to have patience, and you need to play good cards with the occasional bluff thrown in for good measure.

If you are playing a cash game on your own money, then I would live by the rule of two.  If you chips get below half - quit.  If you double your money, then start to play conservatively or quit.  I have given back more money with the ups and downs of playing medium hands so I can assure you that it's not fun to lose those winnings.  If you need to, make a new marker with you winnings to avoid giving it all back.  For example, if you start with $20, win up to $35, and then start to lose then perhaps you should think about stopping when it gets to $30.  A 50% return on your money investment - not time since I am sure you are worth more than $0 / hour- is a good day at poker.

Playing when you are desperate to win it all back in a hurry is the worst way to play.  The more you are desperate then how likely are you to spot the traps and avoid them?  Poker is a discipline, and the best players know when to fold more than they do know how to bet on winning hands. Any idiot can raise with pocket Aces, it takes an artist to check-raise and sucker people into a straight. But if you are worried about losing a few chips to make a larger pile then perhaps you need to take up another sport. Poker stacks don't matter during play, they only matter at the end when you leave.