Tournament Strategy: Short Stack

The people with the most chips know that the main obstacles to the big stack will be the the fellow chip monsters first at their table and then in the tournament as a whole. often though the big stacks will try and delay confrontation with each other. Instead, they gang up on the smaller stacked players to try and eliminate them and move closer to a guaranteed money finish. The best way to play the small stack often depends on just how small you are. If you are really small and cannot survive more than one more round of blinds then, when you get a passable hand, you have to go all-in, whatever position you're playing, if you find yourself in the BB and the compulsory posting is half your stack, then you are pot committed and have little alternative but to go all-in. You will not survive another round of blinds and even if you do double up, you'll only be in the same position again one round later. It is true that tournaments are about survival, but there's no point being blinded away. Whatever two cards you have are unlikely to be much of an underdog against any other two cards. Under different circumstances you may have mucked the hand you go all-in with but remember that 8-5 is less than a 2/1 underdog against AK

RDW

I'm not exactly sure what your getting at. I do see that if your small stack and facing elimination pick your cards and do it. If you have multiple callers maybe you'll luck out and no more small stack for you.

There is several ways to look at it. If your small stack it pretty much given that you will have to take a chance to double or treble up. But there can be some different senario's.

Case in point. In the last live freezout I was doing fairly well, it was down to 2 tables and at my table i was joint(ish) chip leader, and we were doing a good job of bulling the table. Now i was talking to this guy over a ciggie during the 2nd break and he told me we were f*cked and to look at the chip stacks at the other table.

Wow the difference was staggering, the table balancing was done at random and it seemed most of the chips in play were sitting at the other table. It was on the bubble and the tables were about to be joined. So i realised to go for the win i NEEDED the other guys stack. I totally lost interest in the blinds and decided to go for it. I managed to get him all in when he pushed one of the small stacks by going all in himself. I called behind him (small stack folded) with pocket 3's, hit a set, got the tables merged and came on as 3rd chip leader.

Cashed in 3rd that night.

No Brianna it was intended for the newer members it was an article I read last year and kept close by and thought maybe the newer poker player could use it, it was a 2 part thingy but my hand was sore from just that one LOL I will continue it later just trying to share some knowledge cause it did help me as I am sure we all have been small stacked before, as it's not for all the regulars who play alot and know this, but for the new members.

Sorry, won't let it happen again.LOL