quick question

hi all... accordig to fergusons brm. u should leave the table after winning 10%.. my question is, should u buy in for the min, and see where ur at, or buy in the max. ring games i usually play .2/.4 plo and .5/.10 nl, and .10/.25 heads up nl.

I would buy in max if you want to get full value from you big hands.
I have seen to many short stackers double there 5.00 to 10.00 when they could have made 50 or more in that hand. Short stacking is not smart.

I disagree with the train of thought that short stacking isn't smart... I don't do it but when I end up with a ss I have lots of success.

I've found that if your stack is too small to buy in for the 5% buy in amount, then don't buy in for the full amount. Buy in for the 5% of your stack. And, if you're playing .5/.10 and you can't buy in for the full amount maybe you should go down a level?

I disagree. Well, no. I agree. A set of Aces or a nut flush to 2nd best flush won't go as far, but you can minimize your losses on your draws with short stack hands.

E.G. - I have JdTd, board reads 8d9s3d. The action pre-flop was a raise for 3 BBs which both blinds, myself (the button, with a stack remaining of 17 BBs because I'm playing 20 BBs), and the cutoff (original raiser). There are 12 BBs in the pot.

The small blind checks, the big blind bets 7, the cutoff calls. That's 26 BBsin the pot, and you have a combo draw. You go all-in.

Either you get called or you don't. If you get called, you've only risked 20 BBs, you stand to gain the 26 BBs in the pot, plus 17 BBs if the SB calls (slow playing a set, for instance), plus 10 BBs if the BB calls (it's only 10 more BBs, top pair top kicker perhaps?), and the cut-off, 10 more BBs with his second best draw that its one of your outs, with say . . . Ts7s, so that you know a J won't give you the best hand.

If all 3 call, it's an 80 BB pot, 20 of which are yours, and you're a favorite to win the hand at this point. If the set calls, and the other two fold (perhaps to a protection reraise, which wouldn't make sense for the set unless they were raising for value, or put you on a made hand and the others on a draw, and didn't want to give proper odds for the draw, of course), you're still playing for a 60 BB pot, at which you have plenty of outs.

Mathmatically, you want to focus more on your draws than your hands like sets of Aces. Not that I hate getting AAA when I'm short-stacked, I just prefer to draw, because without a chipstack I can't bet people off my hand when threatening cards start coming. (like 3 spades on a board, one of which is my set card).

Of course one advantage of short-stack poker is that I can go all in and worry about risking less.

But one advantage of big stack poker is when the board pairs on the turn I know I'm golden, and I want my AAAKK to get paid off by hands like KQ and people who flopped a flush.

If you want to secure your winnings it is a good strategy, but I think you lose money in the long run. You sit with new people each time, and you don't have a feel for any of their styles. You're playing poker in a more statical way. Get back to us on how it worked out for you.

I believe he said once you double your buy in get out. I could be wrong but that's what I remember and try to stick to.