Picking table by stack size?

Should I be looking for tables that contain all short stacks all mid range stacks a mix? I buy in full whenever I sit down so I want to know is it best to have other full stacks there?

I assume having no full stacks is bad because I want to be able to stack off if I hit the hand that will get me there.

CC Thoughts?

Avoid the short stacks. One or two on a 9 person table isnt too bad, however ther fewer the better.
My def. of the short stacks are the minimum buy in.
The person with 2 bucks at 10nl etc...

Why do you prefer larger stacks Pooffy? Other than the obvious advantage to fully doubling through them

Because the short stacks play a larger range of hands (sometimes very marginal ones) usually shoving them all in. It totally messes up the way I play and throws off my game.
It is fun however when I am up to call with a marginal hand myself and suck out their 2 bucks.
I never noticed till I started paying attention to them a few months ago. The next time you are at a table watch how they play. Even when you are not involved in the hand.

You should play the lower stacks if your good because the low stackers will call with some useless hands but you cant win as much. You can try the big stacks if you want to win a lot.

I thought that the whole reason why you avoided SS is because they deliver less implied odds as well as playing tighter. Not play looser as others have mentioned..

Aren't shorties tighter than normal because they have less room to manuever? There edge comes from being able to play fast and get stacks in ASAP with premium hands.

With 100bb+, it's hard to get AI pre with QQ. But, when SS, it's a Jersey Shore Fist Pump away.

So, when you are a big-stack, you can't call raises/3bet light, etc., vs SS with hands like 66 or 9Ts. There just isn't enough money behind those guys.

So, many plays that you can make, which will increase your winrate are eliminated vs these guys...

I believe that picking tables based on stack sizes depends on playing style. I play rather aggressively at cash tables, and I find I have an easier time pushing around small stacks than going HU against a large stack for potentially all my chips.

I suppose a nittier player would prefer playing against larger stacks, as they could potentially cash in when their hands hit.

JohnLabut said:

Why do you prefer larger stacks Pooffy? Other than the obvious advantage to fully doubling through them

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Because shortstackingscum change the entier dynamic of the game and force u to play 20BB effective stack poker...

kmixer said:

Should I be looking for tables that contain all short stacks all mid range stacks a mix? I buy in full whenever I sit down so I want to know is it best to have other full stacks there?

I assume having no full stacks is bad because I want to be able to stack off if I hit the hand that will get me there.

CC Thoughts?

Click to expand...

well i generally avoid all small stacks because they will be pushing all in with any ace or pair,

they are annoying and don't usually like to see a river without going all in

if you want good quality poker join tables where people buy in for the max,

this means they will stick around for a while and play, not to hit and run

I really dig playing deep stack poker, like 200bb deep is great. I love the implied odds and (at the micro stakes) most people just dont adjust the relative strength of their hand to the depth of their stack and are totally willing to commit 200bb with an over pair and you can get paid for set mining. Set mining is SOOOO good playing micros deep. short stacks require you to tighten up because now your implied odds are nil, and the only reason to really play the non premium hands is implied odds. If you didn't have implied odds it would always be wrong to play tricky or sub premium hands. Especially small pp need those implied odds for you to be able to play them profitably.

deep stack=great
short stack=stupid.

I personally prefer playing super tight, as many tables as I can keep up with in a stake lower than my ability and just slowly raking. It can be a frustrating brand of poker. A lot of ups and downs, a lot of what have yous, but overall has been profitable for me. I can understand the desire to play deeper stacks, but I love that my loose passive play can consistently rake against weaker players. A bit of a grind, yes.

I always try to pick a table with no more than 3 short stackers, and ideally they would be sitting to my immediate left, all 3 in a row so they have position on me, but I have position on the deeper stacks.
Short stackers don't have the implied odds to play speculative hands against. They should be playing only premiums, as that is all there stack should allow, and you should only be playing premiums against them because if you are HU in a pot with a shortstack essentially you stack is only as big as theirs...since you can only win as much as their stack. If you are in a 3way(or more) pot with a big stack and a shortstacker, than I see a lot of times the big stacks going at it, and almost ignoring the SSS, because of the money they can make over the 20bb or so that the sss put in.
Another thing is you have to watch the shortstackers to see which ones are playing a SSS strategy, and which ones are just fish buying in for short and playing almost ATC.

Just my 2 cents..ppl pretty much said the same thing above.

I have another aproach. I play at the tables with high pots. I play at tables with 2 or 4 cents the big blind and chosing the tables with high pots i chhose the tables where ppl bluff a lot . I play tight agressive and usualy i win the hands i play.

That's how I filter too, potsize first, then I handpick the highest avg vpip among those that are nearly full tables (only play a few 6max tables at a time). If I get to the table and there are 2+ shortstacks and no maniac I leave.

I have tried playing Short Stacked and Big stacked.. Short stack you are playing all in or fold. I hate playing against that.. So It does peeve me off.. But then again.. If you are patient.. you can take their cash..

Also.. I hate it when they double through and leave the table ASAP..

Oh yeah I also click on the Avg Pot tab on FTP then look for one with a Plyr/Flop of over 25% or so, I always assumed the higher plyr/flop % at a table meant more money to be made. Also the few times I played on stars ash games you can do that also. After I do that I look at the stack sizes of each person at the table and do as I said above.

Are you playing PLO kmix? SS do not matter much and they would not have an edge on you like they do in holdem so it is more acceptable to have them at a PLO table but you still do not want to be playing with a bazillion SS.

Other than that, D'willius has it right.

swingro said:

I have another aproach. I play at the tables with high pots. I play at tables with 2 or 4 cents the big blind and chosing the tables with high pots i chhose the tables where ppl bluff a lot . I play tight agressive and usualy i win the hands i play.

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I like this advice

D'wilius said:

That's how I filter too, potsize first, then I handpick the highest avg vpip among those that are nearly full tables (only play a few 6max tables at a time). If I get to the table and there are 2+ shortstacks and no maniac I leave.

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I like this advice even more

marginal said:

Are you playing PLO kmix? SS do not matter much and they would not have an edge on you like they do in holdem so it is more acceptable to have them at a PLO table but you still do not want to be playing with a bazillion SS.

Other than that, D'willius has it right.

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Question was about Holdem but I guess it could apply for PLO as well. Thanks for the reply.

Another advice. tight agressive means tight agressive. U can't make an image at those tables. Donkeys will challenge u with almost anythig and some will get lucky so watch the table and go all in only when u are sure u have the best hand. When u think the donkey has a flush draw raise cose he will follow u untill the river.

Dude, do you really have to ask this?

If you buy in at 50NL for $ 100 and you have the nuts and your opponent the second nuts do you rather win $ 50 or $ 100??