Why its so important to keep track of your blind ratio

[Tylor Mendez]

Let's face it. Some players throw math out the window and just play however they want to play regardless of how much is in their stack. If you have a big stack, seeing a lot of flops and finding good spots is an easy strategy. But on a short stack, is it also a good strategy? Phil Ivey once said if he is on a short stack, he limps more often. Does that mean he is trying to get action, or see more flops to give him a better chance rather than going all in on just one hand?

Also, it helps alleviate some stress to know you have 30+bbs when everyone else at your table has monster stacks. It can put some pressure on you, but realizing you are fine where you are in the tournament can gain you some patience to be able to wait for that better spot, play your A game, and get the money in when its good.

Is that all there is to it? Im sure Im leaving some other reasons out. What do you guys think?

 

[Cajin007]

Knowing blind ratios is good for figuring out how hands may play out.
Smaller ratios means a player may become committed the the hand, depending on action, or skiddish to risk action.
Larger ratios means players may play a more implied odds game, and go somewhat further with a hand, than they might of the ratio were smaller.
Blind ratios also somewhat show how much a player may be willing to shove/call all-in.
It really depends on the player and the way play has proceeded.

 

[xy23]

Throwing math and blind ratio out the window when you’re short stack is a bad strategy. For example, if you have pocket 3’s in the cutoff with 10 BB’s and a player behind you limps, simple math tells you that you can’t limp along in hopes of set mining. Your best move is to shove whether he had limped or not.
Behind every good move in poker is a mathematical reasoning that supports why it’s a good move.
If you want to be a solid player at poker, even knowing just the basic math can go a very long way.

 

[Katie Dozier]

Throwing math and blind ratio out the window when you’re short stack is a bad strategy. For example, if you have pocket 3’s in the cutoff with 10 BB’s and a player behind you limps, simple math tells you that you can’t limp along in hopes of set mining. Your best move is to shove whether he had limped or not.
Behind every good move in poker is a mathematical reasoning that supports why it’s a good move.
If you want to be a solid player at poker, even knowing just the basic math can go a very long way.

Such excellent advice in xy23’s post that I needed to quote the whole thing to highlight it! [emoji7]

Also wanted to add that there’s certainly a big reason for the general “rule” that you should play shove/fold poker with 10bbs or less—as your stack sizes decreases the risk/reward ratio improves which makes you more inclined to get it all in/capitalize on your remaining fold equity.

That being said so many players (even otherwise good ones) are dismissive of the importance of playing a solid short-stacked strategy, yet there are so many very -EV mistakes made with short stacks. For example, every year the wsop main event final table is riddled with a plethora of short-stacked mistakes, and this year is certainly no exception!

 

[LuisBoaC]

VERY loosely put it's because of ICM. Chips change in value throughout a tournament - knowing stack-blind ratios better helps you to know what you're risking for what reward and therefore whether a play is correct or not.

 

[Amanda A]

Just wanted to agree with what Katie said about fold equity. It is so important in a tourney to keep your fold equity alive so you still have 2 ways to win a hand - having everyone fold or actually winning at showdown Also when blinds are quite high your stack improves by a pretty big percentage when you shove and pick up the blinds. If you can, try to pick a spot when you shove that targets the mid stacks in the blinds, and not the really big or small stacks who may call you anyway. If you are down to only a few BB's you are going to get called when you shove probably by multiple people so your chances of winning are greatly reduced.

 

[gustav197poker]

Because tracking the blinds in a tournament allows us to measure the available margin we have to play.
The bigger the stack, the more likely we are to stay in the hand, along with the opponents of the short chips, which means a mathematical advantage for us. Because bad luck or the mistakes we make will be cheaper.
Having a short stack implies a smaller margin of error, which could be an advantage for an experienced player, compared to other short stack players as well.
Phil Ivey surely tracks his stack perfectly. But he wants to give that impression, a player who does not give such importance to numbers.
I think the only way to see many faults with few chips and wide ranges is if we trust our luck, if we achieve magic scales, double pairs, etc.
Sometimes we have no alternative but to play the hand, no matter how much we have played the worst card combination.
Greetings.