Playing NL Hold’em short stacked is quite obviously not where you want to be. I would rather be sitting with the big stack any day, but let’s face it, if you play much poker, you will find yourself short-stacked at various times. What I see way too many players do when this happens, (especially online) is immediately ship their chips to another player on the first junk hand that comes along. It is probably a form of “tilt” but if so, then either quit playing or tighten up until you can turn the ship around.

Short stack Nl hold em is not glamorous and you will feel the burn of losing your chips like an acid taste in an oasisic TP, but with a little practice, you can take comfort in the fact that you won’t be playing with your digits.

Obviously, whenever you play found money, you will want to try and find a way to boost your return. NL Hold’em short stacks are not as financially punishing as NL Ring game short stacks, because the blinds go up less, so in essence, you have a slower win build. But to those of us who would like to slowly build our poker bankroll from scratch, finding a quick path to victory is well worth the small increase in our poker chip stack.

Many poker pro’s will just find any excuse to play short stacks, and some of them short stacks will be big stacks. What I see way too many players do whenever their up against a short stackager is to try and take them on in a heads up sport mode. I see this too much at the lower stakes cash and tournament levels, and if you can’t be kind, then don’t be kind. Friend or foe, you will find that these short stacks are predictable anyway. Many players in these situations will not play with much aggression and they are predictable for one reason.

Against a short stack, Kartupoker is pretty much the same as poker against a big stack. You cannot bluff, and generally, you cannot do the kind of creative thinking it takes to beat a big stack. If you were mentally crippled and had to play just about any stack size, you would not last long. Those big stacks are too tough to weigh down.

Look at J.J. Lieu as an example. He is a very good player who, because of his nature as a short stack, is always finding reasons to not play his cards. Whenever you see a short stack being led out, and Lieu comes in the pot, you can bet your bottom dollar he has something good. Whenever you see a big stack being gets dragged in, and Lieu is in the pot, you can bet your bottom dollar he has something good too.

The difference is that Lieu is not going to let you see his hand unless he wants you to. Lieu is a very direct player. He is not looking for many calls or bets because he is not going to be around much longer in the hand. I find Lieu to be one of the most straightforward players in the world of poker.

Don’t let the tactic discourage you if you see one of the players shorten and then lead out with a big bet. If the player is known for short chancing pots, you can safely assume he is using the tactic.