Texas Holdem Poker

There isn’t a poker player alive that participates in tournament poker that has not found themselves card dead in the early stages of a tournament. You go in with a plan that you are going to double up early on that one big hand, but it never seems to come. The next thing you know you are looking down at less than 1,000 in chips and you start to wonder how much longer you can wait.

When you make your move is going to depend on how fast the levels are and how many sets of blinds that you have left. While a lot of players will get concerned when they get below a certain level, it is not about how big your stack in as much as it is how effective that stack is going to be when you push it in the middle of the table.

For example, if you are down to 1,000 in chips and the blinds are only at 50/100, you still have 2 rounds before you need to get into panic mode. The reason is that you can still make a significant raise by pushing all in with 700 chips that will make someone think twice before calling you. However, once the blinds get to a point that your stack will only represent a standard 3x or 4x the bb raise, you need to be concerned. In fact, you need to make sure that you never allow it to get to that point.

While the saying ‘a chip and a chair’ sounds great, you are going to need some unbelievable luck in order to make that work. By staying aggressive with a stack that still represents a significant raise, you are fighting off those that will call you just for the sake of eliminating a player.

Another factor in this is going to be your position. You need to get those chips in the middle against players that have to worry about losing the amount of chips that you have remaining. Pushing them in there against someone that has a monster stack is only inviting a call. While this is great when you are sitting on AA or KK, you want to avoid giving the big stack at the table the opportunity to tangle with you.

Finally, it all comes down to your cards, or should I say card. Remember, you are looking to make a move against players that cannot afford to take the hit and when you are in position. Whether you like it or not, you are often going to have to get those chips in there on the strength of only one card in your hand. If you are not sitting on a pocket pair, you MUST be looking down at an Ace or King.

Being short stacked is never an enviable position, but you have to get those chips in there when they can do the most good. With any luck, you will be able to scoop up some blinds and manage to hang around until you see a good hand, but don’t wait too long. Once you get in the danger zone of 6-10x the big blind, you are going to have to take your chances when a decent hand comes around. Otherwise, you are doomed to seeing your last couple of chips go into the middle on the blinds where you have no choice in making a stand.