Combating the Ever Growing Amount of Shortstackers

Short stacks always cause an issue for any player in any type of poker game. Whether it is cash games or tournaments they always take a lot of skill out of the game. You will find yourself being forced to run hand after hand all in to combat these players. Even if you are an 80% favorite you still can get crippled that 20% of the time you lose. Most times however these players cannot be avoided and one must start classify these annoying opponents to better combat against their play styles.
Short stack Nits
These short stacks are players that only play monster hands. They play premium holdings and do not always start as a short stack. Many players with this style will actually become short stacked because the hands they consider playable are just not dealt often enough to allow them to build a proper stack with blinds and antes. Against these players just avoid them whenever possible. However always remember all players have a point at which they will become desperate or impatient allowing them to occasionally play a much wider range of hands link vào dafabet.
The best way to notice these types of players is to just keep tabs on the players at the table. Try to remember how often you have seen an opponent in a hand. Keep in mind what kind of play style they use whether they are passive or aggressive. Most importantly always try to remember hands that were shown down at the table and then go back and break down how the hand was played out. This will allow you to know how opponents perceive hand strengths and how they bet accordingly.
Fearless gambling short stacks
These opponents are the players that just don’t care at this point. They are willing to shove with anything and everything. Many of these players will fake looking at their cards and shove regardless. This isn’t to say that sometimes it really doesn’t matter your cards because you need chips. You just need to be able to identify these players quickly to be able to call and fold correctly.
There is no clear cut way to spot these players. As you play you will just develop ways to spot them more easily. They might be the type of players that limp a lot trying to just hit something or they might be a player that is raising every chance they get and looking for anyway to apply pressure. The easiest way overall to spot a player is to notice if anyone at the table just lost a big pot. These players are likely to tilt and become fearless even if for the rest of the day they are complete nits.
Players in general with this style can be very hard to play against. Many players will state “I do better against competent players than morons.” Overall this statement will not be truthful in the long run, but when dealing with short stacks in the short term it can be very accurate. When calling a nit your holding a monster and will almost always be a substantial favorite where when calling a fearless player your hand is likely to be a 55-70% favorite with the player usually having live cards.
What to do?
There is no simple answer to this question. Just continue to work on your ability to identify players and develop ranges to play against them. You will always make mistakes in poker you just need to make less than your opponent. What ever you do, never let a short stacker change your play style and get you out of your comfort zone. Always keep in mind you learn by being out of your comfort zone, but if you are not adapting with what you learn you will always be uncomfortable.
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