Ed Miller's Short Stack NL Strategy

[jtnt1096]

I have been using this system for the past few weeks and it has been fairly profitable.

My question is about the blinds. When in the small and big blind, should I be using the early position requirements or something else. Just seems like I give away to many blinds to small raises. For example I have K-10s in the big blind and there is a raise of 2-3x the BB. I have been folding these hands based on the early position chart. Is this correct?

Thanks.

[Gallopin Gael]

If you do a search you can find that he says to play the blinds like you are in late position and hope that someone doesn't wakeup behind you with a big hand.

Hope that helps.

[jtnt1096]

Thanks.

One other question. Does anyone else have trouble playing 88-JJ. Seems like I raise and get 1-2 callers, but the flop will come out with 1-2 overcards. At that time, should I abandoned ship and cut with my losses, or bet the rest of my stack beings I have invested quite a bit anyway and represent a bigger hand than I have? I appreciate any thoughts on that.

[rgschackelford]

First off, if you don't have a large enough stack after the flop to chase out medium-strength hands (like two overcards, small draw, or overcard-low kicker), then you should have bet all in preflop. If you have a respectable stack, and are not in jeopardy of all in, then you should experiment with probe bets. It's up to you to try to feel out your opponents to see if they caught an overcard to your pair. And if you're pretty sure you're beat, you're going to be about 10% to improve to the winner (disregarding flush and straight possibilities). Remember, sometimes you just have to know that you're beat. Hold 'em is about everything BUT the cards.

I'll admit, I have a problem playing JJ, TT, and sometimes QQ. These are all pretty hands (almost as pretty as KK or AA), but are nowhere near as powerful. With these hands, I like to make a raise that is huge (5 or 6 times the big blind). Excuse me if I sound cliché, but I'd rather win a small pot than lose a big one. I hope you have the best of luck in the future playing these dastardly hands.

[Rudbaeck]

You're correct for 'real' NL play, but your comments has absolutely nothing to do with short stack strategy. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[AKQJ10]

Rudbaeck is pretty much right, I believe, although I was wondering about the relevance of probe bets, or how else to handle the pocket pair/overcard situation.

The problem with probe bets is, if you're playing stacks of < 25 BBl as Ed recommends (IIRC) you've got maybe 20 BBl left and a pot size of something in the range 10-25. A probe bet of 5-10 BBl is going to leave you too short-stacked to do much once you get the information.

To put it another way, a probe bet is a way of investing chips for information that will return (or save) more chips in the future. When you're nearly all-in on the flop, that information isn't nearly as valuable, so you probably shouldn't pay the same price for it.

So how DO you play overcards like this in Ed's short stack system? Enquiring minds want to know....

[Matt Ruff]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks.

One other question. Does anyone else have trouble playing 88-JJ. Seems like I raise and get 1-2 callers, but the flop will come out with 1-2 overcards. At that time, should I abandoned ship and cut with my losses, or bet the rest of my stack beings I have invested quite a bit anyway and represent a bigger hand than I have? I appreciate any thoughts on that.

[/ QUOTE ]

If it's checked to you or you're first to act, I'd just go all-in regardless of the flop. People call preflop raises with such poor hands that you're often still ahead even with overcards on the board, and even if you're behind, they don't know that ace didn't help you.

If someone puts in a substantial bet ahead of you, on the other hand, then you do want to take the board into account. Usually I'll fold to overcards in that situation.

-- M. Ruff