What is a stack in poker: types, strategies and techniques

The strategy chosen by a player in a particular hand depends on many factors in an online casino, such as pocket cards, table position and the strength of the opponents. Another important aspect that determines the course of the game is the number of chips in the player’s hand. If you have a lot of chips, you can afford to play tricky hands even with not the strongest cards. But if you have few chips, you have only two options: either fold or go all-in.

What is a stack in poker and what are its characteristics?

A stack is the number of chips a player has at a certain stage of the game. In cash games, the number of chips corresponds to the amount of money at the table. For example, if you have $5,000 in chips, you can exchange them for cash at the casino cashier. In tournaments, everything is a little more complicated: players receive a certain number of chips (equal for everyone) for a fixed fee and play with them until they are eliminated or win the entire tournament.

It is noteworthy that the Stack is something that is measured not only in money, but also in big blinds. The bigger the blinds, the more comfortable a player feels. This is especially true if your opponents have few chips, as this way you can put pressure on them by making raises in almost every hand. Therefore, when reviewing a live dealer casino, it is important to pay attention not only to player reviews but also to the terminology, which should not raise any questions.

Read also: What is a showdown in poker and who is the first to open.

Types and features

Now let’s consider different types of stacks according to their size:

• A deep stack is something that is typical for cash games and the initial stages of tournaments. Players have 80 or more big blinds, which allows them to feel comfortable and play a wider range of cards. A deep stack is 200 big blinds, providing players with a comfortable position and the ability to play a wide range of cards. The full stack consists of approximately 150 big blinds, providing the player with good opportunities for active play. Beginner players are recommended to start with tournaments with a slow structure to better understand the basics of tournament poker.
• The average stack varies from 30 to 60 big blinds. In cash games, such stacks are rare, but in tournaments, they often occur at the bubble stage when players are approaching the prize zone. These stacks provide a fairly comfortable position, but one bad hand can take you out of the game.
• Short stack – when a player has 20 blinds or less, it is considered a short stack. In this case, players often have to make decisions about all-in or fold. This is the most difficult and at the same time the easiest period of tournament play: difficult because the player has to risk all his chips, and easy because the player has only two options.
• The ultra-short stack in poker is the smallest possible amount of chips that a player can have at the table. This term is used to describe a situation where a player has only ten big blinds (10BB). Playing with an ultra-short stack is difficult and requires special care and strategy. In such a situation, experienced Texas Hold’em players have developed aggressive strategies based on decisive actions, mostly preflop. This strategy was named ‘Sklansky-Chubukov push’ or ‘Sklansky-Chubukov numbers’ after two researchers in this field: poker theorist David Sklansky and mathematics professor Andrei Chubukov.

An incomplete stack varies from 30 to 70 big blinds, requiring a more cautious approach. The short stack contains 25 big blinds and is a limited variant that requires special attention.

How to play in tournaments and cash games with different stacks?

In cash games, professionals prefer to play with a full stack of 100 big blinds to be able to buy chips in case of failure. In tournaments, players play with the chips they received at the start of the tournament. It is important to choose tournaments with a suitable structure so that you have time to understand the peculiarities of tournament poker and make wise decisions at each stage of the game.

How to calculate your stack

The idea is to determine the optimal betting size based on the number of chips a player has in his arsenal. The simplest rule of thumb is to calculate how many big blinds can fit in this capital. By dividing the total number of chips by the big blind value, which, by the way, is a mandatory bet set by the participant sitting in the second place to the left of the dealer, we get the value that determines the game stack. Let’s look at a specific example: let’s say a player has 3,500 chips, and the small and big blinds at the table are 50 and 100 respectively. By simply dividing 3,500 by 100, we get 35 – that’s how many blinds this player’s stack is.

Read also: What is a rebuy in poker.

It should be emphasised that during large poker tournaments, the size of the blinds and, consequently, the stacks of the participants grow significantly. At the initial stages of the competition, the stack can be estimated at hundreds or even two hundred big blinds, and when you approach the final of the tournament, even a stack of 30 blinds is perceived as an outstanding asset.

Features of an effective stack

As for the concept of ‘real stack’, it acquires a special meaning in the context of the beginning of the hand. Except for the first hand of the tournament, players at the table may have different amounts of chips in their arsenal. If a player decides to go all-in and has more chips than the others, he will not be able to double his stack with the other players. If he wins, he will only receive the total pot and all the chips of one of the opponents who agrees to call him. However, no one will be able to transfer more to him than he has put into the pot.

Hence, the term Stack has the concept of efficiency – it is the minimum amount of chips that a participating player has in the hand. For example, if two opponents are comparing their stacks, and one of them has 50 big blinds, and the other – 7, then the ‘real stack’ will be limited to 7 blinds. This is the amount that is in play, and the participant with 50 blinds will not be able to lose more. Finally, we would like to remind you that if you were looking for a casino with a deposit of 10 USD or more, please follow this link.

FAQ: What is a stack in poker?