Stack Size: Cash Games
The size of your chip stack and the relative size of all the stacks at your table should be a factor in how you play your game. Stack size can be a complicated and multi-faceted discussion but there are some basics to remember about stacks in cash games.
If you are playing, let’s say $4/$8 and the house has a four bet limit each round, then the maximum betting for one hand would be: $4 x 4 = $16 before the flop and the same after the flop and then $8 x 4 = $32 on the turn and again on the river. So it is possible to bet $96 on one hand (16 + 16 + 32 + 32). Unlikely, but possible. If you have less than that in front of you, you could be put all-in with a monster hand and not win the maximum from your ’second best’ opponent. You can’t win 96 chips from your opponent, if you don’t have 96 to wager.
More often then not the “big” pots will not see a maximum bet on all four rounds of betting, so you should keep track of how many bets typically go into a large pot and keep at least that much in front of you. Remember you can buy chips in a cash game anytime between hands.
In no-limit cash games, chip stack becomes much more important because if anyone has a bigger stack than you, you can only win from them what you have in your stack. Also an “all-in” move is only impressive or threatening to other players stacks if you have a big enough pile of chips to make them think. Betting 50 into a 250 pot is very different then betting 250 or more into that same 250 pot.
The other key component of stack size is not what you have in front of you but what the other players have in their stacks. Short stacks tend to play looser and make more all-in moves in no-limit games. The truly big stacks are either very good players or very lucky players or both! You should be aware how you measure up stack-wise against all the players at your table. Don’t play short-stacked and never toss those last few chips into when you are having a bad session. You can cash in four chips just like you do four hundred, they are all worth protecting.
-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #55
