Free Texas Hold Em Guide to Chip Stack Size Strategy

Many poker beginners on free texas holdem sites like NoPayPOKER or the lower stake cash online poker sites simply play their cards without proper regard for situational nuances. This can lead to errors that can cost them a lot of money despite the fact that they’re playing with strong holdings.

One mistake I see many free poker and low stakes players make is not to account for how the size of their chip stack can dictate how they should best play their hand. When I started playing free online poker many years ago, I made the same error a lot.

The optimum play with a particular hand depends on many factors including your chip stack. A good move for someone with a large chip stack could be a dangerous move for someone with a tiny chip stack.

To put it plainly: size matters. That is not to say that bigger is indeed better. Being "deep-stacked" has its advantages, but small stacks can be equally effective at the cash and free poker table.

A Deep Stack Expands Options

For the sake of this article, I will define deep stacks as stacks that are roughly 125 big blinds or more. Others may define a deep stack as a bit less or more than that number of big blinds, but almost no one would consider a stack of 35 big blinds or less to be a deep stack.

I generally subscribe to the notion that deep-stack play is better than small-stack play. Most professional pokers would agree.

This is because deep stacks give you more room to take advantage of implied odds. In other words, you’re allowed more freedom with regard to starting hand requirements. You can play small pocket pairs hoping to flop your set or small suited connectors hoping to flop a flush or straight. If you miss the flop, you can fold and wait for a better situation. You can be more patient because the blinds aren't much of a concern; they won't eat up your chip stack that much.

Another benefit of being deep-stacked is maximizing your profits. If you have the biggest stack at the table, you can extract the most possible chips from your opponents. This is not true for short stacks.

Let's look at an example: If you're the largest stack with $800 chips and a player calls your all in bet with his $500 in chips, and you win, then you take all the cash.

Now another example: If you are the smaller stack with $600 and the larger stack with $900 calls your all-in bet and you win, you can't take all the money. He’ll be left with $300 because you don't have enough money to play for all the chips.

That's one of the pitfalls of the short stack, but there are some benefits.

A Shorts Stack Encourages Tight, Hyper-Aggressive Play

If you don't have many chips behind you, you're forced to basically play for all your chips in every hand you play. This forces you to play premium hands like big pocket pairs and big face cards. You often won't be getting the right price to play small pocket pairs and suited connectors. Those hands need to see the flop cheaply, and every hand played is expensive for a short stack. free poker sites are good places to practice and play about with short stack techniques.

The best move is to get all your chips in the middle with big pairs before the flop or to shove when you hit top pair on the flop. You don't have the opportunity to wait because the blinds will eat you alive.

One obvious advantage of this essentially all-in or fold strategy is that it forces you to play tighter. Another advantage of this style of play is that it's harder to get outplayed by more skilled post-flop players. Your decisions are simple: push or fold. You don't need to worry about the subtleties of the game like betting the right amount or knowing when to fold the second best hand.

There is also a psychological advantage. For some reason a lot of deep stack players give short stack players very little respect. They assume you are buying in small because you have a small bankroll, are not very skilled or are scared. As a result it's not uncommon for a big stack player to pay off a short stack player by calling with weaker than usual hands.

I do believe however that overall deep stack play is better, but you will come across some tough nut short stack players so don't underestimate their abilities! If you are new to poker, practice and observe these concepts first. Start off on low stakes and free online texas holdem poker sites such as http://www.nopaypoker.com before progressing as your skill and bankroll grows.