I remember the first time I played poker in a casino. I was in Reno for the Mid-Winter Holiday Bridge Tournament. My friend, Paul Ford, suggested I play poker on New Year's Eve. "Everyone will be drunk, and you have enough card sense to triple your money. Just play tight, don't play to fourth street without a pair, a three-flush, or three-straight, and you'll be fine."
So I headed to the MGM Grand's poker room and played $1 - $3 seven card stud. (The MGM Grand is now the Grand Sierra.) I started at 8 p.m. and played until 8 a.m. when I had to pack up to catch my flight home. I won about $300 and followed Paul's strategy although I did mix in a bluff or two.
I was recently asked if an A-B-C style can win money in today's games given the aggression that exists today. It can in some games, though it's a boring but profitable style.
This style works best against unaware players. If you're playing against aware opponents in deep-stacked games, you probably won't succeed. When you raise, they'll know you have a big hand. When your opponents know where you are but you don't know where they are, it's a recipe for disaster.
You want to buy-in for small amounts. Indeed, this style is the essence behind short-stackers. A friend of mine who plays online complains to me about how the short-stackers online ruin the game. Yet they're playing a mathematically sound strategy when others are deep-stacked.
Assume you have $1,000 in a $1 - $2 blinds no-limit hold 'em game and are facing two opponents: one has $1,000 and the other has $100. On the first hand you're up against your fellow deep-stacked opponent. In deep-stacked poker it's all about nut hands versus non-nut hands. Implied odds are key, and you hope to be able to take your opponent's entire stack.
Let's change the hand a little. You raise pre-flop to $12-the standard raise at the table-from the cutoff seat. John, the other deep-stack, calls from the button, but Robin, the short-stack, raises all-in to $100 from the big blind. What do you do?
Assume Robin has pocket jacks. Robin's raise is mathematically correct given the range of hands you could hold. You could hold aces, kings, or queens, but you're far more likely to hold something like 8-7s or pocket sixes where you're way behind. It's an easy way for Robin to grow his stack by 25 percent at minimal risk. Even if you or John happens to hold a monster, every so often pocket jacks will get lucky and beat pocket kings.
In the low buy-in no-limit games popular in Southern California, playing tight is clearly the correct strategy. The blinds are $2 - $3 in the $100 buy-in game. This causes most of the action to occur pre-flop rather than after it. You want to get your money in when you have a big advantage and hope your cards hold up.
There's one big gotcha that short-stack players need to be wary of. What happens if Robin grows his stack to $500 in that $1 - $2 game? He's suddenly playing with a deep-stack. Now consider the hand discussed above, with Robin again raising all-in-though this time, it's a raise to $500. He'll only be called by a hand that can beat him-a very dangerous situation. If Robin can't play a deep-stack he should cash out when he doubles up. There's nothing wrong with ending the year on a winning note.
Russell Fox is the co-author of "Mastering No-Limit Hold'em," "Why You Lose at Poker," and "Winning Strategies for No-Limit Hold'em." He's a federally licensed tax preparer specializing in gambling, with a blog at taxabletalk.com. E-mail Russ at rcfox@claytontax.com
