Discussion about the online tournament

hoachec · Sep 1, 2026

Would you agree that in online tournaments, a player with a larger stack who goes all-in against a short stack always seems to have the luck on their side—almost as if the game is trying to knock the short stack out early?

Falzee · Sep 1, 2026

In my experience, not always. The large stack holder will always try to bait the short stack holder into betting, but if he's smart, and waits to bet at the right time, the short stack holder will come out on top a lot of the time.

Semprini · Sep 1, 2026

hoachec said:
Would you agree that in online tournaments, a player with a larger stack who goes all-in against a short stack always seems to have the luck on their side—almost as if the game is trying to knock the short stack out early?

Nope.

Pabloro10321 · Sep 1, 2026

I think it's mainly due to variance; no matter what cards you have, the player with the best hand always has a chance of winning. Your mind won't remember winning with AQ against J8 if chips didn't matter, but it will remember how a 4-2 of the same suit beat your AK.

Sunz of Beaches · Sep 1, 2026

Yeah, nope.

Thats a total beginner rigged theory that has been discussed over and over here and on other forums. Doubt we need another thread.

People with a lot of chips are mostly on a good run of cards. They can pay an allin of a shortstack with a marginal hand without loosing a significant portion of their stack. But this does not always workout well. Saw it many times that a bigstack plays very wreckless and then was out a few hands later.

Falzee said:
In my experience, not always. The large stack holder will always try to bait the short stack holder into betting, but if he's smart, and waits to bet at the right time, the short stack holder will come out on top a lot of the time.

What?

Das991992 · Sep 1, 2026

It definitely feels that way when you’re the short stack. 😅
But I think it’s mostly variance plus the pressure of being at risk, not the game targeting anyone.

fzap1983 · Sep 1, 2026

hoachec said:
Would you agree that in online tournaments, a player with a larger stack who goes all-in against a short stack always seems to have the luck on their side—almost as if the game is trying to knock the short stack out early?

But is that based on your own results, or have you also noticed it when watching other players' hands without being involved yourself? Because when it happens to us, that's when we tend to get that impression.

hoachec · Sep 1, 2026

fzap1983 said:
But is that based on your own results, or have you also noticed it when watching other players' hands without being involved yourself? Because when it happens to us, that's when we tend to get that impression.

I've encountered this pretty often: even when I have a great hand, if I go all-in, they're still luckier than me. It's hard to understand, even though my winning percentage is higher, I still lose on the last card.

fzap1983 · Sep 1, 2026

hoachec said:
I've encountered this pretty often: even when I have a great hand, if I go all-in, they're still luckier than me. It's hard to understand, even though my winning percentage is higher, I still lose on the last card.

I know what you mean. But if your winning percentage is higher when you go all-in, then you're actually making the right decision. Losing on the last card can be frustrating, but that's just variance. Over a small number of hands, the unlucky outcomes can happen many times in a row. The important thing is to focus on making the profitable decision rather than the result of that particular hand.

Mig32 · Sep 4, 2026

hoachec said:
Would you agree that in online tournaments, a player with a larger stack who goes all-in against a short stack always seems to have the luck on their side—almost as if the game is trying to knock the short stack out early?

I understand why it feels that way, especially after seeing several short stacks eliminated in a row, but I don’t believe the software gives the bigger stack extra luck. The cards don’t know who “needs” to be eliminated.
What does happen is that big stacks can afford to call or shove with wider ranges, while short stacks are forced into more all-in situations. That creates many more opportunities for the short stack to bust, and we naturally remember those painful outcomes more than the times the short stack doubles up.

fundiver199 · Sep 5, 2026

hoachec said:
I've encountered this pretty often: even when I have a great hand, if I go all-in, they're still luckier than me. It's hard to understand, even though my winning percentage is higher, I still lose on the last card.

Its called confirmation bias. Busting from a tournament create a stronger emotional reaction than dubbling up, especially if you had the best hand, and therefore you tend to remember it more. And as soon as you have gotten that idea into your head, then every single time you see a big stack winning with the worst hand, you see this as confirmation of your theory, while you fail to notice it, when the big stack lose.

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Discussion about the online tournament

hoachec

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Falzee

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Semprini

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Pabloro10321

Visionary

Sunz of Beaches

Didndu nuffin!

Das991992

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fzap1983

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hoachec

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fzap1983

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Mig32

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fundiver199

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