How do you play big stack?

[Halltxholdem]

Big stack in a live MTT I typically play positional poker and target getting in hands with the short stacks @ table. I pressure them for their tourney life, especially if I can get heads up late stage of event nearing money bubble. Avoid amateur calling stations & profile your table based on hands they've shown down. Stay away from big stacks that can hurt your stack. If it's less than 20% of my stack, I will call an all in with a very wide range. Good luck!

 

[teepack]

I hope i don't get too off topic with this, but I had to mention this.
I tried the bullying approach last night in a 1k gtd MTT when I was big stack. For a while it was working, my stack was 4x bigger than anybody elses a little before the bubble hit and the late reg was about to end.

Then all of a sudden I get this calling station come into the game, he had just registered. my stack was around 35k, you start with 3k. I get KK, raise 3bb on the button, he goes all in. I happily welcome it. He hits a boat with 10's and 9's (hole cards 910o). I stay out of a few pots, he's shoved 3 hands in a row, getting callers each one, shoving and winning with marginal hands like QJ etc. At this point he gets his stack to around 29k... in 3-6 rounds!

Long story short, he beat my my ace high flush (had AKs, flopped the flush), with four of a kind 8's. The funny thing, is neither 8 showed up until after the turn, and I let him take the lead in betting on the flop because I was sure I had him beat one way or another. He went all in on the flop,I was sure I had him beat by far. I hit "lol" and called, I see his hand and am extremely relieved that he was basically drawing dead , then all of a sudden two 8's show up... But that's variance i guess right? I made the right play didn't I? And why would he go all in with an obvious flush on the board?
But yeah that was my experience of having my big stack reduced to 3-4 BB...
That guy ended up winning the tournament, I have no idea what kind of poker he plays, but man did I tilt when I was out of the tourney.
Any tips why these kind of guys in a tourney, or was that guy just a luck box?

I've been running into way too many of these guys on Carbon lately. I try to avoid them whenever possible.

 

[vallkilla]

i dont know why but when i do have a bigstack its like i dont know to play poker ) thats how i feel i dont know why and in most parts i loose it verry quickly...

Kinda similar situation to me. Easily getting into the chiplead zone, but eventually finishing at smth between 10th-20th places. Sometimes I feel like that I get used to play short stack and cutting through long list of troubles during a tournament.

And I don't know how but very often I got involved in situations like that:
Short stack. Bubble. I got KK or QQ and reasonbly push all of my chips on the line. I got a call from one guy, he gets a pair which is excatly at one step bigger than mine. And the elimination is happening. Maybe it's just the coincidence but looks like that thing take place too often.

Btw thanks everyone for a great advice. Hoping to improve in future.

 

[07keith]

Lets play Poker

My advice pal is when your big stack bully from the right positions i.e mid to late. otherwise stay tight enough because its very easy to get chipped away playing marginal hands out of position, and if your leading out remember whats in the pot is it worth bullying when you got say 20k and the blinds are still only 50-100 without antes? dont assume someone wont go allin because your big stack! gl:icon_salu

 

[BigSlickBaby]

As always, this (and everything) depend upon a multitude of factors. You can't generalize situations like these in poker.

 

[Lekoo]

When I am the chip leader (or top 3) of a MTT, I tend to play more mediocre hands, suited connectors, try to steal more often, 3bet with hands which I would have folded if I was regular stack, all with one big reason to get as much chips as possible and to play aggressive, so when you hit the flop and make a monster, your opponents to think that you are bluffing.
If you dont have good cards enough it is not a shame to fold to a 3bet shove from a shortstack. Just wait for the real opportunity and wipe your opponents off with one move.

 

[regd87]

Does your playstyle change with chip lead?

Hey everyone,

I am curious to what you guys think about this situation:

You generally play a TAG style in tournaments and its still the early stages and you have a huge chip lead and are 1/600 players left. Do you switch to a more aggressive style? see more flops? or do you continue to just play TAG and not risk your chips.

Thoughts? experiences?

 

[romych007]

I personally try to play more agresivno as it can push your stack

 

[freestocks]

Of course. As chip leader, we have to take advantage of our position of power.

 

[DrHorrible]

If it's a HUGE lead, I play alot more speculative hands. The real key lies in knowing when to turn it off. I've felted early a couple of times after having a commanding lead in early to middle stages, and I think I can spot the signs that i'm getting ready to implode now.

But ABSOLUTELY play more hands when you have the stack.

 

[jj20002]

nice thread, i always think about that, since the game is more complicated when being bigstack because the shorties are going to shove you more so by one hand you need to protect your stack as usual but by the other you can risk more, so you need to pay more attention about the behaviours of the players in the table in the recent hands,

 

[regd87]

I think my biggest problem is opening up too wide with more chips. Then 1 or 2 flip losses and I'm right back to on the grind with everyone else. However, If I play too TAG and don't get any action, about 2 hours later i'm back in the grind regardless...

 

[radman]

I think my biggest problem is opening up too wide with more chips. Then 1 or 2 flip losses and I'm right back to on the grind with everyone else. However, If I play too TAG and don't get any action, about 2 hours later i'm back in the grind regardless...

When your going wide, try to limit how much your willing to commit preflop.
If your hold cards are pushing the edge of your range poss lower your commitment. As to cut your losses. With the coin tosses gotta try to remember - their just that a toss. I'd try to stay away from committing a large % of your stack.

Just some thoughts

 

[hffjd2000]

If you are chip lead early, then youre lucky.

You can open up a bit and be the table bully (with control of course).

 

[romych007]

I ate a few times to be the first in the table and all the times in an attempt to lose etih sings better just play do not aspire to be the first

 

[pokrjoker]

I generally widen my range abit when i have a good lead. i also look for short stacks(<15% of my stack) to isolate with a wider range to pick up chips with minimal risk

 

[suby_rafael]

If you are playing tag there is no need to completely change to aggro just because you have the chip lead but yes you can open up your range a bit at certain spots against some players.

Other than that you just have to keep consolidating at your chip lead and there is not need to try and bully everyone in sight. Just keep calm and play your best game. :santaclau

 

[deluns28]

you need to put pressure on the medium to short stacks. in this way, they would not be able to steal the blinds/pot effectively.

 

[sryImPro]

Most of the time when i'm in a chip lead or whenever my stack is significantly bigger than average my play style is aggressive in late stages of tournaments. We should use monster stack to steal blinds...

 

[RamdeeBen]

In general yes, if you have a big stack you should be playing more pots and putting pressure on people.

That said, if you have managed to build up a stack quite big in the early stages and there are still no antes in play, we don't have to play to aggressive because the whole point of the big stack is to push the smaller stacks around and increasing our stack size even more by stealing. If there is little to steal with no antes, then we shouldn't be stealing just because we have a huge chip stack size.

What we should be doing though is playing a lot in position with hands that play well post flop. The later we get in a tournaments and the more dead money there is in the middle and we have a huge stack, this is where we really want to just be aggressive.

 

[only_bridge]

I play reclessly loose aggressive until I have the chip lead.
Then I tend to open up.

 

[moses59]

I play more loose but I watch getting to involved in pre flop. When I'm in the lead i really like low connecters especially suited just to c what the flop will bring

 

[romych007]

I do not risk your stack, I'm waiting for premium hands, play agresivno if bad hands in the blinds then throw without problems

 

[freestocks]

I stay with what's working. If being a chip bully is working, I'll keep doing it.

 

[Slawa1986]

I try to avoid big bets against the chip leader ! Play only top pair without Ollin ! And the main thing in this situation is the position ! Only the button against the chip leader !