Not only do you need to play against the players at the internet video poker table, but you also need to play against the chip stacks on the table. Your chip stack and your opponents chip stacks are going to be huge deciding factors during a lot of tough plays in Holdem. We’re going to look at why the stack size is so important when you’re playing in single table sit and go tournaments for this guide.

Big Stack

There will usually be one or two Poker Stars players in a single table sit and go tournament that have big stacks compared to the rest of the table. If you end up as one of the big stacks while playing in a tournament then you need to make sure that you play your cards accordingly. You don’t always need a good hand as the chip leader because most players aren’t going to want to play against you. As the chip leader you can raise the pot a lot and try stealing as many pots as you possibly can. The only time you shouldn’t raise is when the big blind is the short stack because they are more likely to go all-in.

Short Stack

The short stack is always the worst position to be in and most of us always want to just go all-in with any hand at this point. This is a mistake though and good poker players will ensure they don’t let there emotions get the better of them. You can’t sit and wait forever for a hand, but you’re going to need to wait for at least a marginal hand before pushing your chips in. As a short stack your only moves basically in a hand is to fold preflop or go all-in preflop. You can’t afford to make any flat calls as the short stack typically so you need to wait for a hand to go all-in with. A lot of the time you will be able to steal the blinds, but eventually you’re going to run into a hand which is why you shouldn’t just go all-in every hand.

Typically after the UB Poker short stack and the one or two big stacks the rest of the players are usually pretty close together in chip count. There isn’t really anything you can’t do while a middle stack, but you should try to avoid the big stack as much as possible unless you have a real hand. You also should slow down on the amount of hands you’re playing as a middle stack until you can get a hand and win some chips to put your above the average.

All players on the texas holdem poker table should be careful about raising the short stack because often short stacks are prone to go all-in with anything. You don’t want to waste any chips so you’re better off not raising the big blind of the short stack. You should also be weary of raising the big stack when the blinds are up because often the big stack is just looking for players to knock out of the tournament. Try targeting players who have a middle sized stack in the world series of poker tournaments and when you have monster hands then work on targeting the big stacks.