When playing no limit poker, the stack size of every player at the table is critical. Let’s explore a few examples of how these decisions are affected by stack size. Hopefully, after identifying these situations, you will see the value in noting your opponents stack sizes.

This hand will demonstrate why chip stacks affect correct play. You’re playing $1/$2 NL holdem. No one has played and it’s your turn from the small blind. You have $500 and 4,4. The big blind has a small stack of $25 so an all in play is fine. This will be a winning play in the long run.

But, let’s say the big blind has $500. Then going all in would be a very risky play. Although you would win the blinds most of the time, you will also lose most of the time when you get called. Who wants to risk $500 to win $3?

Let’s take it one step further. Would you risk $100,000 for the lousy $3 in the pot? Even if your opponent only plays A,A (which happens 1/220 times), you will win the $3 two hundred and nineteen times. However, the one time you do get called, you will lose the $100,000, 80% of the time.

If you could convince the guy with a $25 stack to only play A,A you can push all in and make money consistently. You will show a nice profit even without ever winning when he has A,A.

Now, let’s say you’ve got $500 with 3,3. Again the blinds are $1/$2 and you complete the blind. Your opposition raises to $10. With different stacks, you might be correct to fold, call, or raise.

If he has $15 you could do any of the three options and be correct. How well you know your opponent is the deciding factor. If he has something like $40 this is an easy fold.

WIth this hand, you need to get that 3rd three to be confident to win and that is only a one out of eight times event. And, you are only going to make five times the $8 if you had called. Given a $500 stack, you can easily call and when you hit your hand, you might make way more than the 8 times you need to for long term profits.

Holding 6,7 suited is a good hand when the table is full of chips. You can make big bucks when this type of hand hits. When everyone is short stacked this hand just can’t get paid enough on the few times it actually hits.

When you have a big pocket pair, like A,A or K,K you can find yourself in some tough situations. This hits home when when everyone has a lot of chips. These hands can be tough to fold after the flop and can be very costly when your opponent hits and you don’t.

This situation is reversed with small stacks at the table and you can get aggressive with the big pairs. Often the preflop betting will commit you to the hand anyway. This is pretty mindless poker.

When everyone has radically different stack sizes this can get complex. Regardless, when you want to bet, you have to consider the stack size of each player involved.