Mastering The Big Stack By Balancing Controlled Aggression With Self Preservation

Most poker players have no chance of winning a big tournament because they play too tight. Let’s say the starting stack in a particular tournament is 30,000 and the blinds start at 100/200/200. The weak tight player reasons as follows: “I have 150 big blinds so I can be patient at the start and wait for good hands.” I know because I used to think and play like this.

The reality is that with 30 minute levels, your 30,000 stack has been reduced to 50 big blinds by the first break if you haven’t increased it (assuming Level 5 is 300/600/600). In other words, most of the mid-stakes poker tournaments ($400-$1000 buy ins) at series like the WSOP Circuit are what Arnold Snyder calls “fast tournaments” in The Poker Tournament Formula. While it may seem like you have plenty of chips and can afford to be patient, in reality you don’t. You need to be trying to accumulate chips from the first hand.

Within a few hours, the weak tight player’s stack has been dwindled down to 20-30 big blinds and he’s forced to go All In. Sometimes he doubles up after which he goes back to his weak tight style. But frequently he busts (say AK < 1010) and tells himself: “I can’t win a flip!” But the truth is that he played the tournament the wrong way by allowing his stack to dwindle in the false belief he had plenty of time to chip up.

Once you progress from weak tight to tight aggressive to exploitative, you give yourself the opportunity to accumulate a big stack and win a big tournament. But playing a big stack presents its own challenges.

The fundamental challenge in playing a big stack is balancing aggression with self preservation.

Because you cover all but one or two of the other players at the table, your big stack is intimidating because you can potentially eliminate the rest of them on any given hand. This allows you to put them to the test by 3-betting medium sized stacks (~30 big blinds) or making big turn bets that effectively force them to go All In or fold.

Usually they fold and your stack increases. Sometimes they shove and you have to fold. Sometimes you’re getting the right price even though you’re behind. At any rate, a big stack allows you to accumulate even more chips by applying controlled aggression in the right spots without risking too much of your stack.

That’s the other side of the balancing act: You should not risk too much of your stack in marginal spots.

That’s where I’ve gotten myself into trouble and made mistakes in the last year. Because of the way my game evolved, I haven’t had a big stack that often over the course of my poker career and so I haven’t learned this balancing act. (For the most part, historically I have been in survival mode with a short or medium stack like most weak tight or tight aggressive players).

Four times I’ve blown a big stack by putting in too many chips in marginal spots. The first time was in the WPT Thunder Valley $1100 in March of last year when I was the chip leader at my table with more than 140 big blinds. A solid but predictable player with a stack a bit more than half the size of mine raised from the button and I 3-bet with A10off. That’s fine. A10 is ahead of a standard button raising range. But then he 4-bet. At that point, most players are telegraphing that they have a big hand. I should have folded. Instead, I shoved All In, he called and flipped over JJ. His hand held up and my stack was cut by more than half. I lost all my momentum and was out not too long after, having blown a great opportunity at a big score.

About a month later, I did it again at the Peppermill $1000 Main Event. I raised from the button with KK and a big stack and the small blind called. The flop came down QJ2. I made a standard c-bet and he check raised. Despite the fact that I put him on QJ, I somehow thought that I had to go with my hand and re-raised him. He shoved, I called and sure enough he turned over QJ. His hand held up and I’d once again put in too many chips in a marginal spot and given away my big stack.

The third time I did it was at the Commerce Casino WSOP Circuit $1700 Main Event. A player who had been playing very snugged raised UTG and I called with AdJx. The flop came down J72ddx. He checked, I made a standard sized bet, and he called. The turn was 10x. He checked and I made another standard sized bet, but this time he check raised me. That got my attention but in the end I didn’t follow through with my read. The river was a J giving me trips but he bombed All In, over-betting the pot. I was pretty sure he had a full house but I thought my hand was too strong to fold and so I called even though I thought I was beat. I debated for a long time whether I could have folded that hand but by now I realize that I could – and should – have. Had I done so, I would have had plenty of chips with a chance at a deep run in a big event.

The fourth time I did it was on Monday when I entered the final table of a Thunder Valley $400 WSOP Circuit Event with the chip lead. I called the flop and turn with a straight flush draw with the intention of shutting it down on the river if I missed. Instead, when I missed I impulsively went All In when I realized that his stack was only about half of the pot. He called and showed me quads. Had I folded I would still have had ~40 big blinds which would have been one of the bigger stacks. Instead I had 13 big blinds which meant no maneuverability. I was out not too long after in 10th.

In conclusion, you should definitely apply controlled aggression with a big stack. Because of your stack, you can put small and medium stacks to the test in marginal spots, frequently getting folds and further accumulating chips without a lot of risk. The flip side is that you must learn to get away from marginal spots yourself when played back at – especially when a a big portion of your stack would be put at risk.