Stack sizes in No Limit Hold Em part 3
Increase in stack sizes means an increase in the impact of skill
Larger stack sizes in a game greatly increase the value of speculative hands. Deeper stacks give more tools in the form of chips for the skilled professional poker player to work with, so in effect the element of skill is far greater in deepstack poker. The game can be much more interesting with tension levels ratcheted up several notches, with more opportunities to make fancy plays and more opportunities to bluff.
Decisions are easy with short stack
You can threaten a much larger amount of money in relation to the pot when people have a lot of chips. For example on a flop of say Jc9d8h and your opponent holding a king with a weak kicker, something like Kc Jh. If your opponent has just a pot sized bet to call on the flop then he has a very straightforward call to make.
Deciding whether to call bets becomes much less obvious with a large stack
If however he has enough for a pot sized bet on both flop and turn to call it becomes a different matter, he will still probably call on both streets which such a hand, if however he has enough to call 3 near pot size bets on flop, turn and river it becomes a different matter entirely. He may very well give up even before the river rather than risk his entire stack with just a very moderate holding on a dangerous board.
Bluff more in game with large stacks
In summary, large stacks increase the value of bluffing and in turn decrease the value of marginal hands. A hand like top pair will only get paid off by draws or bluffs when stack are large, hands like middle pair, unless you are up against an uber fish, are not going to pay you off in a deep stack game like they will do sometimes in a short stack game.
Strange fish
Those unfamiliar with deep stack play will see what appear to be some very strange hands. To the uninitiated it can even look like the game is populated by fish, which while sometimes might be true is not the real reason for the differential. The real truth of the matter is that hands that might even be unplayable in a merely large but not deep stack no limit game can at times be playable in a deep stack game.
Any 2 cards can and often will do
In a game with most players holding 200 big blinds or more the value of hand reading skills, or for that matter having a hand that people can not possibly put you on, becomes a significant advantage. You can make lots and lots of speculative calls preflop, since the amount you invest into the pot normally only represents a mere fraction of the pot. Even a hand such as 32 suited can be worth playing on occasion. let’s put it this way if you hit a dream flop of A45, virtually no one is going to put you on such a hand, especially if you are a tight player and you may very well get paid off handsomely by someone holding a set or to pair.
See bigger hands at the end
Large stacks mean less hands go to showdown, and when they do you will see much stronger hands such as sets, flushes and straights than you would do in game with smaller stacks.
