Heads Up Short Stackers

In heads up no limit you’ll find that short stackers are in abundance. I’ve never been one to avoid playing them, but I was never excited when one sat down with me.

Epiphany

For some unknown reason (laziness) I never really studied my game against short stackers. I did know that they weren’t as profitable for me as players with full stacks, but I didn’t know why.

I recently decided to create a game plan to use against short stackers and see if I could increase my profitability from that opponent type. Since they are, after all, some of the weakest players around they should also be some of the most profitable to play against.

The Short Stacker Mentality

Generally speaking, short stackers are looking to do only one thing: double up. Once they double their 20bb or 50bb they auto sit out and leave you there tilted out of your mind because you just got hit and run by ANOTHER short stacker.

These players are looking to gamble, not sit there and grind for hours at a time. They thrive on action and will make incredibly poor plays to fulfill that need for action.

Short Stacker Strategy

So if these guys want to gamble, let them. Don’t be afraid to get it in preflop with A8s (or worse) against most of these guys. They will call your shove with such a wide range that this play will be profitable.

Play your marginal made hands strong and let them make bad calls. They will call off their entire stack on the flop with only a gutshot because they hate folding.

The reason I wasn’t as profitable playing these guys is not because they are looking to hit and run, rather it’s because I was afraid they were going to hit and run. My adjustment was to play too tight passive and avoid marginal situations where they could double up. By doing this I ended up giving up way too many pots and wouldn’t find a “good spot” before they left me.

Results of My Adjustment

I’ve been absolutely killing short stackers since my strategy adjustment. You don’t always realize just how much money you can make from these guys until you play them for an hour or two, check out HEM and see that you’re up a few buy ins!

I’ll be making a video of me playing some short stackers in the future. I think that developing a strong strategy for dealing with this player type will help anyone new to heads up develop a solid win rate.