Deep stacked poker has a different meaning depending on whether you’re talking to a tournament player or a cash game player. Tournaments will usually begin with a starting stack of maybe 100 to 200 big blinds depending on the buy-in and structure, but after a few levels the average stack will be reduced to 50 big blinds as the limits increase, and eventually down to perhaps 20 big blinds in the latter stages of the tournament as you play down to a winner. For this reason, a tournament player will generally refer to anything above 50 big blinds as deep stacked play.
On the other hand, for cash games the default maximum buy-in at most online poker sites is 100 big blinds and if you’re a player who buys in for a full stack then almost all of your hands will be played with perhaps 100-150 big blind stacks. Cash game players usually refer to anything over 200 big blinds as a deep stack.
Deep Stack Cash Game Tables
100 big blind No Limit Hold’em cash games have been by far the most popular structure since Party Poker introduced them in 2005 and have been the subject of almost all cash game poker strategy articles and forum discussions, to the point where they are almost ‘solved’; that is to say there is a well-known correct play for almost every scenario.
Poker training sites began teaching the strategy to beat 100 big blind cash games and the result was almost all of the regular players employing a ‘cookie cutter’ style in order to eek out a small win over the fish while breaking even against the other regular players.
However with deeper stacks, decision making becomes much tougher and the correct play is usually far less obvious. This situation favors better players; the larger the stack-to-pot ratio on a given street, the larger the edge that a more skilful player has.
To satisfy the increasing demand for deeper stacked games, most poker sites began to introduce ‘deep’ tables, where players could buy-in for up to 300 big blinds. To eliminate short stack players from the game the minimum buy-in for deep tables is usually 100 big blinds.
Differences between Deep and Shallow Stacked Play
In order to become a better deep stacked player, the first thing to appreciate is how differently that game plays when stacks are deep compared to when they are shallow. For instance if you’re in a tournament and you’re facing a 3 big blind raise holding 2h2s with 30 big blind effective stacks you should almost always fold, because you’re not getting the right implied odds to hit your set and get paid off.
When stacks are shallow, there is little scope for playing speculative hands that occasionally make very strong hands post-flop as the amount you get paid when you hit won’t make up for the amount you lose all of the times you miss. In a short-stacked scenario, high card hands which can make strong top pair type hands are much better.
Conversely when playing with stacks in excess of 200 big blinds, your implied odds for playing speculative hands are much better. Playing small suited connectors will allow you to put serious pressure on your opponents when you play your draws aggressively and when there is still a lot of chips left to go into the pot. In deep stacked poker, one pair hands go down in value significantly and will rarely be winners in a big pot.
The other factor in deep stacked poker is that position becomes more important than ever. Playing pots in position allows you to manipulate the pot size much more than when you’re out of position. For example if you’re playing an aggressive opponent and you flop top pair but don’t necessarily want to play a big pot with it, you have the option to check behind rather than continuation betting.
When playing at a deep stacked table you need to be very sure that you have an edge on your opponents. Sitting at a deep stacked table with players who are better than you is a recipe for disaster as any edge they have on you at a regular table will be amplified at a deep table.
One final thing to consider when playing at deep stacked tables is your bankroll. Your variance will be much higher at deep tables and you need to ensure that you have a sufficient bankroll to deal with the larger swings associated with regularly playing 600 big blind pots.
