Dealing with short stackers
 

I have been running into a lot of these guys with 5 bucks or less at the 25 max game, and I am getting frustrated with the situations I am getting put in.

Some guys are careful TAG short stakers, while others are psycho's that play their short buy-in like a lottery ticket.

Theoretical situation.

You are in the BB ($30 bucks or so).
Short stacker in middle position opens for $1 (leaving $3.00 back)Every one folds to you.

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The following questions have been coming up in my head as I consider these types of situations.
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1. Before considering your own holdings, would you tend to play this straight up as if he had a full buy-in?

2. Does it become more difficult making decisions for us post flop because of the size of a called pot compared to his remaining stack?

3. Would shoving (with a certain range) be better to avoid this particular situation?

4. What range?

I've thought about this kind of thing a bit. I've seen that a lot of these guys will fold when played back at unless they are very strong. So the question becomes: If we put him all-in PF and they fold everything but their strong hands is it +EV if we steal their raises and lose to their big hands? (I don't have a good answer for that yet).

I think it boils down to just how short they are and what kind of raise we're talking about. We also need to be HU in order for this to play out, but if I'm on the button or CO I tend to play very aggressive against them and hope no one behind me has a hand. I wouldn't do it with ATC, but as wide a range as I would play I'll play here. The exception would be if the guy was one of the super tight variety, in which case I know I'm way behind.

Also, shorties don't seem to like getting played back at too much so if you do it a couple of times they'll likely leave.

1. No

2. I think it makes it easier, but it's annoying.

3/4. At that level, I'd get annoyed and push anything I wanted to play after a $1 open and just $3 behind.

If someone opens for 25% of their stack any hand that Im going to play Im going to put them all in

Do you run into short stackers at your clubs? I would imagine it would be more an issue of people who get knocked down and continue to play short?

For 2/5 or 5/5 Games Most clubs spread a $300-$2000 game and others spread a $200-$1000. Average buy ins range from $500-$1500 generally depending on the table, but there can be a few players who will always buy in for 300 or something similar. Average raises can range from $25-$75 depending on how the game is playing... so occasionally you will run into a player with only a few hundred and a standard open of $50 is 1/6th his stack. If HU I generally tend to fold mostly otherwise shove, but a lot of the times I will only call simply because there is 3-4 players already in and Im not necessarily worried about him specifically anymore. As far as dwindling stacks (since obvious ppl dont re-up as often since they have to actually call for chips and get them so they cant keep topping their stacks off every few minutes) it can happen occasionally, and should they raise 25% of their stack I will either put them all in or fold my hand . These dwindling stacks hardly ever fold after being short (and thus stuck) and raising initially for a quarter of their stack though, so I'll make sure I have something decent if im gunna shove