Average Joe

One common discussion that tournament poker players often have is on the merits of the average stack. Usually in these discussions, you will hear a player discuss the importance of maintaining an average stack and how they go about it. Is it important? And if so, how do players typically do it? Simply put, an average stack is the number of chips in play divided by the total number of players remaining. For example, say 100 players started with 1,000 chips apiece and there are now 40 players remaining. There are a total of 100,000 chips in play. And 100,000 divided by 40 equals 2,500. Thus the average stack is 2,500.

Most tournaments, both live and online, typically have the average stack prominently displayed on the tournament clock or in the tournament lobby. It is often the standard by which players measure their progress. Using the above example, a player with 1,000 in chips would know they were well below average and thus would have some work to do in order to make the money. A player with 10,000 in chips, however, would know that they have four times the average stack and are in great shape. However, this doesn’t mean that maintaining an average stack should be your overwhelming concern when playing in a poker tournament.

The problem of the average stack issue is that too many players let this dictate their play. Having covered the WSOP for various media outlets, I see it all the time, especially at the main event. Let’s say player X lost a big pot in the first hour of the tournament and is down to 3,500 in chips. The average stack is 10,500 and player X is 1/3 of the average stack. He looks at this and figures he has to gamble because he is so far below average. The blinds, however, are only at 50/100 and our hero needlessly puts in his last 3,500 with pocket eights because his stack is well below average. Your stack size in relation to the blinds should be the first factor you look at when deciding what style of play to use. The average stack should have a role in how you play, but you should never panic and play desperation poker when your stack size in relation to the blinds is not below 10 or 20 big blinds.

The average stack is most important as you get near the money. Players who are below average should understand that it’s likely they are going to have to increase their stack if they want to make the money. For example, let’s say there are 25 players left and 15 get paid. The average stack is 4,000 in chips and you have 2,000. The likelihood that you will be able to outlast 10 players with half the average stack is small. You are going to have to pick up a pot or two while others are eliminated or lose pots.

However, at the opposite end of the spectrum, if you have 8,000 in chips, you are in good shape to make the money because you have two times the average stack. You could not play a hand and have an average stack, or close to it, when the money bubble bursts (with 15 players left the average stack would be 6,667). Of course I’m not recommending that you do this – I’m just showing you the comfort level you would have.

KEY POINT

Your stack size in relation to the blinds should always be your first consideration. Don’t allow the average stack size to dictate your play

MAINTAINING AN AVERAGE STACK

While I stated earlier that people often overstate the importance of having an average stack, it is still important that you continue trying to accumulate chips in a tournament. Too many players will get that big double-up early in a tournament and feel that they can coast in without playing too many hands. It would only be a matter of time though before that two-times average stack was average or less as people busted out. Average stack is a good measure of where you should be in relation to the field, especially if you are trying to win a tournament.

If you see that your stack size is starting to dwindle to below average, you should do what you can to get it back to average or above it. There is no single, certain way to maintain an average stack. What works for one person may not work for another. There are, however, some general concepts that you should be thinking about to maintain an average stack. These include:

• Open-raising to steal the blinds and antes. Ideally, your targets should be those players whose stacks would be threatened by yours. For example, if you have 20,000 in chips and the big blind has 100,000 in chips, you’d probably want to have a real hand in order to steal their blinds. However, if the big blind has 10,000 in chips, your stack size presents a legitimate threat to their tournament survival. These are the types of situations you should be looking to exploit.

• Re-stealing stacks you threaten. Much like the above example, another excellent accumulator of chips is to make re-steals against raises from players whose tournament life would be threatened if they played the hand. For example, say the player in the cut-off has opened to 600 with the blinds at 100/200. They have 3,000 in chips. You are in the big blind and have 6,000 in chips and 9-7 suited. If you re-raise here to an amount like 1,500, the cut-off knows that if they play the hand they are risking their tournament life. Most of the time in these situations the

KEY POINT

Target players who are trying to hover around the average stack as you know that they will only call raises or re-raise with the best hands

cut-off will not have a hand they want to proceed with. Sure, there will be times that they do, and you’ll be kicking yourself for making the re-steal, but in the long-run (and make no mistake about it, tournament poker is all about the long-run) this play will be profitable.

• Calling in position to steal a pot later on. Another excellent source of chips to help you maintain an average stack is to call raises in position against players whose stack size you threaten. The concept is similar to the above examples.

Typically, a player who has raised with an average or below-average stack size is looking to pick up the blinds. Once they are called, they are going to be less willing to proceed with the hand against an opponent who can cripple or bust them unless they have hit the flop. As you well know, most of the time they won’t, and they will check to you and give you an easy, cheap opportunity to pick up a pot.

SETTING TARGETS

The key idea to each of these examples is setting a target that you can attack. This is where the average stack is probably most useful. Figure out the players who are just trying to maintain or hover around the average stack. They’re usually pretty easy to figure out. They’ll only call raises or re-raise with the best of hands. They’ll only raise if it is an obvious choice to do so (for example, if they are first to act from the cutoff).

Their goal is to first ensure survival and only try to accumulate chips when they know they have the best of it. These are the players you should be targeting. The average stack is also useful when it comes to shifting gears at certain stages of the tournament. The money bubble is a common example. Most of the time, players with average stacks at this stage of the tournament are not going to risk their tournament life. You can be a smaller stack than them, but if your stack represents a significant portion of their stack, they are going to let you run all over them. Let me explain with another example.

Let’s say there are 20 players left and 15 are getting paid. The average stack is 5,000, you have 4,000 in chips and are the small blind, with the blinds at 100/200, with a 25 ante. It is folded to you. The big blind has 6,000 in chips. You can move all-in here and about the only hand a sane poker player would call you with would be a monster. Your stack size is large enough that if your opponent were to call and lose, they would be well below average and in danger of not making the money. Use this knowledge to your advantage and get those free chips that are laying in the middle of the table. It’s fine to have a less than average stack. What isn’t acceptible is not knowing when average stack is important and how it affects your opponents and their play. And make no mistake about it, it is much better to have a big stack that is well above average than to have a small stack that will need to get lucky to survive.

The important thing about an average stack isn’t necessarily knowing how to maintain it, although of course there is some value in that; but more in understanding how being at or near the average stack affects your opponents’ play and how you can best take advantage of that dynamic.

Find out more about Aaron Hendrix, his background and mentor programmes at his website: www.thepokermentor.com