Effective Stack in Poker: The Smaller Stack Sets the Stakes
The effective stack is the smaller of your stack and your opponent's: the most you can win or lose against them. It sets the stakes: with 100bb against an opponent who has 35bb, you can only win or lose 35bb against them, even if you bet everything. The price of calling a shove, the stack-to-pot ratio and raise sizes are all worked out on that amount, not on your own stack.
The price of calling a shove
Enter the pot and the opponent's effective stack:
In a 10bb pot, when the opponent puts in their effective stack:
| Effective stack | To call | Equity needed |
|---|---|---|
| 20bb | 20bb | 40% |
| 35bb | 35bb | 43.8% |
| 60bb | 60bb | 46.2% |
| 100bb | 100bb | 47.6% |
The deeper the effective stack compared with the pot, the closer the price of the call gets to 50%.
The stack-to-pot ratio uses the effective stack
The button opens to 2.5bb, you call from the big blind, the small blind folds: the pot is 5.5bb on the flop.
| Effective stack before the hand | Left behind | Stack-to-pot ratio on the flop |
|---|---|---|
| 35bb | 32.5bb | 5.9 |
| 100bb | 97.5bb | 17.7 |
If you have 100bb and the opponent 35bb, the hand is played at a ratio of 5.9, not 17.7.
Several opponents
| Your stack | Opponent | Their stack | Effective stack against them |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100bb | A | 40bb | 40bb |
| 100bb | B | 70bb | 70bb |
Keep going
- What the remaining stack changes: stack-to-pot ratio.
- How the price is computed: pot odds.
- Calling a shove in a tournament: ICM explained.
- Bets bigger than the pot: overbet poker.
- The folds a shove needs: fold equity.
- One spot every day: the daily poker puzzle.
- The ratio once the pot has been re-raised: how to play 3‑bet pots.
- When the effective stack gets deep: deep stack strategy.
- When the effective stack is short: short stack strategy.
To know where you stand, first count your stack size in big blinds.
Sources
- Every price is computed with the app's pot odds module, and every ratio by dividing the stack left behind by the pot, checked on October 11, 2026.