Short Stack Strategy: Fewer Chips Behind, Earlier Decisions
Short stack strategy in a cash game means playing with far fewer chips than the usual 100 big blinds, for example 40. The pot before the flop stays the same, so the stack-to-pot ratio drops: 6.8 in a pot opened to 2.5bb and called at 40 big blinds, against 17.7 at 100. Three pot-sized bets put in 13 times the flop pot, more than the 6.8 left: a pot-sized bet on every street gets the stacks in by the river.
A 4‑bet at 35 big blinds
Heads-up with 35bb effective, the button opened to 2bb, you 3‑bet to 8bb with A♣K♣ and the button 4‑bets to 18bb. Fold, call or jam?
See the answer
A call. The pot becomes 36bb with 17bb left behind: a ratio of 0.47, less than half a pot to bet after the flop.
An all‑in. The button must call 17bb to win a 70bb pot: 24.3% equity is enough for them. If the chips go in, A♣K♣ against hands that did not appear on the heads-up preflop page:
| Button's hand | A♣K♣'s equity |
|---|---|
| K♦Q♠ | 75.7% |
| A♦Q♦ | 71.3% |
| T♠T♦ | 46.1% |
The author's answer is the all‑in: at this depth, A♣K♣ is a hand to put the whole stack in with against a balanced 4‑bet range.
The stack-to-pot ratio with short stacks
| Stacks | Pot opened to 2.5bb, called | Pot 3‑bet to 10bb, called |
|---|---|---|
| 30bb | 5 | 1 |
| 40bb | 6.8 | 1.5 |
| 60bb | 10.5 | 2.4 |
| 100bb | 17.7 | 4.4 |
Keep going
- The ratio itself and how to compute it: stack-to-pot ratio.
- The other end of the scale: deep stack strategy.
- The stack that counts in a hand: the effective stack.
- The same A♣K♣, from the heads-up angle: heads-up preflop.
- What the 4‑bet says: what is a 4‑bet.
- One spot every day: the daily poker puzzle.
- At 20 big blinds or fewer heads-up, the simple baseline is shove or fold: the push fold chart.
Sources
- Every equity is computed by exact enumeration with the app's equity module, the price with its pot odds module and every ratio from the stated sizes, checked on October 11, 2026.
- The answer to the spot follows rules written by the app's author; it does not come from a solver.