Learn Texas Holdem

Question: Keeping a big stack

I would like to know, once I have the big stack what do I do to keep it. I have tightened up with several people at the table and I have also pushed to make people make decisions for all of their money. I know there is no absolute answer, but what is your recommendation for holding onto a big stack at a table with 6 or more people.

Joey in LA

Answer: You want to maintain and build while leveraging your power. I wouldn't go into the game thinking that as soon as I get a big stack I'm going to either tighten way up or start blasting; instead, I would try to pick my battles and in part let the cards and the way the game is going dictate my play. Having a big stack just means that you are buffered from an error or two, but those errors are still costly if you make them. Most of the short stacks will be looking for reasons to go all-in and try to double through before they get blinded to death, so you want to avoid making stupid calls and keeping them in the game.

My guess would be that at some smaller tournaments the less experienced players are more apt to put their money in with marginal hands and gamble with you; if that is the case, I would just try to play solid hands and let them kill eachother off. If you do see a couple players who haven't played many hands and are obviously trying to wait for big cards, you might want to try to push them around some. It is all about balance though, and not everything works out.

I think the best approach is to make maintaining your lead the priority and secondly trying to build it up more -- protecting before pushing.