Short stack play

As many of you already know, I am currently in a decent downswing. I've made a few runs at some MTT's lately, but haven't been able to hold, suckout, or win the races in key pots. I know it will come around again someday.

To help myself get back on track I am going to write up a few blogs about some MTT moves and strategies. Hopefully, with me trying to put my crazy thoughts into words about some aspects I feel I am good at, I'll be able to make some improvements.

One thing I feel I do well is playing short stacked. In most MTT's the vast majority of the time you will be from 10-30BB's deep.

When you have 25BB's or more.
At this point you don't need to press things, and can play about any style you choose. You are deep enough to be able to flat or defend with small pairs to set mine and hit the big pot. But for the most part, as with any hand, you want to be the aggressor. This gives you 2 ways of winning each pot. You can have/hit the best hand, or you can get the better hand to fold.

When you have between about 15-25 BB's
At this point I try not to open pot as light, but I am going to start reraising/shoving lighter. With less than 15 BB's the original opener is going to be much more likely to call your allin shove.

To reshove optimally you don't necessarily have to have a big hand. You want to pick out someone who you have seen opening a lot of pots or with non-premium hands.

Example

Hero (SB): t18342 22 BB's
BB: t24208
UTG: t7305
UTG+1: t22169
UTG+2: t12901
MP1: t15896
MP2: t71773
CO: t15017
BTN: t10084

Pre Flop: (t2100) Hero is SB with Q 9
5 folds, CO raises to t1825, 1 fold, Hero raises to t18242 all in, 2 folds

Here, this guy has opened his fair share of pots, so i can just shove here and pick up the pot most of the time.


When you have 10-15 BB's
This is the point where you can't reshove as light to the high chance of receiving a call. Instead you need to be waiting for chances when no one has entered the pot yet, so that you will be able to just shove. You shouldn't be shoving complete trash, but opening hands like AJ here will put you in a bad spot when someone decides to raise you. You want them to have the decision.

Things to look for when you are open shoving.
1. You want to be the first person into the pot. If there is a limper in front of you, it can still be done, but only if you have seen the limper do so without premium hands.
2. You want to be in late position(button/cutoff) or have people behind you that have been playing tight.

When you are at less than 10 BB's
At this point you are just going to have to gamble. That doesn't mean calling someone else's shove with QJ, J10, etc. The key here is to have fold equity. That means that you are making sure your opponent doesn't have to call.

Example
SB = 300
BB = 600

Hero (SB): t5579 <10 BB's
BB: t31032
UTG: t22937
UTG+1: t32429
UTG+2: t11201
MP1: t8483
MP2: t53668
CO: t19362
BTN: t7799

Pre Flop: (t1530) Hero is SB with J 4
7 folds, Hero raises to t5509 all in, 1 fold

Basically you are forcing someone else to pick up a hand, and for that hand to hold.

When you are at 5 BB's or less

Hopefully you don't let yourself get this low, and it only happened after losing an allin. Basically at this point you want to either have the best hand or be up against only 1 player. Many people get frustrated and just put it in the next hand. That ends up badly vs multiple players. Its much easier to suck out vs 1 player.

I planned on putting a little more into this one, but I feel like I am rambling.
If there is any questions or if you want to tell me how wrong I am please pm.