Playing Awkward Stacks in MTT

Defining an awkward stack. Any time you have an M of 4 or less, your decisions are pretty simple; shove all-in or fold. In tournaments at live casinos where people are capable of playing way too tight - especially near the bubble - this is even more true. Any time you have an M greater than 8, your play is opened up to the fullest; you can see flops, bluff, squeeze, essentially do anything your heart desires. The tricky part of poker comes when your M becomes something that isn’t comfortable just shoving, but can’t really afford to see many chips go to waste. The area between M4-8 is considered to be the “awkward” stage of an MTT stack. Playing in this stage can be critical in improving your MTT game, but there’s a trick to playing the awkward stacks that helps you to stay clear of the situation.

Avoiding the situation. The best way to play awkward stacks in MTT’s is to avoid them altogether. If you find your stack creeping to M10, it may be time to look for spots that may be more marginal than you’d normally take. Playing an awkward stack is not a profitable method of playing, as the decisions you’ll be put to are much harder to contend with than deep stack or short stack play. Take active measures to bring yourself out of the awkward zone, especially if the tournament you’re in has a faster structure; getting into M6-8 territory then may force you to simply shove the entire time, which isn’t an ideal situation with a still playable stack in tow.

Playing the awkward stack. When you do finally slip into the awkward stack, the first thing you need to do is look for the stacks than can help you bounce out of your situation. Accept that you're going to have to gamble - while poker has more skill than, say, roulette, there are points in tournaments where you have to get the chips in as a loser. Knocking out a short stack may be enough to bump you out of M7, or squeezing over two loose players may also be enough. Spots that may not be there with a M12 stack may be alright to try with an M7 stack. Most of the time, though, you’re still only looking at a single move at these stacks; an all-in. At M6-8, you still may have enough chips to open, but a better line may be to look for spots to stop ‘n’ go, or resteal, with stacks at this stage. You gain more with these particular plays, and your play will close the action from your side, making your decisions easier in the hand. Also, if you do happen to get called, you stand a chance at doubling to a stack between M12-16, which is a lot more tolerable than the stack you currently are burdened with. With the shorter stacks, M4-6, be looking for opportune spots to shove. You can’t afford to open/fold at this point, so if you do decide to open, be prepared to call off if reraised. Below M6, you need to be really thinking about doubling up, even if you still seem to have a good chunk of chips in front of you; t1,800 at t100/200 seems like a lot, but in reality, is only a decent three bet in size, and that’s it.