When you are sitting down for a nice warm breakfast, a short stack can be a wonderful way to start the day. When you are sitting at the table in a Texas Holdem tournament, the short stack has a whole different meaning and playing it wrong can bring your day to a heartbreaking end. Being on the short stack, means you are the player at the table with the least chips remaining. The other players are hoping you drop out next so they can either move closer to the money or further up the standings. When you read poker books, there is a lot of talk about the Expected Value (EV) of a poker hand. In other words, how much money you could expect to win or lose with a bet. As an example, let's say you are holding 33 and your friend is holding AK. He tells you that he is willing to go heads-up against you as many times as you want for $100 per hand before any of the community cards are shown. Is this a good bet for you? Regardless of the suit of the cards, the pocket 3s would always be a slight favorite against the two overcards. So, if you could make an unlimited number of bets, you could be pretty confident that you would make money in the long run.

In a Texas Holdem tournament, EV takes on an entirely different perspective. Let's say you are playing in a no-limit Texas Holdem tournament where only the top 10 players get in the money. There are 12 players remaining and the chip leader has $50,000 in chips. You are sitting on the short stack with $5,000 in chips and there are 3 other players with less than $7,000 in chips. Sitting on the dealer button, you look down to see pocket 8s in your hole cards. You are contemplating an all-in bet in hopes of stealing the blinds when a player with a large stack raises to $3,000. You put him on 2 overcards, so you feel you are ahead in the hand. At this point, you are faced with a very difficult decision. Do you just call the raise? No. You would be pot committed so playing the hand would mean you would want to raise all-in. If you are correct that your opponent has overcards, then you know you are a slight favorite if you raise all-in. Or, would it be better to fold and avoid the chance of being outdrawn?

You need to think back to our previous example. In that case, you would win $100 every time your pair held up against the 2 overcards. In a tournament like the one described where only 10 players make money, you could win the hand and still finish out of the top 10. One of the things you need to consider is whether your goal is to win the tournament, or to finish in the money. If winning is the goal, you may be willing to gamble and try to double up when you feel you are the favorite. If you are trying to survive to make it into the money, you may want to play more conservatively and look for stronger hands. In the meantime, the other low stacks will be facing similar situations and one wrong decision will move you one step closer to your goal.