Calling Short-Stacked All-in Bets in Texas Holdem

Texas Holdem
January 29 2009

We all know that short-stacked players have to force the action before they end up getting blinded out of a tournament. So calling these desperate bets can be a profitable move, if the situation is right to do so. You should have a considerably bigger stack than the bettor has, and you need to make sure that you won’t face any other aggression from another player after you make the call. The first thing to do is calculate how desperate the bettor is.

If he's down to just a couple of big blinds you can call 25 percent or less of your stack with a medium-strength hand like Q-J. If the player has more like 10 big blinds left, it would be better to limit your calls to hands like pocket pairs, A-10 or K-Q. Players with more chips than 10 big blinds aren’t really that desperate, and an all-in bet should be given some respect as possibly being a premium hand.

The bigger your stack the more chances you can make. If the all-in bet is less than 15 percent of your stack you can call with any ace, small pair, K-J or K-10. They may not be the best hands, but the chance of knocking out an opponent without putting your tournament in jeopardy is too good to pass up.

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