If playing with deep stacks (150bb+) makes you feel anxious or confused, this article
will make your life easier.
You’re about ⚽️ to learn how to:
Adjust your preflop bet
sizing when deep stacked.
Choose the correct hands to 3-bet and 4-bet when deep
⚽️ stacked.
Adjust your postflop game plan when deep stacked.
Let’s dive in!
What is Deep
Stack Poker?
A deep stack can refer to having ⚽️ a large stack in a cash game, typically
more than 100 big blinds, as well as to a tournament with ⚽️ a starting stack that is
relatively high when compared to the blinds and antes. Thus, these tournaments are
oftentimes referred ⚽️ to as deep stack tournaments.
Preflop Bet Sizings
When it comes to
open-raising preflop, your sizings should remain the same as when ⚽️ you’re playing 100
big blinds deep. If you normally raise to 2.5 big blinds, raise to 2.5 big blinds. If
⚽️ you normally raise to 4 big blinds, raise to 4 big blinds. And so on.
Your 3-bet sizes
should be a ⚽️ little bigger when you’re in position. When you are the 3-bettor in
position, you will have a huge advantage throughout ⚽️ the hand because you always get to
act last. This situation will be very hard for your opponent to navigate ⚽️ postflop.
Your
3-bet sizes should be a little bigger when out of position. If your opponent with a 200
big blind ⚽️ stack is opening to 2.5 big blinds, for example, then making it 10 or 11 big
blinds instead of the ⚽️ more standard 9 big blinds is a good adjustment.
The same
concepts hold true when 4-betting.
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3-Betting Ranges
When you 3-bet ⚽️ in position, you don’t need to change your range
at all. It’s your out of position opponent that has to ⚽️ make big adjustments.
When you
3-bet out of position, however, you need to make some changes to your 3-betting
range:
First, it ⚽️ makes sense to polarize your range more since you are using a larger
3-bet size and you should avoid getting ⚽️ into super big pots with your medium-strength
hands.
You should also 3-bet with more suited connectors to better your range’s board
⚽️ coverage. This makes life a lot easier on board runouts that are disadvantageous for
your typical 3-betting range. You don’t ⚽️ want to be forced to call off 200 big blinds on
the river with an overpair because it’s the top ⚽️ of your range on a 6♦ 5♣ 2♠ T♦ 3♣
board. 3-betting with suited connectors becomes a viable adjustment to ⚽️ avoid this and
similar problems.
Suited Ax hands remain just as, if not more valuable because they can
win extremely big ⚽️ pots in flush vs flush situations. So, you should happily continue to
3-bet with them.
Note: According to the Poker Snowie ⚽️ solver, you can still use the same
3-betting range at 100 big blinds and 300+ big blinds deep. The stack ⚽️ depth doesn’t
make a big difference in Poker Snowie’s preflop solutions. From a human player’s point
of view, however, you ⚽️ will probably find it easier to tighten up to avoid making
mistakes in tough spots.
4-Betting Ranges
When it comes to your ⚽️ 4-betting ranges, you
don’t have to raise light for value. This is true for both in position and out of
⚽️ position, but for different reasons.
When you face a 3-bet in position, you should be
happy to call more often as ⚽️ it puts your opponent into this tough postflop spot
(playing out of position with a high stack-to-pot ratio). Thus, flat-calling ⚽️ the
premium hands worse than KK (QQ, AK) is useful.
When you face a 3-bet out of position,
you want to ⚽️ minimize your disadvantages and protect your ranges. Thus flat-calling the
premium hands worse than KK (QQ, AK) is best.
You can ⚽️ also make a case for flatting AA
and KK, depending on how deep you actually are and how aggressive your ⚽️ opponent will
play postflop. You should be less likely to 4-bet AA and KK as you get deeper and
against ⚽️ aggressive players who will pile chips into the pot postflop.
Postflop
Strategy
The biggest postflop adjustment should be made when you’re in ⚽️ a 3-bet pot as
the preflop raiser out of position. This is the most important deep stack adjustment
because this ⚽️ is where the biggest stack-to-pot ratio change occurs.
Since you’re so
much deeper in these pots, you need to play a ⚽️ slightly more defensive strategy. This
means you’ll have to do more checking, more calling, less betting, and less
check-raising. This ⚽️ will be an especially valuable adjustment against aggressive
opponents that will relentlessly attack your perceived capped ranges.
In the other
postflop ⚽️ spots, like 4-bet pots or 3-bet pots in position as the preflop raiser, your
strategy shouldn’t change much at all.
Final ⚽️ Thoughts
Playing deep stacked can be
daunting, but it can also be a walk in the park depending on how you ⚽️ set yourself up
from preflop. By making the adjustments discussed here, you will be able to navigate
with confidence and ⚽️ put your opponents in tougher spots.
That’s all for this article! I
hope you enjoyed it and that you’ve found it ⚽️ useful.
Want more? Read The Only Two
Reasons to Bet in Poker (Every Other Reason is Wrong).
Till’ next time, good luck,
⚽️ grinders!
