Short stack

Also: short-stacked, shortie

A stack that is small relative to the blinds — in tournaments usually under about 20 big blinds — or, in cash games, a player who buys in for the table minimum.

Example. Down to 12 big blinds after a bad beat, she is now the short stack at the table.

Short stacks play a simplified game: fewer post-flop decisions, more all-ins, and reliance on push/fold theory. In cash games, deliberate short-stacking (buying in for 20–40 bb) was a popular online strategy because it neutralises deep-stacked opponents' edge; many rooms responded with higher minimum buy-ins.

Related terms

Full glossary

Push/fold

The short-stack strategy of either moving all-in or folding pre-flop, with no raises or calls in between. Belo…

Effective stack

The smaller of the two stacks in a hand — the most that can be won or lost between those players. All strategy…

Deep stack

A tournament (or a cash-game stack) where players start with many big blinds — typically 100 or more — so ther…

Add-on

A one-time option at the end of the rebuy period to buy extra chips regardless of your stack size. Almost alwa…

Big blind ante

A tournament format where, instead of every player posting an ante, the player in the big blind posts one larg…

Bounty

A cash prize paid for knocking a specific player out of a tournament. In a knockout event every player carries…

Bracelet

The gold bracelet awarded to the winner of every World Series of Poker event — the most coveted trophy in the …

Bubble

The point in a tournament just before the payouts begin: the next player eliminated leaves with nothing while …