All-in moves by stack size

In part one of this series we discussed the basics of moving all-in. Now we will look at  the exact mechanics of moving all-in with different stack sizes.

With less than 15 big blinds, moving all-in or folding is usually a good option. With this stack size you are not only getting good odds based on a combination of fold equity and all-in equity if you are called, but with this stack size raising a normal amount and folding is usually too costly. If you raise pre-flop and are just called it is very hard to manoeuvre post-flop and it gives other players the opportunity to pick you off on the flop or take you off a hand that is actually ahead.

Re-raising all-in is the next level up from the all-in move itself. Typically players will open to 2.5-3 times the big blind when they have a playable stack, making the pot anywhere from 4-6 big blinds depending on antes. This is quite a substantial amount of chips to win, especially as the blinds-to-stack ratio gets shallower. So when the effective stacks are 15-30 big blinds and you have some sort of hand and suspect your opponent opens reasonably wide it is very profitable to re-raise all-in, since fold equity will again compensate for the times you are called by a better hand.

Of course, if an opponent has open-raised their hand range is probably quite strong, but notice that here you are only risking a few times the pot in chips, whereas by moving all-in as first to act you are sometimes risking as much as ten times the pot. This means that when your opponent is probably opening with a broad range, such as in late position in a tournament, you can usually re-raise all-in with a wide range of hands including pairs, decent Aces, and semi-bluffing hands like smaller suited Aces, face cards or suited connectors.

//x-head//
Stepping up the aggression

The next level of complexity occurs with deeper stacks of 30-60 big blinds, where an opponent can re-raise you without having to commit himself to going all-in. This opens the door for you to re-shove all-in if you have a strong hand or suspect he is bluffing. For example, if you open to 2.5 big blinds with a 50 big blind stack your opponent is risking too much by simply going all-in, and will generally make it around three times your raise, putting the pressure back on you. At this point, it very much comes down to your read of the opponent as to how much fold equity you have. Again there is plenty of money in the pot, and at high stakes where people re-raise very light you can sometimes re-shove light for the same reason.