Analyzing Poker Chip Stacks

When playing in a No limit Texas Holdem poker tournament, one of the most important factors to monitor and constantly keep track of is not just the board and community cards, the playing styles of the opponents, or the bets at that moment, but also the chip stacks of the respective players.

The amount of money that a player has remaining will often have a direct effect on his overall strategy when playing his different poker hands.

The necessity of a Texas Holdem poker player constantly monitoring the chip stack counts of his opponents is particularly important when playing online poker, due to the aggressive nature of play at the majority of online poker tables.

One of the most important factors to keep in mind, and one of the truest poker rules of thumb, when analyzing the different chip stacks is that short stacks will be quickly devoured by the antes and blinds if the players possessing those stacks don't take immediate action and play with assertiveness and aggression.

These players, knowing they face the real possibility of being blinded out will have to make something happen, often with poker hands that they normally would have thrown into the muck. An online poker player must weigh that factor into consideration, therefore, when these players make a move. One of the biggest mistakes that poker players with large poker chip stacks make is to go all in with bets when it isn't necessary. Oftentimes the rationale behind a large stack player going all in is that he is trying to knock out a short stack player. Many times, however, the end result is that such unnecessary forced bets result in blowing up on the face of the large stack player.

Sometimes, even in the volatile game of online poker, patience is a virtue and there is no need for a large stack player to needlessly waste chips from his stack. Sure, a large stack allows the luxury of looser play on poker hands now and then but unnecessary risk of chips is inexcusable and often fatal for a poker player, no matter how large his stack.

A poker player must be aware of what he can lose in the face of the desperate motives of others.

When poker tournaments get shorthanded it is critical to understand chip stacks. Short stacks can be picked on if done intelligently. Conversely, short stacks can pick and choose wise spots to go all-in based on position and other chip stacks.

The size of your opponents poker chip stack in relation to how many poker chips you have is much more important than you might think in online poker tournaments.

Poker Host is currently offering an initial deposit bonus of 100% up to $2,000, a monthly rake chase for satellite seats to the World Poker Tour and Extreme Chip Stack poker tournaments.