We are playing against a loose, mediocre player and we hold AQ. Effective stacks are $60 and there is already $25 in the pot with a flop of Q75. Our opponent cannot put us to a tough decision because our SPR is 2.4, so if our opponent moves all-in, we should have no problem calling here with what will be the best hand most of the time. However, what if the effective stacks were changed from $60 to $300? Then our SPR goes up to 12. If we bet and then get raised, the rest of the hand may be trickier for us to play because we have so much money left in our stacks in relation to the size of the pot.
In this post we'll look at different size SPRs, how they can be beneficial, what problems they present, and how to create a target SPR. First let's look at the categories of SPRs:
Low SPR: 0-6
Medium SPR: 7-16
High SPR: 17+
So if your SPR represents how many pot-sized bets you are able to put in post-flop, how do we play hands with higher SPRs? Let's look at an example:
We're playing a $1/$2 6-max cash game. We have $200 and everyone has us covered. We are in middle position and we find ourselves with K♣K♠ so we make a standard raise of three times the big blind to $6. We get a caller on the button and the small and big blinds fold. The pot is $15 and we have an effective stack of $194. Our SPR is 12.9. The flop comes Q♥7♠5♥. We then continue and bet $12, but our opponent raises to $45. Even though we’re likely to have the best hand here, our opponent has put us to a tough decision. Do we just call? Should we move all-in? If we do move all-in here and get called, it will generally be by a better hand than ours. By tweaking one little part of this hand, we can play it more easily.
It’s the same situation, but instead of raising to $6, we raise to $12. We still get called by the player on the button so now there is $27 in the pot, and we have $188 behind. Now our SPR is only 6.9. By tailoring our preflop raise, we can make a plan around the hand that will make it easier for us to play. Say we bet $22 and our opponent raises to $75. The pot is now $102 and since we only have $166 left, it’s much easier to get the rest of our stack in here instead of facing tough turn and river decisions. By tailoring our preflop raises to meet our target SPR, we reduce the difficult decisions we may be forced to make on later betting streets.
What about hands with medium-sized and high SPRs? What types of hands should we be playing with here? Typically with medium-sized SPRs we want to be playing hands like sets, two pair, good drawing hands, and flushes and straights. With high SPRs we should be playing top-tier hands like very strong draws, full-houses, and big flushes or straights. The idea behind this is to get in as much money as possible when we stand the chance of having the best hand or making the best hand. Let’s say we’re playing the same $1/$2 game and our opponent in middle position raises to $6. We are on the button with $500 and our opponent has us covered. We look down and find 5♣5♠. We call and both blinds fold. The pot is $15 and we have $496 behind. Now our SPR is 33. This is incredibly high, but the flop comes out 5♥5♦Q♠! It’s going to be very hard for our opponent to put us on one 5, let alone two of them. If our opponent has a hand like AQ or KQ, they’re going to have a hard time folding in this spot. In this situation it’s good to have a high SPR because we want to get as much money in the pot as possible. We won’t be faced with hardly any difficult decisions with this hand.
In essence, stack-to-pot ratios give us a better understanding of our risk vs. reward and they can help us to plan commitment around a hand more efficiently. This can give you an edge over your opponents because many players don’t worry about a difficult decision until they’re faced with one. By knowing how to use SPRs to your advantage, you can manipulate the way the hand is played and you benefit.
As always, question and comments are welcome.
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