World Series: Playing the Short Stack and the Big Stack

by Craig Cunningham

It's one thing to start with a monster stack on Day 2A, as PokerStars qualifier Jeff Banghart did. With 186k in chips, he began the day 5th in chips and saw blinds and antes as chips to grab rather than life or death decisions. For many players, their starting stack pressures them into acts of desperation. The players who can comfortably play a short stack figure out how to weather the storm without reacting to the stress.

Reuben Peters started with 18.8k, 927th out of 1,033 players starting Day 2. As play continues in the third level of the day, he still sits on 15k. "When you get short like this, you just have to play cards," he said. "The 2s (PokerStars qualifier Daniel Elizondo) has been catching some big hands, and I've just been watching it all afternoon. A-10 is the best hand I've had, and I've been able to survive without much of anything. Patience, that's my style."

He had a good weekend as he waited to play today. "I won a re-buy tournament this weekend on PokerStars, which was great and kept me in tournament mode. I'm already a big winner twice, with my Main Event seat and now the tournament win."



Reuben busted out shortly before the dinner break, and Daniel was up to 394k and is now the chipleader on Day 2A. He now has the enviable task of figuring out how to keep stacking all of his chips. Supernova Rob "vaga_lion" Akery broke, and he has replaced Reuben in the 6s. His 65k is plenty to battle Daniel or pick off others at the table.