Saturday, June 24, 2006

I See Dead People and Big Stack Play


On Wednesday I went to the National Military Park in Vicksburg and meandered through the battlefield. Thursday was a driving day and Friday I spent on Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga. Like every poker junkie, I looked for poker lessons every where I went. This trip has had me thinking about big stack play.


Vicksburg sits high on a bluff, overlooking the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. The Confederates held the high ground. In Chattanooga, the Confederates held Lookout Mountain and later Missionary Ridge - again the high ground in the battles that would ensue. High ground is a huge advantage, much as having the big stack at your table. As a short stack, or holding the short stack, you know you're in for a protracted battle if you have a shot at winning. And both civil war battles were long sieges, where the Union eventually prevailed. Having a big stack is an advantage, but it's not a panacea. While Lookout Mountain was never taken by the Union army, the Confederate eventually abandoned it. There was little that they could do with the position. Because of the sheer cliff at the top, the conferred had to expose themselves any time they tried to pick off the Union below - just as a big stack exposes themselves every time they try to sheriff a small stack. Having a big stack and knowing how to play it are two different things.

Not that this has too much relevance for me, the consummate small stack player. One of the things I hope to work on in Vegas is getting and playing a big stack.

Today is another travel day as I continue to make my way eastward for the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

5 Comments:

Blogger CC said...

You may want to hit the mountains north of Greenville, SC if it crosses your path. Some nice scenery, and Brevard is a cute town. Safe travels.

4:03 PM  
Blogger CarmenSinCity said...

Those pictures are really pretty. I especially like the waterfall :)

11:36 AM  
Blogger Hammer Player a.k.a Hoyazo said...

I like the metaphor with big stack play, Amy. About 6 months ago or so, I found that I too never seemed to be the big stack, and that if I were lucky enough to make it far, say to a final table, in a big MTT, I was always squeaking in in like 9th place out of 9 players, 8th place out of 10 players, etc. I finally accepted that this meant that, as a general statement, I simply wasn't playing aggressive enough. Since making some tweaks to my game to address this leak, my MTT performances have improved significantly.

I think if you keep playing the big MTTs, and you focus on pushing hard with your big hands, and not committing many chips with poor hands and poor flops, you can get there.

Which reminds me, haven't seen you at the WWdN tourneys on Tuesday nights since that first one. You ever plan to come back and join us for more of these blogger events?

12:35 PM  
Blogger amy said...

Hey y'all,
I never did get to SC this leg of my trip, but it sure is pretty country around here and I think I'm going to make my way back here real soon.

And yes hoyazo - I will become a regular fixture on Tuesday nights. I've just been a little preoccupied trying to get my blog moved to a new site and traveling right now.

7:26 PM  
Blogger Egarim said...

You forgot to mention lover's leap, where a girl plunged to her death because she was madly in love. Poker players often take the same plunge with big stacks when they are madly on tilt. ;)

11:05 PM  

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