Poker Articles

Playing The Role Of Chip Leader

Nice! Your pocket aces just held up against another player’s pocket kings and you’ve doubled up. In fact, your new stack garners you chip leader status! Wait. Chip leader?! Isn’t there added responsibility that comes with being the chip leader? Don’t I have to start bullying the table, raising and reraising every hand? Aren’t I the guy who has to call the short stacks’ all-in bets? Now I’m the guy who has to steal blinds from weak-tight players and medium sized stacks? I’m not ready for all that! Here, take your chips back! I don’t want to be the chip leader!

The phrase “chip leader” has an exciting aura about it, especially when you discover that you are the chip leader. Don’t let all of the hype intimidate you. There seems to be a false sense of necessary action amongst less experienced poker players, who probably don’t hold the title of chip leader very often. Sure, there are some additional situations that will arise that you need to be prepared for, but it’s nothing to raise a fuss about. The good news is, whatever you were doing prior to your newfound chip leader status was working and that’s what’s important.

So your first obligation, then, should be to congratulate yourself on your accomplishment. You have reached a point in the tournament where no one else at the table is capable of eliminating you on any single hand. You are, in a sense, temporarily invincible. Sure, that can all change in the blink of an eye if you’re not careful, but for right now, you’re in no immediate danger of busting out. More often than not, when amateur players suddenly find themselves in this position, they feel the need to change their playing style and make plays that they simply shouldn’t be making. Just because you have a lot of chips, it is seldom correct to take any action in poker based solely on the fact that you are able to. It’s the fastest way to make the transition from chip leader to railbird. Take your time and be sure to have a legitimate reason for every play you make.

One of the ultimate benefits of being the chip leader is that you are able to put intense pressure on your opponents at any moment. You hold the power to send each and every one of the other players at your table home and they know this. Because of this, your opponents will generally play much more cautiously against you than they will against those with similar sized stacks to their own, for fear of elimination. One way to use this situation to your advantage is to increase your bets enough that your opponent knows you mean business and are not afraid to go head-to-head with him. He’ll more than likely get away from most marginal hands early on, to avoid committing himself to a fight he cannot win. On the contrary, be weary of those opponents who seem undaunted by your display of strength. They are either playing to win and not afraid of the prospect of elimination or they simply have a real hand that you are likely an underdog to.

We should also take a look at one other aspect of playing the role of the chip leader, which also applies to players who aren’t chip leaders, but have decent sized chip stacks. In his book Harrington on Hold’em, Vol. II, Dan Harrington calls this duty “flyswatting,” which refers to the rapid elimination of smaller stacks at the hands of larger stacks, towards the end of a poker tournament. Essentially, his advice tells readers to put any player all-in whose chip stack we have covered by more than a 10-1 margin, no matter what two cards you have. For example, you are the chip leader in a multi-table tournament with roughly 20,000 chips and are currently in the small blind. The action folds to you and you notice that the big blind only has 1700 chips left. You hold 10 4 offsuit, a hand that you would typically stay way from, but the correct move here is to put him all-in, based on the fact that you can only lose 1700 chips and you have the opportunity to eliminate another player from the field. Harrington explains, “The combined probability that they will fold to my bet or that I will win the hand if they call is always great enough to risk the chance of at most a 10 percent hit to my stack.”

Being the chip leader is supposed to be a good thing. Avoid making life harder for yourself by attempting complicated plays that simply aren’t necessary, just because you’re the chip leader. One too many ill-conceived plays can easily bring an abrupt end to what could have been a big payday.

Harrington, Dan, and Bill Robertie. Harrington on Hold’em, Vol. II. Las Vegas: Two Plus Two, 2005.

By Garry Gates
Poker Expert