Part: Part Nine - Inflection Points: M, Q & the Zones

Q: big-stack leverage

Pre-flop
Blinds 400 / 800 (100 ante)Pot 2,100 (2.6 BB)Q = 3.0 • big stack - apply pressureCOJ♦9♦● 60,000 (75 BB)YOUQ = 3.0, near the moneySB● 20,000 (25 BB)posts 400 (0.5 BB)BB● 20,000 (25 BB)posts 800 (1 BB)D

You're the chip leader: Q = 3.0 (you have 60,000; the average stack is 20,000), near the money. A medium stack keeps folding to survive.

Big Q near the money, a medium stack folding to survive. Best approach?

WhyThe medium stacks are the ones with something to lose - deep enough that busting stings, short enough that one call could end them. Near the money they surrender their blinds rather than flip, so raise into them with a wide range. Leave the committed short stacks and fellow big stacks alone; they'll fight back.
What happensThe medium stacks keep folding and you collect blinds and antes uncontested. The leverage does the work here, not your cards.
A big Q is a weapon aimed at the players who fear busting, not at the whole table. Point it at the medium stacks near the money; they pay you to threaten them.

Chips only have power when someone fears losing them. A large Q - your stack over the field average - is leverage against the players who can least afford to bust.