Part: Part Ten - Adjusting to Different Stacks

Isolate the short stack

Pre-flop
Blinds 400 / 800 (100 ante)Pot 7,100 (8.9 BB)You: big stack • isolate the shortCOA♠Q♠● 60,000 (75 BB)YOUto actMP● 5,000 (6.2 BB)Short stackall-in 5,000 (6.2 BB)BTN● 18,000 (22.5 BB)Mediumyet to actSB● 60,000 (75 BB)posts 400 (0.5 BB)BB● 60,000 (75 BB)posts 800 (1 BB)D

A short stack open-jams. You're the big stack with A♠Q♠, and a medium stack is still to act behind you.

A short jams; you hold A♠Q♠ with a medium stack yet to act. Best?

WhyThe medium stack still to act is the real problem: flat-call and he can tag along, turning your A-Q into a three-way scramble where your equity craters. Shoving over the top slams the door and gets you one-on-one with the short stack, exactly where A-Q wants to be. The re-raise isn't about your hand's strength alone - it's about denying the field a cheap look.
What happensThe medium folds as planned, but the short stack turns over a small pair and it holds - you lose the pot. The isolation still did its job: you got heads-up against his range with a hand that beats most of it, and a small pair just happens to race. Judge the decision, not the river.
With a strong hand and live players behind, you re-jammed to get heads-up - and though the flip fell the wrong way this time, cutting the field to one is the right process every time you meet this spot.

When a short stack jams and players are still to act, flatting invites a crowd. Re-raising all-in with a strong hand buys a clean heads-up pot and protects your equity from a multiway squeeze.