The effective stack is the smaller of the stacks between you and your opponent. It is the most money that can actually change hands, because nobody can win more from a player than that player has in front of them.
An effective stack example
You have $500 and your opponent has $180. The effective stack is $180. Even though you have more, you can only win or lose $180 in this hand. In a multiway pot, players usually look at the effective stack against each opponent separately.
Effective stacks in big blinds
Players usually describe effective stacks in big blinds. In a $1/$2 game, $180 effective is 90 big blinds. In a tournament with blinds of 500/1,000, an effective stack of 12,000 chips is 12 big blinds.
Why effective stack matters
- Hand selection: small pairs and suited connectors need deep effective stacks to be profitable, because they rely on implied odds.
- Tournaments: under about 15 big blinds effective, the best strategy is often to move all-in or fold. The push/fold chart is built on effective stack sizes.
- Commitment: the effective stack compared with the pot, called the stack-to-pot ratio, tells you how committed you are after the flop.
See every term in our poker glossary.
Related terms
Try the free tool
Push/Fold ChartKeep reading