I'm trying to lower my variance and buying into games for the minimum of 25BB - $50. Ideally, I would like to leave the table as soon as I double and rebuy at another table for $50.

What happens right now is that after I double, I continue to play with 50BB, playing more hand ranges. Depending on the table, I'd play with this until the dealer switches out, or I hit 75 - 100BB. There were a few situations where I had doubled to 50BB, and a few hands later lost my stack with a cooler.

Does it matter? Can I leave the table shortly after doubling? I want to play short stack for a few more sessions.

You can't immediately do this.

I generally go for a walk, read a book and come back an hour later. I didn't know that was a set rule, but I wasn't doing it.

It will vary by casino, but they will usually make you wait for an hour.

It sucks when you double up then get coolered, but it's awesome when you double up, then get doubled up again.

You will probably hear a lot of crap from posters (and players in your game) if you hit and run for any amount, and also for short stacking, but at the end of the day it is legal and you can do it if you want to.

It's all one long session.

It would be unfortunate if you went out of your way to always be short-stacked.

Because when you cooler someone else, you have intentionally limited how much you can win.

Meanwhile, you are maximizing the rake as a percentage of your winnings

Make it your plan to get comfortable with $100 or $200 or $300 in your stack, and you have a chance at a reasonable win rate - which will, in turn, reduce the likelihood of losing your bankroll.

It may take a while to have a realistic reason to be comfortable (meaning you have actually learned to play better), but there is probably more variance in comfortably shoving a small stack when you might be better served making a different play.

Actually, you're increasing your variance. The reason is that you're eliminating a lot of hands where you can collect bets being an overwhelming favorite. Instead, you're going to find yourself going all in as a 55/45 or 45/55 favorite in a lot of cases.

As stated above, you're allowed to leave the table at any time in a public room. A lot of people play short so there shouldn't be too many comments to your face.

That said, I would do some reading about effective short stack strategies. Most people do it wrong and lose a lot of money pretty quickly. As one good short stacker posted a long time ago, "if you're playing a short stack strategy at a full ring table, you're doing it wrong."

correct.
you created an account here because presumably you want to get better at poker. short stacking, hit/running will not help you get better at poker.

You can't leave and immediately minbuy at another game, generally casinos make you wait either 1 or 2 hours before you can do this. You might be able to get away with it on a busy night, but if regs catch on that you are doing this they won't like you very much (if that matters to you).

As far as etiquette, I say if it's at a casino, do whatever you want when it comes to hit and running. If it's a home game, good luck ever getting invited back if you do this.

This is not necessarily true.

If you are already a breakeven player, short stacking and hit-and-running will prevent you from being a good player, true.

If you are a terrible player, shortstacking will help you, as will hit and run. As a matter of fact, if you are a terrible player, buying in for $0 and playing 0 hours should be considered.

give the fishes some hope!

I heard this was what you were doing this year.

Come play at my local casino, you'll see otherwise. It drives me nuts, and obviously you're right that this shouldn't be allowed, but there are poorly run casinos with a lot of tables where floors aren't supervising enough over table changes. At my local casino, when the floor grants you a table change they pay no attention to the stack you're bringing from another table. You can min-buy, hit, then immediately table change for another min-buy all day long.

I’ve played in multiple casinos that have no rules about that or at least don’t enforce them.

At least in some casinos with lots of games, there’s also a very easy way to circumvent the rules by switching between stakes. Double up at 1/3 and table change to 2/5. Double up again and move back to 1/3 buying in for the min. Maybe some casinos would prevent you from doing that but I know that several larger ones don’t. But you probably have to tip the floor for them not to get annoyed by your constant table change requests.

I play in a busy room and enforcement against this type of ratholing is non-existent. In fact, they pretty much mandate ratholing by rule. For example, at a 1-2 game, you run your stack to $400. You ask for a table transfer. When you get the transfer to another 1-2, you are only allowed to buy in for the max of $200. The only exception is when you come from a broken table. So you have to pocket the other $200 whether you want to or not.

Variance sounds like a pretty technical math term. But in 'poker terms' variance is just 'swings' in bankroll. So playing short does reduce swings due to the limited exposure.

However, as others have indicated, I'm not so sure you have as much 'control' over your equity since your not deep enough to add much fold equity when you shove. I know for many poker players there's nothing better in life (at the time) than snapping off a short stack with 67s multi-way.

You may also not get the action you desire if players are aware that you will dash away if you win ... so the opposite is true as well. So at the right table you could 'steal' your way to a double up without ever seeing a River.

The other posts have pretty much covered your questions. There is a social balancing act in poker among the players. Regs are nice to regs, especially when seated next to each other, as long as you keep coming back and putting chips they can take from you on the table. Notwithstanding the social 'pressure' do what you want with your stack ... I've lost plenty just sticking around trying to keep a table going or not wanting to rush off after some 'run good' myself.

You don't mention 'getting better' at poker or whether you are interested in playing 'winning'/optimum poker. So I think you are just trying to build a bankroll back to where you have a couple of full BIs. There's nothing wrong with that.

I think what others are indicating is that you should make sure that you play a short stack style when playing short. That is the best way to achieve whatever you are trying to get out of playing that way. GL

I would have be richer if I had done that in 2018.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I've decided to buy in for 25BB and play short stack for one round, if I stack off it's fine, if I bust I'll buy in for 50BB, and reload for another 50BB for the session.

The first 25BB gives me some time to warm up to the table. Also when I put 50BB in, people might put me on a tighter range than I usually play.

This is not true. Variance is a mathematical term with a precise definition. Playing short DOES decrease variance. I tire of explaining it over and over, so I'm going to leave it at that and let OP decide whether to believe one random stranger over another.

Habitually hitting and running will probably annoy some of the regs. I couldn’t care less but some will, up to you if that bothers you or not. In a big room, it’s likely less of an issue.

Short stack hit and run is less effective than short stack run it up from 60 to 200 - 300 and calling it a night. I find that if I leave after running it up to that amount I have the best results. In NLHE. PLO is different.

What you really want to do is start with the minimum. Then, after 30 minutes to 1 hour, evaluate based on game conditions whether it is worth investing additional capital, and what you want your stack to be.

How do you determine whether it is worth investing additional capital? The first sign will be preflop play. If you are at a game where there are tons of players limping in every hand, especially if they are having fun and it is a lively table, then chances are you are in a fish pond and should invest a few more bucks, especially if the loose players have deep stacks. OTOH hand if your table has a lot of chops and raise-reraise as well as heads up contested pots, or if you have an aggro player or two on your immediate left, then you might want to consider not adding on and instead changing tables.

Then, when your stack is > 10% of your bankroll, you should quit, if anyone else covers you.

After 30 minutes to one hour, you want to be at your 3rd table already if you play proper short stack strategy. If the poker room allows you to rathole and table change immediately, playing a 25BB stack is ridiculously profitable in most standard 1/2 settings without outrageous rake.

Your standard hand should be something like that: two limpers, raise to 8BB (because it’s 1/2 live), you put in your 25BB and it folds back to the raiser who’s getting >2:1 on the call, creating lots of 60-40(ish) spots in your favor.

That’s the main reason why poker rooms should have a rule preventing ratholing, it’s just way too profitable in your standard live game setting while killing fun for everybody else at the table.

except those 8x ranges tend to be nutted so your proposed strategy would just create a lot of 30/70 or 20/80 spots, not in your favour. proper short stack play is extremely nitty

Sounds like you’re playing in the wrong 1/2 games.

I've literally never played in that game. lol at an 8x raise being typically "nutted". Hell, you might regularly be the 60 in that 60-40 situation.

We think of shortstackers as losing players because the vast majority of them are bad at it. (They are shortstacking because they are losing players, not the other way around.) The doesn't mean it can't be profitable. Though I agree that some amount of nittiness (choosiness) is important.