Spr Poker
SPR, short for stack-to-pot-ratio, is a powerful concept that can help you take better lines both preflop and postflop. If you can understand and apply SPR strategy in poker you will have a mathematical framework for commitment. Here is the SPR formula: SPR = Effective Stack Size / Pot Size.
Note – SPR stands for Stack to Pot Ratio. I think a lot of SPR importance is based solely on the texture of the games you are playing in. To say a general statement like 'SPR of 13 is bad for top pair' would be. Date: Time (ET) Tournament: Daily Prize: Places Paid: Max Entrants: Mon Feb 8: 3PM: 10pts FREE for SBR PROS. 6: 50: Mon Feb 8: 6PM: 10pts FREE for SBR PROS.
- Calculating SPR. SPR is easy to calculate. It’s the ratio of the size of the pot, to the size of the effective stack (chips still left to bet). So if there is $50 in the pot, and $100 left to bet, the stack to pot ratio is 2 (100/50). The important thing to remember is that SPR is calculated by the effective stack.
- This concept is known as a stack to pot ratio or poker SPR. The simplest SPR poker definition is this: the size of the effective (smallest) stack divided by the size of the pot. To give you an example, in a $1/2.
Stack to Pot Ratio, or SPR for short, is a tool for helping to plan your hand around commitment decisions. In short, by providing a quick, easy framework for relating the size of the pot to the remaining effective stacks, you’ll be able to more easily determine if your hand strength warrants playing an all in pot or not.
Let's get a firm hold on using the stack-to-pot ratio (SPR) to take the best action in your next tournament. Profitable poker is a matter of defining the best risk for the potential reward for. Stack To Pot Ratio. In Professional No Limit Holdem, the authors describe how our decisions vary based on the size of the pot in relation to our stack. For instance, if we had pocket kings on an Ace hi flop with a pot of $1, we might play the hand differently if we had 1 cent behind, than if we had $100 behind. SPR What Does It Mean in Poker? SPR stands for Stack-to-Pot Ratio, which is the ratio of the shortest stack in the hand (aka the effective stack) divided by the pot on any given street. For example, if the pot is $10 and the effective stack is $100, the SPR is 10 (100/10).
Calculating SPR
SPR is easy to calculate. It’s the ratio of the size of the pot, to the size of the effective stack (chips still left to bet). So if there is $50 in the pot, and $100 left to bet, the stack to pot ratio is 2 (100/50). The important thing to remember is that SPR is calculated by the effective stack. If we had $2000 in the example, but our opponent only had $100, then the SPR with them is 2 since $100 is the most we can bet before they are all in. It is also possible to have different SPR’s with different opponents in multiway pots. If there was a 3rd player in the above hand, who, like ourselves, also had $2000 left to bet, then the SPR with the short stack player is still 2, but our SPR with the third player is 40 (2000/50). We would be willing and profitable to play many hand strengths all in vs. the short stack that would not be profitable to play all in vs. the other big stack.
Example:
As a basic example of extremes to help illustrate, suppose you have AhAd and the flop comes KsTc3d. Are you willing to get all in on the flop? If the pot contained $10 and the effective stacks had $1000 behind to bet (SPR of 100), getting all the money in would be rather insane and a losing play, because no one in their right mind will put 1K more in the middle in a $10 pot with a hand that can’t beat 1 pair. If, however, the pot contained $1000 and you had $10 left to bet (it’s an exaggerated hypothetical, bear with me here), of course you’d put that last $10 in. You would even put the last $10 in without a connection to the board… not only because you have a correct price to draw to anything, but you may have the best hand right now with something like ace high or king high as your opponent will eagerly (and correctly) put the last $10 in with any 2 cards and 1K already in the pot.
Practical Application
The lower the stack to pot ratio, the larger the pot is relative to what’s left to bet. Thus, opponents will be getting a better price to play for the rest and should be willing to do so with lessor holdings. While the example above was made with extremes, it should be clear that this is the basic logic of SPR.
One of the ways we can use this tool is to understand what kind of SPR we might have on the flop that will allow a player to get all in on the river with reasonable sizings. For example, if the stack to pot ratio on the flop is 13, it will take exactly 3 pot sized bets to be all in on the river. We can see this if we walk through the betting each street as follows:
Pot size = P
Effective Stack = 13P (SPR = 13)
If we bet 1P on the flop and are called, there will be 3P total going to the turn, and we’ll have 12P left to bet. On the turn we pot it again betting 3P and are called again. Now there is 9P in the pot, and 9P left to bet for a pot sized river all in.
You can work through a similar process for various effective stack sizes, and bet sizes. Let’s conclude with some general (not written in stone) guidelines for certain flop SPRs and willingness to play for all the marbles:
SPR 4 or less: This low SPR on the flop is one where we should feel comfortable getting our stack in with strong 1 pair hands. It will only take 2 pot sized bets to get all in, or 3 smaller sizings, and most players will have a hard time folding their pairs, particularly their better ones, in this sequence.
SPR 10 or more: The higher SPR’s make it precarious to get stacks with one pair hands. The more money there is to bet relative to the pot, the less likely an opponent will be to put it all in the middle without a very strong hand.
SPR 4 to 10: These middle of the road stack to pot ratios on the flop can go either way. Take the AhAd and the flop comes KsTc3d example from above. If our opponent were a known calling station, we can feel very comfortable getting in across 3 streets even on an SPR of 10, because stations will pay us off with many worse one pair hands. If our opponent were a very tight, conservative player however, we may not be retaining much edge getting all the money in on an spr of 5, because that opponent type is loath to play for stacks without very strong hands. What if you have no reads? In micro stakes, it’s safe to err on the side of assuming players will call too loose and too often, and be willing to go for the value with your strong one pair hands at a bit higher spr’s.
The basic premise of stack to pot ratios is simple… the larger the stacks relative to the pot, the stronger a hand we need to be willing to stack it all off. And when the money left to bet is shallow relative to the size of the pot, we should be reluctant to give up on that (relatively) large pot and willing to get in much lighter.
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Do you take SPR into consideration?
Note – SPRstands for Stack to Pot Ratio.
Poker Term Splash The Pot
I think a lot of SPR importance is based solely on the texture of the games you are playing in. To say a general statement like 'SPR of 13 is bad for top pair' would be wrong, since with aggressive history 13 is an amazing, optimal even, spr for top pair.
Poker Term Spring
I don’t even really see how you could discuss spr as a theory, its just something you should intrinsically keep in mind.
One thing related to spr that I’ve always found fascinating, but difficult to describe:
Poker Strategy seems to involve lots of dualities, wax/wane dynamics. Few examples of these:
Poker Term Spr
– You have a gutshot and an overcard first to act on the flop in a heads up pot, with x dollars in the pot, and effective stacks F(x). If F(x)=x its an easy shove. If F(x)=2x its an easy c/f, if F(x)=4x bet folding or c/rai can be correct. If F(x)=8x then you might bet 3-bet. Its basically a sine wave that decays as x approaches infinity.
– Unbalanced range leveling. Basically whether you decide to bluff someone when its obvious their range is mostly bluffcatchers vs yours. You’ll not bluff if you expect a call given your history, assuming your on that level, or you will decide to use that information as an excuse to bluff even. Your opponent will have to decide what your level F(x) will be. If he feels you’re a str8forward player he’ll set F(x)=1 and fold, but as he sets F(x) to higher and higher numbers his analysis will become basically useless and he’ll simply assume you are bluffing a decent amount and end his analysis right there. Once again, decaying curve.
Anyways I guess when ppl are in quote/unquote 'tough spots' that just means that they are not at one of the relative peaks/troughs of the sine wave, and are instead toward the equilibrium point.
This is why 4-bet bluffs are so tough to deal with with 75 and 150bb stacks, and so much easier by comparison to deal with when stacks are 100bb or 200bb deep.
There's also a handy classroom section on SPR starting at 6:26 in SplitSuit's 'Playing AA' video.
The stack-to-pot ratio (or SPR for short) principle was coined by Ed Miller in the book Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume I.
In this article I aim to explain the basics of SPR in poker and show you how it can be used to make your post-flop decisions a lot easier in cash games.
This article is merely a brief introduction and overview of SPR. I highly recommend you buy the book to feel the full force of 70 pages worth of SPR euphoria.
- SPR equation.
- Benefits of SPR example.
- High SPR situation.
- Low SPR situation.
- SPR example evaluation.
- Good hands for low SPRs.
- Good hands for medium SPRs.
- Good hands for high SPRs.
- Tailoring your preflop raises.
- Example of raising to 3bb.
- Example of raising to 6bb.
- Not entering pots.
I) What is SPR?
SPR is the effective stack sizes divided by the size of the pot on the flop.
Pokerstars Play Money
Let's say you raise to $6 in MP before the flop in a $1/$2 NL cash game. One opponent calls on the button and both of the blinds fold. If both you and your opponent have $100 in your stack, the stack to pot ratio would be:
- $94 : $15
- SPR = 100 / 15 = 6.3
To put it another way, in this example the remaining effective stack sizes are 6.3 times the size of the pot. Easy stuff really.
SPR can also be considered the ratio of risk : reward. In every no limit hand, the pot is the reward and the size of the effective stacks is the potential risk. Therefore the greater the SPR, the greater the risk : reward ratio.
A) SPR equation.
The SPR equation. It's straightforward, but it could still do with some explaining.
- Important points about working out SPR.
- You must use effective stack sizes. If you have $150 and your opponent only has $100, then the effective stack sizes are $100, as you cannot win or lose more than $100 against this player.
- SPR is worked out on the flop only. Stack to pot ratios are not going to be used for the turn or river.
II) What is the use of SPR?
By taking control of SPR you can make post flop play a lot easier for yourself.
Low SPR situations are simple to play, as they greatly reduce the amount of post flop actions and decision that you are required to make because there is so little room for manoeuvre due to the large pot size and small effective stacks. You're not going to be floating the flop and check raising all-in on the turn if the flop is $10 and you have $20 left in your stack.
High SPR situations can be a lot trickier to play (depending on what sort of hand you have on the flop) because there is a lot of money left in the stacks to be played with on the flop, turn and river.
Different strengths of hands can be more suited to either high or low SPRs. Therefore, if you know what sort of SPRs your hand plays well in, you can manipulate the pot sizes by the way you bet or raise preflop, or avoid certain situations altogether (by folding) to land yourself in a good SPR situation for your particular hand.
A) Benefits of SPR example.
The best example of SPR is when you have a top pair hand like A K on a flop of K T 9. We have top pair, but the board is highly coordinated and in all honesty we'd really prefer to bet and just take this pot down on the flop.
i) High SPR situation.
If the pot size is $10 and the effective stacks are $200, the SPR is 20. If we bet this flop and get raised we are put in a very tricky situation, as we could well have the best hand here but we're not really prepared to commit too much money with just top pair.
If we do end up getting it all in on this flop or on the turn or river the chances are that we do not hold the best hand. This makes playing top pair hands like this tricky if the SPR is mid-sized or high.
ii) Low SPR situation.
If the pot size is $10 and the effective stacks are $30, the SPR is 3. If we bet this flop and get raised we are in a much more comfortable position to call or raise all-in, as we do not fear further bets on the turn or river.
Sure, our opponent could still hold a better hand but the risk here is much lower. We are committed to the hand and so putting all our chips in the middle is a much easier decision.
iii) SPR example evaluation.
In the two different scenarios above the strength of our hand did not change, yet the outcomes were very different due to the stack to pot ratio. With the low SPR of 3 the risk is much lower relative to the reward, which makes it very easy for us to call all-in with our top pair hand.
III) High, medium and low SPRs.
- Low SPR = 0 - 6
- Medium SPR = 7 - 16
- High SPR = 17+
These SPR figures are very rough guidelines and their implications will vary greatly depending on how loose or tight your opponents are. They also mean nothing unless we have an idea of which hands play best depending on the stack to pot ratio.
A) Good hands for low SPRs.
- Overpairs.
- Top pair.
- Bottom two pair.
These are the sorts of hands that we do not want to play big pots with, as the bigger the pots get the greater the chances are that we are behind. Low SPRs reduce the number of decisions we need to make with these hands, which makes them a lot easier to play and thus more profitable situations over the long run.
With mediocre hands like these, you want to to avoid becoming pot committed after starting with a full stack.
B) Good hands for medium SPRs.
- Top two pair.
- Sets.
- Good drawing hands.
- Flushes and straights.
These are much stronger hands than the ones above and will remain as the best hand when you're all-in often enough to keep them profitable when the SPR is between around 7 to 16.
The higher likely SPR also makes it profitable to play more speculative hands like small pocket pairs and suited connectors that infrequently hit big flops, as there is a lot more money to potentially be won from the hand on later betting rounds.
C) Good hands for high SPRs.
- Sets.
- Strong drawing hands.
- Big flushes and high-end straights.
These are the hands that are almost guaranteed to win you the pot. If the SPR is high, you want be be sure that you have near enough the nuts or a draw to pretty much the nuts if there is a lot of action. The last thing you want to do in high SPR situations is get a lot of money in to the pot without a very good chance of winning.
IV) How to get good SPRs.
Depending on the type of hand you hold before the flop, you should have a rough idea of the ideal SPR for making your post flop play as easy and as profitable as possible. There are two things that you can do to get yourself in ideal situations in terms of SPR:
- Tailor your preflop raises to set yourself up for the ideal SPR.
- Do not enter the pot in the first place.
A) Tailor your preflop raises.
You're not always going to have the luxury of tailoring your preflop raises to get that perfect SPR, but when you do have the opportunity you should take advantage of it.
i) Example of raising to 3bb.
You hold A K and you and an opponent have $100 effective stacks in a $1/$2 6max NLHE game. If you raise to 3bb from MP and your opponent in the CO calls, you will have an SPR of 6.3 ($94 : ) on the flop.
This SPR may well be a little too high for you to justify putting all of your chips in the middle if you hit top pair on the flop, especially so if your opponent is tight as there is a greater likelihood that they are only going to be willing to get all their chips in the middle they will have a better hand than TPTK.
ii) Example of raising to 6bb.
Using the same example as above where the effective stacks are still $100, let's say we raise to 6bb ($12) instead of 3bb preflop. If our opponent again calls we will have an SPR of 3.3 ($88 : ) on the flop.
With this lower SPR we will feel a lot more comfortable putting all of our chips in the middle if needs be. In addition the chances are that all of the money will be in by the turn, which saves us from a potentially difficult river decision.
B) Not entering the pot.
If you have a small pocket pair like 44 and the effective stack sizes are fairly low, it is not going to be profitable to raise or call raises as the SPR is going to be low also.
With low SPRs you are going to have very little in the way of implied odds (or fold equity if you turn your hand in to a bluff later on down the line), which means that you are far better off folding hands like small pocket pairs and suited connectors if you anticipate the SPR will be low.
V) Evaluation of stack to pot ratios in poker.
One of the key points that you should take from this article is that planning your hands from the start is vitally important for setting yourself up for profitable and easier-to-play situations later on in the hand. Another key point is just how much of an effect pot sizes on the flop can influence the way you play your cards.
Spr Poker
You're not always going to be able to grab SPR by the horns and create flop pot sizes exactly how you want them, but nonetheless opportunities to tailor SPR will occur, so don't pass them up when they come around. Trust me when I say that post flop play gets so much easier when you plan your hands and use your knowledge of SPR effectively.
Again, this really is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to SPR. I'd highly recommend you pick up a copy of Professional No-Limit Hold'em: Volume I for more information on this topic. This is the book that also contains the invaluable REM process framework.
Spr Poker Meaning
Alternatively, this 'concept of the week' article on SPR at 2+2 is also pretty awesome.
Poker Spr Chart
Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.
Spr Poker
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