Stack to pot ratio
also called SPR
Stack to pot ratio, or SPR, is the smaller of the two remaining stacks divided by the size of the pot at the start of a betting round, and it tells you how much room is left to play.
It answers a question a hand alone cannot: how strong does your hand need to be for the money still behind. With very little left relative to the pot, top pair is enough to commit. With a lot left, the same hand cannot stand a raise.
It is decided before the flop, by how much was raised and by who has the shorter stack, which is why bet sizing before the flop quietly sets the shape of the whole hand.
an example
your cards
board
The pot is 20 on the flop and the shorter stack has 100 left, so the SPR is 5. Top pair with the best kicker is a good hand, but 5 times the pot is a lot of money to defend it with. Had the pot been 50 with 50 behind, the same hand would simply be going in.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find stack to pot ratio in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
All in
A player is all in when they have put their last chip in the pot, which means they cannot bet, raise or fold again in th ...
Overpair
An overpair is a pocket pair higher than every card on the board.
EV
Expected value, or EV, is the average result of a decision if you could repeat it many times: every outcome multiplied b ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
Forty hands against a bot, no account, and your own hand history at the end.