Effective Stack

A term used to refer to the actual amount of chips being played for between two opponents with unequal stacks. For example, if one player has 10,000 chips and another only 5,500 chips, the most either player can win from the other in the hand is 5,500. Thus are the two described as playing ��effective stacks�� of 5,500 when pitted in a hand against each other.