SPR and Three-Street Planning: Update Each Decision
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Plan with effective stacks, not bankroll
SPR is the effective stack remaining divided by the current pot. It describes how much betting room remains in this hand, not how much of your total poker bankroll to risk. In an illustrative heads-up pot of 10bb with 40bb behind, SPR is 4.
Update the plan on each street
- Flop: compare both ranges with the board, decide which hands can value bet, bluff or check, and map likely remaining-stack sizes.
- Turn: update for the new card and previous actions. A profitable barrel does not require your own raw equity or blockers to improve: opponent folds, range advantage and future branches also matter.
- River: distinguish value bets, bluffs, checks and calls. After a heads-up call there is no future betting; compare showdown equity with the direct call price.
Low SPR is not an automatic stack-off
Lower SPR reduces room for future bets, but board, opponent range and price still decide whether a pair can continue. Bluffs can still exist at low SPR. Treat the original plan as a set of conditional branches, not a promise to put every chip in.