Short Table Strategies

[jmpdk]

I've not been playing that long, but always prefer to play NL hold em games with 6 people at the table as opposed to 9-10. Most of the poker strategy discussions in books and on the web I've come across tend to discuss various strategies from the perspective of a full table.

I am curious how people approach a game with a smaller group of people? Any good resources for short table strategies?

My intuition is to be more agressive and overweigh hands with face cards, pocket paris, vs. straight and flush draws, but can't claim to be meeting with too much sucess (treading water around my initial stake).

[Danielle Angel]

I also play 6 seater tables in general. This is a good thread :). I was once advised that I should stick to the 9/10 seaters until I was sure of my game. 6 seater tables are quite aggressive and cut throat. With less people at the table they are very different.

In general I have found : 1. bluffs are easier to pull off
2. blinds are easier to steal
3. High cards mean a LOT more.
I generally hit hard with any 2 picture cards and with poc pairs. I also hit hard with ANY Ace combination. I play a lot less unsuited connectors. Juch as J9 offsuit and when I do I limp. I also limp in with suited connectors such as 78c and lower but slightly raise with something like 9,10c.

I have found the best method for play on these tables is to try and keep aggressive control at all times and avoid showing your cards as much as possible. Also it is a good idea when starting out or when grinding to play CAP NL holdem so you know how much you can lose/win in 1 hand. Once you have been at the table for a while and have 5 or 6 caps you are on the home run and can generally bully people out of the pots like in a tournament.

Thats my 2 cents worth, I am no expert though. Will be interesting to see what others say.

[Buldermar]

I have 10 min untill my next lesson starts so I'll give my 10 min worth on how 6handed differs from 10handed.

Firstly, all the strategies you read about 10handed can easily be used for 6handed. Lets start with requirements for starting hands; position
Being in early position in a 6handed game is more or less like being in late mid position in a 10handed game. Therefore, the requirements to your starting hands is the same for an early pos 6handed and a mid pos 10handed.

Danielle wrote:
"I was once advised that I should stick to the 9/10 seaters until I was sure of my game. 6 seater tables are quite aggressive and cut throat."

As a consequence of being fewer people you get to play more hands. You therefore have to make more decisions and you can more easily be punished for not being observant to your opponents.

As a consequence of more often being against a late position raise when you are in the blinds your hand more often meets the requirements of a reraise. Therefore, you will se a lot more reraises preflop in a 6handed game. This is what people refer to as aggressiveness.

If you fully understand the importance of position and if you know how to adjust your starting hand requirements accordingly to your position it really isn't that difficult to adjust your game and play 6handed. There is, indeed, more differences than the ones i listed above. There is more advanced 6handed strategies that can't be used for 10handed play, but as a beginner you don't have to worry too much about those.

Now I g2g..

[Degen]

Good question. We have some strategy content coming soon devoted to exactly this topic!

The easy way to sum it up, as others have said, is that you need to play more hands and be willing to put money in the pot with weaker holdings after the flop.

Whereas in a 9/10 handed game if you have AJ and flop top pair, you might not want to call too many bets after the flop, depending on the situation (who raised, their position etc) this type of holding goes way up in value with only 6 players. I'm not saying you should get your whole stack in with top pair every time, but top pair is much stronger with six players...as are two pair, a small flush etc.

You also want to play more hands like Ax, Kxs, pocket pairs etc. And play less hands like 56s, 79s. The reason for this is the latter hands lose some of their 'implied odds' with fewer people entering the pot. The former hands play better against fewer opponents as they have locked in show down value with no improvement. So many times you will have the best hand with them after the flop, regardless of what the flop is (though it wont always be obvious).

In a 6-max game you don't want to be doing too much limping. I don't really limp 9/10 handed either but you can correctly limp in many situations, with small pocket pairs or suited connectors for instance. However in a 6-max game you want to be raising or folding before the flop, almost always. If you have KJs or 44 you want to raise them, not limp. The reason is that you probably have the best hand for one, second if you get one caller you can take the pot down on the flop many times with one bet...because most of the time both players miss the flop. Many pots go to the person who took the initiative before the flop and on the flop.

That is just a very rough primer with a couple of points. A small book could probably be devoted to this topic.

[LiveStraddle]

My best advice is to go mad on the bubble in 6 table sng's, it increases your 1st/2nd ratio aswel as a little more variance

[Mlubin]

one of the keys to six max play rather than full ring play is to be more aggressive as people are much more inclined to stack off six handed and think that you are bluffing far more often than they do at full ring.