Short handed books/articles?

[redhouse]

[piersmajestyk]

MecosKing has a couple of very good articles in the short handed section that should help you out tremendously. From just seeing your stats I would say you are much too loose preflop. An optimum short-handed strategy would probably be having a VIP in the neighborhood of 25-35% in my opinion.

[EscapePlan9]

The best advice I heard about short-handed play was from Ed Miller on the two-plus-two forums. Short-handed is like playing a full table except with the first few players folding to you.

Your VP$IP is WAY too high! Not even the best short-handed players have a VP$IP above 30%! Most people shoot between 22-28% (Piers, 35 is way too high). Anything less than 20% is missing out on too many profitable situations and anything above 30% is losing you money. Check out on 2+2 forums for a run-down of optimal short-handed stats.

A good starting hand chart can be found . LA means limp in all games. L2-3 means limp if there's already 2 or 3 limpers before you. R/F means either raise or fold (depending on table conditions). The rest is easy to understand.

[piersmajestyk]

[Xaston]

[Molina]

[TightWad]

[Nortonesque]

[TightWad]

[Nortonesque]

[Nortonesque]

[TightWad]

[EscapePlan9]

Don't get me wrong Piers, I'm not saying you're a fool. If you're playing well at 35%, that's great. I'm just going with what I've heard and 35% was outside that range.

I am no SH expert by any means. I've only recently picked it up, so I'm relying exclusively on others experiences.

Anyhow, I wouldn't recommend starting at 35% until you have a lot of experience in the game. I know Piers is comfortable playing that loose, so all the more power to him.

[redhouse]

[EscapePlan9]

Your aggression level is on the low side, it should be averaging closer to 2-3. You should be most aggressive on the flop, somewhat less aggressive on the turn, and somewhat less aggressive on the turn. Like mine are 3.75, 3.5, 2.8.

Playing any ace UTG is way too loose. Check out the starting hands chart I linked for a general idea of hands to play and raise from what positions. I don't like open-limping in almost any situation. If there's a couple limpers to you and you have suited connectors - go for it.