A number of players enjoy sitting at a 6 table max ring game because they want to play a "short table" game. Although there are six seats, one is usually empty, sitting out, just arriving, or just leaving (not to mention, just went broke).

So let's assume it's either a 1/2 or 2/4 limit table, or a .50/1 or 1/2 nl table, what approach do you take, knowing the blinds come around fast, the action is fast and furious, and most players are not playing quality cards all the time (they are playing and raising with a wider range of hands). Also keep in mind establishing a table image is not really a factor as the turnover of players in these tables seems to be rapid.

Your take is appreciated....thanks.

If it's a limit game, I tend to check-raise the flop a LOT. I find check-raising will normally get a call, and if the turn brings a rag, they'll fold it. Works well for me, anyways. No limit... II just move my hands down a rank or two. KJo becomes a pretty good hand, and can take a raise normally. I limp anything in the small blind. The button I'm more inclined to play hands like A3s, A9o, K10o, etc.

Post-flop, I'm just more inclined to go in on things like top pair.

Well, if anyones still reading this forum, take this analysis for what its worth. Im a winning playero n the PP 10/20 6 max and the 15/20 Short tables. My PT numbers are: I see almost 40% of flops, raise 17% of the time, and have an aggression factor of 2.8. I win only 55% of my showdowns. I am up 13k for the year over 170 hours of playing (2 tables at least atta time) I love SH, and after playing a lot of it, it makes playing full ring holdem seem like omaha.

I dont pretend that every winning player has stats like mine - in fact i am aware that my game needs tightening up - even for SH my game can be over aggressive, and my showdown winning % should be higher. Im trying to better my numbers. Although at SH, it doesnt need to be as high as in full ring. The reason for this is that often you will find yourself headsup against a preflop raiser and youll have top pair, and youll have to call him down, and he'll turn over kings, and youll lose. The thing is, in SH, you will find yourself paying off more hands than in full ring, but you will also find yourself getting paid off a lot more on your hands. The trick to winning at SH is payoff less than you GET paid off, and to use aggression to pick up lots of little to midsize pots.

There are two essential factors to SH play
(1) Aggression
(2) Knowing your players
(2.5) Image [less important than 1 and 2 but important nonetheless]
**NOTE: POKERTRACKER IS VERY GOOD FOR AN SH PLAYER - i highly recommend it, esp. since you see so many of the same guys over and over again.

Aggression and knowing your players tie in with eachother, because you need to know which players to get aggressive with, and with what hands.

PLAYER TYPES AND WAYS TO PLAY

You play differently against different players, and differently depending on what your image is also [more on this later] There are four basic types of players.

(1) Sherriffs [calling stations basically] - not that aggressive, and will 'keep you honest' with things like small pairs and even ace highs. They dont bluff, and you shouldnt bluff against them. There is psychology involved here - You will see them paying off others left and right- you'll ache for a peice of thier action, then youll pick up AQs on the button and breathe a sigh of relief...FINALLY you'll think ... im gonna get PAID! Then if you miss, you'll jam it the whole way anyway, then endup paying THEM off - beleive me to this day, i catch myself doing that, and its a bad bad habit...

These guys are GREAT to have at the table- they always put thier money in with the worst of it, make countless -EV moves. But, you need to play right against them to capitalize on how bad they are. If you have an AK and keep on bluffing at them and get called down by a pair of 4's your gonna be pissed that they flopped a gutshot draw, made bottom pair on the turn, and called you down. The moral of the story is, you should only try to steal from them on the flop and the turn, and not on the river. If you have an AK and they were on a gutshot draw, then they would probably fold anyway (even they wont keep you honest with 8 high) and if your no good, and they called your turn bet with a tiny pair, then theyre calling you on the river, because they hope that you have exactly the type of hand you have.

When these guys bet, you should give them credit for a hand, and only get involved if you have something good, and you should respect a preflop raise from one of these guys, unless hes in steal position, and as bad as he is, he's at least learned to lean on the blinds from the button. [PT will help you with this] - even in that case, you should try and flop something against them, because theres always the risk of being kept honest with an ace high if you jam a weak draw or are just on a bluff. Calling stations call - its what they do best, so you have to turn that against them by showing them a hand. Don't let theyre bad habits work in thier favor by bluffing off chips to them.

The good news is that you can value bet marginal hands against a calling station and end up way ahead doing it. For example, middle pair with decent kicker, top pair/no kicker, or in some cases even bottom pair when you suspect that all they have is big paint, and they miss the board but are going to call you down anyway. A situation like this is when they raise preflop from a non-steal position and you are in the blinds with something like 67s and flop comes 6910 or 78J, and you check raise (or bet) the flop and dont get raised, your probably good if blanks come off on the turn or river. You should probably muck to a raise (or peel one off then muck the turn if you dont improve) because that means that the calling station has at least a J. If the turn and river have no big cards, you can often value bet your 7 and hope he calls with this big ace.

The moral of the story is basically, dont bluff at a sherriff, and respect dont pay him off when he bets it at you. If you dont have a decent hand, just let it go. The great thing about a sheriff is that you dont need to sit there with middle pair/iffy kicker and wonder if hes betting the turn with a straight draw from under the gun.

THE AVERAGE PLAYER (Or 'vanilla' as excession would call him) [JOE AVERAGE]

He playes SH sort of the same as he does full ring, except he loosens up his starting requirements - he knows that KJo is now playable UTG and maybe even realizes that Q9 aint even sot bad near the button. A savvy Joe player can win at SH, but probably wont ever win big because he's post flop, he plays SH similarly to the way he plays full ring, and is liable to laydown too many hands to aggressive players.

This is the way to exploit Mr. Joe.. Raise his blinds, and bet bet bet at him. When he raises your blinds, 3 bet him with hands like 89s and lead on the flop, no matter what falls. This is the way to beat the average player - pound pound pound on him, and he'll eventually lose more than he wins, because he will only win when he hits the flop, and even when he catches just a little of the flop, he'll be inclined to lay his hand down unless he's got the top pair, or maybe middle pair with a good kicker. flop a flush draw? against his preflop raise? check raise him and bet the turn and the river, even if you miss (respect raises and reraises though!). Open ended straight draw? same thing! Middle pair? That too. The beauty of the average player, which to some extent makes him desireable even over the weaker calling station, is that he'll let you know BEYOND A DOUBT if hes got a hand. For Example, if youve got QJ on the button and raise, and he calls from the BB, and the flop is KJ8 and he check raises you, theres an awfully good chance that he's got the king [this is still a tough laydown against most SH opponents- this is probably why my showdowns won % isnt what it should be, but Pokertracker has helped me alot with that-- but if he's tight, then mucking is the safest play]. If he leads and you raise and he three bets, you KNOW he's got the king. See, The sheriff will sometimes let you bet bet bet your second pair, even value bet it on the end [as you usually SHOULD against him] and then lo and behold, he's got top pair! The average player will usually not pose this problem. Lets say that above, the turn is a 9 and he chack/calls. Unless the the river helps you (J or T) then your best of checking behind. If he's your avg player, especially Full Ring, then he's always worried about his kicker, and loathe to bet/raise for fear of the raise or the reraise. Check it down- there arent too many hands and average player would call with on this river that you can beat. Check and hope he has a busted draw, or J10, or something.

The moral of the story here is that you should pound on Joe Average harder than you do any of the other players in SH, because he, like the calling station, is not too hard to read- but unlike the calling station, he doesnt payoff bad hands. So, lean on him. In SH holdem, if you can only win when you have make hands, your not going to win much in the long run, and Joe average is just this player. Joe Average in a short handed game is similar to a rock in a full ring game, unless he knows how to adjust his play.

AGGRESSIVE PLAYERS [2 kinds]

Semi loose/Semi TIght/Agressive and MANIACS

Semi loose/semi tight aggressive is what you want to be in SH. Your aggression puts people on the defensive, and because of your aggressive play, your opponents dont know what to do against you. You should check/raise as often as you bet, and jam up things like flush draws into weak opponents. There are a few things that these aggressive players do...

-Blind theft- : Im a fan of it - although, some people take it to an extreme. If i wakup to a 93o on the button, im going to muck it no matter whose in the blinds, unless i happen to be drunk when im playing- and even then ill muck it 80% of the time. Some will raise with literally any 2 cards to steal the blinds. While its annoying to be to the left of someone like this, all you have to do to make up for a few rounds of missed blinds is win a pot off one of these thieves.

However, blind theft is good when your not OVER aggressive with it. Raise any two cards in the wheelhouse (10-A) when your on the button, or any Ax, and any pair higher than 5s in the hole.. Youd be surprised how often you raise with 66 and the BB calls, the flop comes AQ9 its checked, you bet, he mucks. At 10/20, youve made $25 this way - you do this once, youve paid for your blinds for two rounds (almost). The key here is NOT to overplay these blind stealing hands - because even a reasonably tight player will often call you with a bad hand when defending his blinds. If you have Ax and the flop comes K910, and theres any resistance at all, your best off just giving up after the flop - theres no reason to walk into a check raise, or to bluff off chips with your ace high against 107o. Remember that EVEN TIGHT PLAYERS (good ones anyway) LOOSEN UP WHEN DEFENDING BLINDS AND CALL WITH WORSE HANDS. Of course, this works out great when you flop something halfway decent, because you get paid off. Be aggressive, but dont overplay your blind steals.

Along the same lines, jamming up something like a flush draw from steal position is not a bad idea either. Lets say you have Ks10s on the button and you raise into the blinds, and the BB (avg/tight player) calls, and the flop is 7s8sJd. You have a monster draw with an overcard also, but its odds arent quite good enough to jam it up for value against a single opponent. But, when you factor in the odds of making your opponent muck by a show of strength, then your odds to win go well over 50%. For example lets say the BB leads into you on that hand, you should usually raise and lead the turn. This is because if hes got an 8 or 7 and is just testing the waters, youd rather him muck than have the river come and you endup with king high against a pair of 8s. If he three bets you you should then concede that you are beat probably beat, and then 4 bet for an extra card. Even if hes got a monster like 910 or 77,, he'll probably check the turn figuring he can check raise you on the turn.

The other option in this situation (and this is a tough move to make) is smooth call the flop and raise the turn even if you miss (bet the turn if he doesnt lead). This will make a tight player muck most hands - because it represents a really big hand like a set or an overpair. The problem with this is that if he has a jack, he'll more than likely give you a crying call, at which point you better hit on the river.
**NOTE: If you do this, try to resist the urge to bet the river- you will get called about 90-95% of the time. Its tempting to try and steal it there but the sad fact is that the only hand that can beat you that would muck at that point is an acehigh flush draw, and the chances of him having that do not justify a bet. Sometimes, your beat- and yeah it sucks but oh well.

The point is that the aggressive player does EVERYTHING he can to win the pot, especially against the less aggessive players. And more often than not, he's sucessful.

PLAYING AGAINST AGGRESSIVE PLAYERS [NOT MANIACS]

-Is difficult because they mix up thier play, and its tough to figure out what theyre upto because they play many more hands strongly than your avg player. The best way to deal with someone like that is to play back at them- let them know that when they mess with you they're playing with fire, and usually they'll let up on you. Check raise them often with marginal hands when they are in steal positions / making suspicious bets.

[**NOTE: Playing against slightly loose/aggro players is different than playing against maniacs. the SLAPs will give let up on you if they really dont have anything, whereas a maniac will reraise you with 28o- maniacs are different than aggressive players]\

PICKING YOUR SPOTS AGAINST GOOD AGGRESSIVE PLAYERS

There are times to defend, times to calldown, and times to lie down. Say an aggressive player raises your blind and you have A10o or K10, or something like that. The flop comes 893. This is a perfect time to check raise the aggressive player on the flop and lead the turn if a blank comes off, because the board PROBABLY didnt hit him (He probably has JK, JQ, A5, or maybe even 77) but its not SO bad that he'll call you down with high cards. Flops with mid range cards in them are perfect to bluff at against good aggressive players, because even though they raised, the hand they have is probably a halfway legitimate one (an ace, or some paint, or something) without these cards in it - and at the same time, the cards on the board are themselves decent enough that you coudlve defended with them - like j8, j9, 78, etc. and a raiser with AK probably wont call you down.

WHEN TO LIE DOWN

On the other hand, if you have a K10o in the BB and the button raises oyu, and the flop comes 337, you can pretty much forget about bluffing, because under most circumstances, any Ax will call you all the way. This is not ALWAYS the case, but its the case often enough that you should just give up on flops like this. On the other hand, if you yourself have a decent ace on a flop like this, you may very well have the raiser beat. But if you have Q10, KJ, etc, your best off giving up.

BASICALLY- pick your spots, defend against the aggressive player on midrange flops, and jam up your good draws (flush/open end).Awful flops like 236 and paired flops like 7710 will often see an ace high call down. (this goes double for flops which are both paired AND awful)

CALLING

Calling against a good aggressive player is usually not the best option, unless possibly you are in position and have a very strong (top pair/big kicker or better), arent too worried about a suckout, and KNOW your going to call the river anyway. Like, if you have AK and the flop is K87 rainbow, and you get lead into, just calling the whole way and throwing in a river value raise might be the best option if the board doesnt develop too badly. Think about it. You have AK, lets say he has KJ. If you raise him on the flop, he'll check/call you the rest of the way and you'll make 3 big bets (postflop) instead of 3.5. You could raise the turn of course, but then you run the risk of him having not KJ or KQ but K5s or JJ, and he'll muck it right there. heads up against an aggressive player, esp at a short handed table, you can milk a top pair hand like that for all its worth, without too much worry of a suckout. Worst case scenario, he checks the turn, you bet, and he folds his 89, and you lose 1/2 a bet. But in the long run, if an aggressive player leads into you on the flop, chances are he'll bet the turn also. Of course, this scenario changes drastically when the pot is 3 handed or more. You need to get that raise in ASAP against any sort of field, to get the bad draws off thier hands as quickly as possible, or at least give them incorrect odds to hit thier kicker, or thier gutshot, or whatever. You dont want the 8s to pair and then get raised on the turn, and be in a situation where you either have to muck a good hand, or else payoff someone who has you beat at least 75% of the time.

SUMMARY

BASICALLY- pick your spots, defend against the aggressive player on midrange flops, and jam up your good draws (flush/open end). Awful flops like 236 and paired flops like 7710 will often see an ace high call down, (this goes double for flops which are both paired AND awful) so dont bluff at them unless the player your bluffing against is very weak tight. I cant stress that enough: DO NOT BLUFF into a strong player on an awful board, because the chances are that he wont buy it, and the chances are that he'll be right. Youll make that set of deuces at some point, and the ace high will feel pretty stupid for calling. Till then, let it alone.

MANIACS: See the forum about BEAR HUNTING. Maniacs are too unpredictable, and jamming up marginal hands against them isnt generally that great because theyll come over the top of you anyway, and youll be stuck in there with a marginal hand, and be so invested that you prety much have to call. Maniacs can turn even an aggressive player into a calling station. This is why its best to tighen down and stay out of thier way. Youll want to gamble with them because it seems so profitable in theory, and maybe because they gave you a bad beat (tripped up his dueces on the river against your top pair hand, but was raising the whole way)
--See excessions little speil about this. This goes into psychology. The fact is when your running bad, your running bad. Sometimes you get no cards and love from the deck at all. Its too bad when this happens against a maniac, but its very important NOT TO FORCE HANDS AGAINST A MANIAC. Forcing hands is bad anyway, but you can get away with it sometimes if your up against weak predictable players. But maniacs just get too expensive and are too unpredictable, and you can lose an entire buyin calling him down with AKno pair when hes been jamming 33 the whole time on a board of 8810Q9. Sure, he looks like an idiot, but who won the pot? exactly. The only reason maniacs can even afford to keep playing cards is because they make bad players out of good players, and catch a card or two here and there while theyre at it. Dont fall victim to it. I know it seems like the maniac busting before you get into a pot with him is the end of the world, but it isnt, i promise. There will always be another maniac.

IMAGE

The last thing is image. Personally, my image varies from table to table. If i get caught on a few bluffs early on when i jammed the pot with a gutshot draw against a raiser and get called down and beaten, my image is one of loose aggressive, at which point people are more liable to call me. In these cases, i try to play my hands for value for awhile. If I pickup some solid cards early on and get to showdown some quality cards, then i start loosening up my preflop raising/starting requirements and lean on people more because the natural tendency of people is to think 'that guy has shown down two big hands, and hes raising again. He plays good cards only, he must have it' and they'll muck. The more superstitious of the lot will think 'he's running hot im staying out of his way' and muck there too. Basically, you play exactly opposite of what people think, and thus take advantage of thier biases. If thier bias is in favor of sheriffing you, then show them a hand, even a marginal one might do. If thier bias is in favor of thinking your on a rush or only playing aces and kings, then lean on em as much as you can. You are probably, by nature, a certain TYPE of player, but this type should be able to be very flexible and change as the the circumstances require.

Anyway, thats my tirade im off to get drunk and try and resist the urge to play cards online when i get home. Hopefully someone read this...

I read it, props to you...

And stay off my table please... you rock!

Aye, good job. I wish enough people played short handed to actually have conversations about it. That's pretty much all I play.

TY, Ty - i admit i like postin here - its not every day i get to go on a ramapage and spew out my alleged poker expertise! My buddies who play are mostly NL players, and they dont give a rats ass about short handed lmit poker - but what they dont understand is thats the format of the biggest games around. You will almost never see a 400/800 or even a 200/400 game full--there usually aint that much money around at any given time, unless the WPT happens to be at that particular card room at that particular point in time.

But anyways to anyone wanting to learn about limit holdem (SH especially) the books i recommend are KILLER POKER by John Vohaus (or whatever his name is) the Limit holdem section in SUPER SYSTEM TWO (written by Jen Harmon - yeah it sucks to admit, but women CAN play poker...) and of course, TEXAS HOLDEM FOR ADVANCED PLAYERS (Sklansky). The Vohaus book i think is very underrated - i never hear anyone talking about it, but its a lot about image, psychology, and all those nuances of poker that go beyond cookie cutter advice about 'okay now heress how you play AA UTG at a weak tight table'

Great post, Mecos!

I'm gonna nominate that one for post of the year. Seriously, worth the read if you have time on your hands.

What a great post...Thanks...
B

Thanks guys, for all the responses i got to my first post- im glad some of you found it useful. I got a few responses from people that are just starting out trying to play shorthanded, and realized that my post was geared a little bit more towards experienced players. So, I dedicate this post to you guys starting out.

You should not play quite as aggressively as i mentioned earler because first, you need to (a) get comfortable in the game your in, (b) Have some idea of the way the players play first, and (c), you need to be able to handle a decent swing (100BB probably) before you start playing like that. So, this post is for you guys that responded to my first one saying that you are just starting out. Also, good ole ATE gave me the 3rd degree for advocating a style thats not altogether suited for everybody, at least beginners.
---

Short handed holdem, contrary to what my original post could imply, is not in fact, a circus where you should 3 bet it from the blinds with 104s and try to run the button raiser over on a board of AK996. (although there are times for this!) There are many rules that apply to it that are pretty similar to full ring, and remembering this is KEY. There are a few principles to remember here.

(1) LOOSE AGGRESSIVE PLAY ONLY SHOWS BIG PROFIT FROM THE LAST TWO POSITIONS. THE FIRST TWO POSITIONS SHOULD BE PLAYED VERY STRAIGHTFORWARD.

THE FIRST TWO POSITIONS

RAISING HANDS
AA-99 AKs, AKo, AQs, AQo, AJs. MAYBE raise: AJo, ATs, ATo, KQs, KQo, KJs, KJo
VERY MARGINAL HOLDINGS: JQo and JQs are VERY marginal holdings. THey look decent in short handed, but trust me, they are marginal winners at best from EP. My recommendation is to muck them from the first two positions.

OPEN LIMPING FROM EP GENERALLY: There are very few EP open ilmping hands in short handed holdem, and many of the better SH players will pretty much never open up for a limp, they wil either raise it or muck it- and many of these players have really loose raising standards, like Any ace suited, KTo, etc. However, IF YOU SEE SOMEONE OPEN LIMPING OFTEN IN EP on an SH TABLE, NOTE HIM AS A WEAK PLAYER.

THE ONLY HANDS ID OPEN LIMP WITH (If at all): A9s, A8s, KQo, KJs or o, ATo. Personally I raise these hands, but things can get sticky here when you get reraised, so if your not the type of player that ilkes to mixitup, then its not a crime to limp with these. However, you should ultimately get to a place in your game where you are comfortable raising first in with hands like KJo and even KTs and just be able to lay it down when you get heat. Often, UTG raises will get HU with the blinds, and guess what? You have position on the blinds!

If you dont like variance, you may want to limp these and try to flopit or dropit, but an EP limp is often just too tempting for an aggressive player in late position to resist, and often youll inspire someone to raise you up with a hand like A4s, when if you had raised theyd have either mucked, or (best case scenario) COLD CALLED! Can you see how much nicer the first option is? YOu raise, he coldcalls, and hes now gotta either catch his one overcard, or (GAG) his rag kicker, or a flush draw to continue the hand...If you limp and he raises, now YOU have to flop something to continue the hand! Thats why raising is generally better--

Reraise (against a single raiser): 99-KK, AK(o or s) AQ (against a loose raiser, maybe)
COLD CALL: AA, AQs ONLY!
**NOTICE: AA is so strong that against a single raiser, i cold call the two bets. This is not too dangerous at a short table because you dont run the risk of getting 4 cold calls after you here.
-The reason is: a UTG raiser gets cold called from the cutoff at a short table, the guy looking down at 78s will usually muck, whereas at a full table, he'll call, and probably be right to, because at a full table, there are a bunch of people after him that will see the pot growing, and throw thier money in, which will make the blinds throw thier money in, which will ultimately lead to a 7 handed pot, which is a nightmare for AA. BUT, at short handed, there just arent enough people at the table liable to have halfway decent enough hands to build a pot. So, the people that youll get calling you are the ones with dominated hands like Ax, and predictable top pair making hands like KQ (Not 'sleepers' like 78s-those are the ones that beat aces).
-COLD CALLING AA AT SHORT HANDED LEADS TO MUCH MORE PROFIT IN THE LONG RUN.
-AQs is just too good to laydown SH, and can handle a little more action than AQo

COLD CALLING IN GENERAL: Is one of the biggest leaks in limit holdem. In HE4AP, you will see that sklansky says if you find yourself cold calling even once per session, there is a good chance you are doing it too often!

IF YOU SEE SOMEONE CONSTANTLY COLD CALLING RAISES, HE IS A WEAK PLAYER- there is no two ways about it, its a terrible, terrible move for reasons similar to what i said above, plus others that i dont care to go into- just trust me, you should almost never coldcall, unless you have a good multiway hand in a pot that definitely going to be multiway. THen you can cold call, but never against a single raiser really, or even against a raiser and a cold caller.

---
Against a raiser and a cold caller reraise with: AA-JJ, AK, s or o. AQs, call.
Muck AQo [or reraise against a loose raiser, if you like]
Against a raiser and a reraiser, call AK, reraise AA-QQ.
Playing JJ against a raise and a reraise is usually a nono in full ring, but in SH you might be able to get away with it depending on the players- if the original raiser is loose and you think the reraiser is just trying to isolate him, then you should go ahead and call and/or cap it. If they are both straight forward players, then id say a muck is best

THE ARGUMENT FOR CALLING INSTEAD OF CAPPING: In the above scenario, i will usualy cap with the JJ if i think the raiser and the reraiser are loose, but there is a decent argument to be made for cold calling- not only because you might see an AK flop and save a bet, but also because it gives the original raiser a chance to cap it, in which case you have a much better idea of where your at. Almost never will an AK cap it against 2 people in bad position. You are probably up against QQ-AA in this scenario, and by cold calling and giving him a chance to cap you have potentially saved yourself a TON of money when an undercard flop comes off. This is the only reason to cold call lots of bets instead of cap it- when you think your hand is best but its possible it isnt, and cold calling will allow subsequent action that will define your hand better.

Muck everything else to a raise and a reraise.

MUCK: Aces worse than A9, and worse aces than A8 or 7 sooted (maybe even muck A8 sooted if your trying to play tight), KTo and less, JTo and less, QJo and less.

ACE RAG IN SH: You can afford to play worse aces in SH than in full, because so many other people are doing it. Ace/Rag hands gain value, because:

(a) You can get paid off with smaller pairs more often in SH when your ace actually is good-- (People sherriff you because unlike FR, people dont routinely assume the raiser has the ace since people raise with lots of different crap in SH)

(b) The particular rag you have starts to matter ALOT more, because many people play all aces in SH, even A2o. So, while A8 and A5 in a full ring game are not hugely different hands from each other, especially when theres been a PF riase, in SH they definitely are, because lots of people are playing all aces, and you are way less likely to be dominated by a big ace. (Of course you still can be, and it sucks- but more often than not, unless theres a PF raise from a tight player, you arent going to be up against better than A8 or A9)

--

TROUBLE HANDS

**10Js, 910s are playeable, but also tricky-- to show a profit with these hands from early position, you have to be able to muck a top pair hand from time to time, and thats not always easy - if you dont think you can do that, then save yourself some heartache and dont play these hands.

**77 and less is iffy. Your better off just limping with it and mucking it to a raise in the beginning.**


NEVER CALL A RAISE (when your not in the blinds) WITH

AJ or worse, 66 or worse [you can 3 bet small pairs to isolate and show a small profit but you gotta have a read on people to do that, and really be willing to mix it up on scary flops- which you probably shouldnt do at the outset.

ONE OFF THE BUTTON- A MUCH nicer position than the first two!

If there have been no callers-

RAISE: All early position raising hands, + AJ, AT, A9,88,77, 10Js (maybe)
OPTIONAL: A8s-A5s

LIMP: ***EDIT*** You should not limp from the cutoff. If you want to mixitup with middle suited connectors, then your much better off raising to give yourself a little equity in the pot...My recommendation for someone whose not a seasoned SH LAG/suckout artist like myself is not to bother with suited connectors under 9Ts in any position, besides the blinds...(more on this later). But, in any event, you should not limp from the cutoff- if you have a hand that strikes your fancy that you simply have to play, raise it.
---EXCEPTION: If you have a sponge on the button whose going to call your raise (Sponge is a guy that cold calls most raises with lots of random crap, and peels on on almost every flop) you should probably either limp (if you have a decent paint hand like JQ- or maybe raise) and MUCK YOUR MARGINAL HANDS, because you arent getting the fold equity you need to raise those with a sponge on the button. Its also a real pain to play a hand like that against someone whose got position on you that just soaks up bets. Its impossible to tell where you are at against someone like that, so you are better off confining your calls/raises to cards that probably have him beat, instead of trying to get fancy with 56s, as you might try to do if the button was tight.

BUTTON (no callers so far)

RAISE: Any ace, any pocket pair, any two cards 10 or better, 910s

LIMP: NEVER LIMP FROM THE BUTTON EVER IF THERE ARE NOT CALLERS IN FRONT! If You pickup 67s and are really jonesing to play it from the button, then raise it. Otherwise, just dump it- the LAST thing you should do is give the blinds a free ride when you hold an iffy hand. Raising hands like this from time to time throws your opponents off - just DONT GET THE IDEA TO DO IT TOO OFTEN.

EXCEPTION: You have AA on the button. Especially if the blinds are tight, a dirty little trick is to limp with those. Notice i did NOT say KK or QQ. If someone with an A3o or K7s in the blinds wants to beat my big pair, them dammit, he's gonna pay for it.

IF THERE ARE CALLERS: Use a bit more discretion - play the usual early position limping hands (decent size paint) and raise the same mid position raising hands, but dont play the late position steal hands like JTo and K9o.
--

(2) PLAY LOOSER than usual, and AGGRESSIVELY BUT NOT STUPID

Just because a table is short does not mean that hand standards go out the window. People play SH (esp 4-5 handed) and think that now, they can limp in with Ax, JTo, Q9, and other hands that every decent ring player knows is a deathtrap. In essence, they are people that are not disciplined enough to observe the starting requirements for full ring holdem (I am one of them I should know!)

But, what they fail to realize is that they are playing a different game now, so what they do is loosen up thier starting requirements and thier calling requirements, but otherwise play the same. They often call when they should raise, and muck when they should call and check when they should bet. Average players often find themselves acting like ROCKS and CALLING STATIONS when the action speeds up on a live SH table--and they think the solution is to decrease thier starting requirements...which is true to SOME extent. What they dont realize is: But where the MONEY IS MADE is by decreasing your BETTING and RAISING requirements POSTFLOP rather than your starting requirements PREFLOP. This is where money is made! For example, If someone limps with K9 (BAD MOVE) and you raise in late position with JTs (to steal the blinds and get position over a limper whose already told you he doesnt have a hand worht raising) and the flop comes J9xxx, you are much more likely to get paid the whole way than you are at a full table, because at full tables, people put raisers on big hands, whereas here, they often put late position raisers on a steal, even if there was an early limper.

There is no easy answer for the poor bastard with K9- hes in hot water. Hes in bad position against an aggressive pre flop raiser with just enough of a hand to justify a call. He can check raise and lead the turn (which is what id probably do) and hope that the raiser has AK or 88 - but here he will get called, and then when he checks the river hes going to get bet at, and then he's going to be so invested, and so at a loss for any other option, that he will call, and lose. [learning to muck in this situation is a major long term money saver though, but again, its HARD and thats why most people dont do it]

This happens to the best of us in SH, and me as much as anyone - its the nature of the beast - knowing your players and getting a feel for your table will help you minimize this, but oftentimes in headsup pots, your just going to have to take beatings on marginal hands. You must try and REDUCE this by playing BETTER HANDS from early position than most of the other players. SHORT HANDED POKER CAN BE A CIRCUS - BUT ONLY FROM LATE POSITION!

The good news is that this is a double edged sword, and getting on the winning side is what you strive to do. You will not beleive the hands that you will get paid off on...The Guy with JT will make more off that K9 than anyone raising with JT should be allowed to make! This is because:

(a) The general attitude of many SH players is that people are constantly trying to bluff them
(b) In SH Pots are often heads up, the attitude 'if I dont keep him honest, then nobody else will' (in FR, its not that hard to fold a good second pair hand when there are two other players in after you against the raiser)

YOU WILL MAKE INFINITELY MORE OFF YOUR HANDS IN LATE POSITION, NO MATTER WHAT THEY ARE. PLAY TO MINIMIZE EARLY POSITION LOSS, AND MAXIMIZE LATE POSITION GAIN.

This is why you raise all those hands from the button. People in SH ALWAYS assume your trying to steal it, so they call with hands like 48. And if the flop comes 34J they are liable to call the river against your QJ or your 99, hoping you were trying to steal with Ax or something like that.

(3) CHECK RAISE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE!!

SH holdem tables are the check raise capitals of the world. The reason for this is that the button tends to get out of line when the flop gets checked to him, and will bet damn near anything, or nothing at all! So lets say you are UTG with JQo and limp. 2 people and the Button call and the BB checks.
FLOP: J85 (lets say rainbow) I would NOT bet this. I would go for the check raise for about a million reasons
(1) VALUE: you probably have the best hand, and
(2) A check raise will protect this hand, while a bet will not, ESPECIALLY at a short handed table.
(3) In SH, someone in late position is more likely to make a move on the pot than in a full game;
(4) Check raising as often as possible will prevent people from trying to steal from you because they will fear the check/raise.
(5) If you MISS your check raise with your top pair hand, you are more likely to get paid off if your hand holds up.
(6) If you get reraised, either by the original bettor or someone in the middle who checked, you get a better idea of where your at in the hand before it comes to an expensive street. Also, someone that checked in the first instance cold calls 2 is a red flag.

See, a fair amount of players will peel a card off on the turn with as little as one overcard (A4o for example) because theyll figure that its good if they hit it since there arent too many people in (these players are awful by the way) Someone with QK will definitely peel one off, as will someone with 89, A8, and even 46. And in these cases, they will probably have correct odds to call a single small bet to peel one, since they will be winning a sizeable pot if they hit. Your checkraise makes them have to call two bets to chase a pretty thin draw, and either they will MUCK (a good thing) or they will CALL (a -EV move, and hence a good thing also).
And, if you miss your checkraise, and the turn comes a brick like a 4 or something like that, and you make a big bet, someone who checked middle pair is now very likely going to pay you off, figuring youd have bet your top pair hand, and are now betting some sort of draw, or a worse middle pair or something.

In addition, if you get three bet anywhere along the line, especially if the board is not that live (no flush draw or probable straight draws) then you now know you could be up against a monster (a bigger top pair hand or a set) and can check/call the whole way (or MUCK the turn if you dont improve and REALLY think your beat) instead of having to deal with calling a check raise on the turn.

In fact, if the pot is heads up, you can check raise with damn near anything, because the late position players will bet into you with damn near anything when checked to! For example, say your in the BB with 55 and endup involved with one mid position limper, and a button limper, a and the flop comes 26J, and its checked to the button who bets, now would be a great time for a check raise. Sure, he might have the jack, and if you get 3 bet its not a hard muck. But chances are he's got anything but the jack, and will lay it down to a turn bet, and feel dumb that he lost an entire big bet trying to move on a pot that was only 1.5 bets anyway. More than likely, h'ell lay down a weak 6 too in this case, because in most cases, calling down with a hand like that is a -EV move. And, the mid position player who almost certainly has at least one overcard or hell, maybe even A6s will lay his hand down to the checkraise, figuring hes no good, and doesnt have odds to chase.

Lastly, when the check raise of a good top pair hand MISSES (sucks) then (hopefully a brick fell on the turn) you can put in a BIG bet- and since the pot is still small, the worse hands definitely wont have odds to chase - however, smaller pairs that wouldve peeled off one to hit thier kicker on the flop may call you down to the river now, thinking your on a steal.

So basically, check raising does SO many good things, i cant even begin to describe. Its a good play for value and to protect your hand as well as to put your aggressive opponents back in line, and if it misses, it at least doubles as a slowplay of a good hand, that hopefully didnt get cracked. [of course when that A comes off on the turn, as it SO often does, and the guy that limped with it Under the Gun takes it down, just console your self by thinking 'Ach! Oh well, this bastard is so bad, he'd probly have peeled one off with that crap even if i had bet it!'


SUMMARY

(1) Play the first 2 positions like a full table with few exceptions; make as much as you can by others getting in there with bad hands
(2) Play the last two positions more aggressively - lean on the blinds, if you have a respectable hand, try to isolate a single limper - the blinds in SH are often very loose, and limpers often call with very bad hands (like 89o) and will call station down a tiny pair against a late position rase- you wouldnt beleive how often ive been called down, literally with bottom pair/worst kicker. (Of course, every now n then its good, and that can be embarassing)
(3) Check raise as often as you can

Well, so much for my wit n wisdom. If you guys would like one final post, then i will, at some point. Hopefully i didnt make some dreadful screwup with anyhting i said somewhere in there...use at your own risk---

Holy shit, Meco, that's some more brilliant stuff. I also feel I can gain a lot more out of this article. Nothing against your first, but as far as shorthanded goes, I'm definitely a neophyte. Lotsa good stuff to consider in there; in particular, I think I've been playing way too loose in the first positions, so I'll have to try and tighten that up.

Thanks, and keep it coming!

-TW

That post was kind of meant for beginners, just to give them an idea of the logistics of short handed. I personally -- hehe ... shit... i play way more manically than that, particularly from one off the button. But ive been playin SH for well over a year at the same damn tables with the same damn degenerates (yeah, even on party, you start to see the same people!) ... So once you get comfy, id recommend playing more aggressively from 1 off the button, and even from earlier, if the players are weak.

For example, heres a hand history that good for an LOL.

DISCLAIMER: This hand was one of my many gems that you will only see on a night that i decide to come home and blow off some steam playin online poker after a night of hard drinkin at the bars. But there are certain lessons to be learned from it - like DONT F WITH MY BLIND WHEN IM DRUNK!

A bit of background: I was to the left of a very over aggressive player, and he'd been on top of my blinds from the get go after I beat him in a hand, and won with some pretty trashy cards (I think i opened up for a raise with 89s and and flopped middle pair to his top pair, and caught my kicker) So he was all over my blinds, and i couldnt pickup anything to defend with. So finally, I was like, you know what? Im gonna jam his ass up the next time he attacks me - since when have cards ever mattered in this game? So of course, after my resolution to OUTPLAY him the next time he gets on my ass. So OBVIOUSLY, since i had made up my mind to defend no matter what, the G man bestows upon me the ultimate tools of the poker trade : The almighty 23o, in the small blind- and lo and behold, right on scheedule, that sumbitch raises me up from the button. I says to me - alright dood --- time to grow a pair and draw a line in the sand! Heres what happened. (Notice the river bet here too LOL)

***** Hand History for Game 1624936272 *****
$10/$20 Hold'em - Monday, February 21, 09:07:35 EDT 2005
Table Table 10698 (6 max) (Real Money)
Seat 2 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 5: MecosKing ( $1111.5 )
Seat 8: Longstaaf ( $405 )
Seat 3: Scarfacex2 ( $774 )
Seat 10: gfinsen ( $359 )
Seat 1: cstong04 ( $375 )
MecosKing posts small blind [$5].
Longstaaf is sitting out.
gfinsen posts big blind [$10].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to MecosKing [ 2c 3h ]
Longstaaf has left the table.
cstong04 folds.
Scarfacex2 raises [$20].
MecosKing raises [$25].
gfinsen folds.
Scarfacex2 calls [$10].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, 3c, 9h ]
MecosKing bets [$10].
Scarfacex2 calls [$10].
** Dealing Turn ** [ Jh ]
MecosKing bets [$20].
Scarfacex2 calls [$20].
** Dealing River ** [ 7s ]
MecosKing bets [$20].
Scarfacex2 calls [$20].
MecosKing shows [ 2c, 3h ] a pair of threes.
Scarfacex2 doesn't show [ Kh, Ts ] high card king.
MecosKing wins $168 from the main pot with a pair of threes.

hi MecosKing,

I just wanted to hear from you , the starting hands you talked about sum to 26% flop seen.
that as far as i can tell is to few for a 6 handed game , right ?
I tryed to use them and very early i saw i didnt play enough hands...