Adjustments for the party $25 NL six max tables

[Jdanz]

Obviously there is a lot of money to be made at 6 max NL tables. Being short handed against a lot of people that want to gamble, and being able to push as hard as you want sounds like a great situation. Yet, while i'm pretty certain i'm a winning Limit hold 'em player, i just can't seem to make good money on these tables in the very short time i've been playing here. So let me paint an exzample and you guys tell me where my thinking is inaccurate, and what adjustments should be made to a six max table.

i have ak raise to 2 on the button and get 3 callers.
flop is a 9 3 checked to me and i bet 6 into an 8 dollar pot. I get one caller

Pot is now twenty and it's checked to me. any bet now should be a push if either of us is under $30 to start the hand, yet i any time i bet i feel like i only get called by a better hand, and i'm laying all sorts of crazy reverse implied odds whenever i flop a good hand and don't overbet the pot. Yet when the bets get bigger on the turn and river i feel as though even these bad players drop their hopeless hands and call/raise my big bets with decent hands with only their better ones.

I can check the turn and give a free card and chance to bluff me off on thr river (can i call an almost pot sized all in bet with just a pair?)
or i can bet and get called by only hands that beat me or if i'm lucky aq , aj which are significantly less commmon then any random two pair considering the preflop looseness.

thoughts on this made up hand and reverse implied odds in the NL games in general?

I feel if i only push hands bettter then this hard, i'm leaving WAY too much on the table at a 6 max table where i'm suppose to be aggresive and gambling it up.

-JDanz

[fimbulwinter]

1. your hand depends on whether or not there is a flush draw, what your reads are etc. if there was a flopped 2 flush and someone check/called, the turn blanked, i'd push for sure. if the flop was rainbow, i'd be looking for a cheap showdown.

2. 6 max 25NL is a place where TPTK, especially against a short stack, is an ok hand to back your stack with. one thing i like doing in family (4 callers or more) pots only 6 handed in EP is checking the flop when I hit my TPTK because of all the draws out there. people know you might have a strong ace because of the PFR (which should be more on party to cut down the implied odds you spoke about) but if you check they might think you missed with QQ, JJ, TT and bet their A4s which you can then raise/push. the great part about this is it adds to your lunatic image and often you'll get called by the flush draw, which is great as you have much more pot equity than him.

fim

[Jdanz]

bump, let's give me and some NL newbies a little discussion on how to deal with reverse implied odds hands, and maybe what hands should be added to a 6 max game that you wouldn't play in a 10 max. I.E. what goes up in value what goes down.

-JDanz

[vabogee]

it really is mind-blowing how many times people will call a 3X the pot all-in on the turn with a flush draw and make their suit on the river. even though you welcome these terrible calls for your long term games, it's so damn frustrating when you lose your stack over them. just come with the territory of small stakes poker.

[fimbulwinter]

Reverse implied odds hands:
(read theory of poker for the real definition of reverse implied odds, i'm just using this hack of an expression because there are certain hands which almost always put you in a situation in which you must calculate your reverse implied odds)
These are hands which you want to be all-in with early, but which have little chance of improving. for example, if you have AA and the board is KKQQT, would you call an all-in? conversely, if someone pushes on you, would you call an all in preflop? thus AA is a huge reverse-implied odds hand.

Implied odds hands:
These are hands where you'd love to see the board and then decide. if you have 22 or Axs, no way you're calling an all-in preflop, but if the board gives your Axs the nuts or your 22 a hidden boat, you'd call for sure.

The jist:
the key here is playing reverse implied odds hands strong from EP and winning or getting all in as soon as possible, without being an idiot about it. conversely, you only want to play implied odds hands in late position with many callers up front, with the exception of PP which are such a hidden draw and only take one card that i play them in all positions.

NL is a game where people who play by a hands chart make a little money, and people who play according to their implied odds will make a lot. here are a few recs for playing 6 handed, where everyone has the same stack. if you have position on a big stack and you have a big stack, loosen up for sure. if everyone is smaller than you, tighten up, bully with premium holdings and stack them one by one; give them crappy odds to call with a PP and flop a set/draw etc.

here's a real no-frills rundown:

AA/KK. raise hard preflop, standard raise (better be bigger than 5% of your stack or the next biggest stack!!!) raise super hard in EP

other PP. first off, i hate queens, so i only raise QQ/JJ/TT in middle or late position. notice TT is both an implied odds hand and a reverse implied odds hand. a set of tens is great, but so is TT as an overpair to make an A/K draw pay hard. people get killed by JJ/QQ because they overplay it. it's not too strong as a reverse implied odds hand as you will only get called by better hands which will fold if they dont flop A or K, but it's still a good set hand. play it as such. other PP use to steal or set.

offsuit broadway hands. these suck in NL, even AK isnt worth much, so take down the blinds and limpers if you can, but dont get attached to top pair. play them meekly with position and never UTG. I play AA,KK,AK and PP's utg/sb 6 handed.

good drawing hands. suited connectors, Axs (i hate Kxs, fold it). play from button and cutoff with limpers in front and fold or attack the blinds without, always play if you have position on a limped big stack.

trashy "sooted" hands. make sure that you have position and he can double you up. be careful, two pair often won't do. look for trips, straight or flush, in that order (cos flush over flush will get you broke).

the real change is that true drawing hands, like 9Ts and Axs go down in value 6 handed where big cards and pairs go up. dont expect odds to draw to a flush or a big payoff when you make one.

read this post for more:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Number=997575&page=&view=&sb =5&o=&vc=1

fim