Jim Brier's article

In a recent Cardplayer, Jim Brier writes a very good article on short-handed play. However, I have one quibble.


He states that although some look at 5 handed play as more profitable, it may not be because the bad player who is playing KTo in a 10 handed game is also playing it in the 5 handed game. In the 10 handed game, its a mistake, in the 5 handed game, it may very well be the correct play. JB makes the argument then that the game has kind of made the bad player into a less bad player than before because some of his plays are now correct.


However, JB does not consider this : the bad player may be playing even worse hands incorrectly in the 5 handed game that he would never think about playing in the 10 handed game. Bad players know how to adjust too...they know when a game is 10 handed, and when it is 5 handed. They have eyes and brains too, and for the most part, they will understand, just like the good players, that they now need to play more hands....and for the very worst players, sometimes that means every hand now in a 5 handed game. For example, in a 10 handed game, I can imagine a player that would not think about calling a preflop raise with a hand like A3o, K8s, J9o, etc., but that same player would call a UTG raise with that hand in a 5 handed game, which is a mistake.


So, although some of his bad plays in the 10 handed game is now correct in the 5 handed game, the bad player has also created a whole universe of hands that he will now play badly in the 5 handed game which he would have not played in the 10 handed game. It is now arguable as to how bad this player does in the 5 handed game, as he may very well be a much worse player given his new lowered standards.

You're both right. When a full table "becomes" short-handed, a non-adjusting loose player will suddenly find himself better off and the expert loses a component of his edge (although he might be able to make up for it more aggression). But water seeks it's own level, so as the game progresses and the expert starts playing 1/4 of his hands outside the blinds, the loose guys go up to 1/3 and more. This is exactly what happens in the 5-handed Paradise games, which tend to attract action-cravers.

I suspect that Jim has this right. Many players do poorly in full ring games because they don't understand mutiway concepts and what it means to have a line of players behind you.


In short handed play many players do poorly because they don't call enough and tend to play their marginal hands weakly instead of aggressively.


The player that Jim is describing tends to make the full ring game errors, not the short handed game errors.