first stab at 6-max - is 11 too high for flop agg?

[tinhat]

/images/graemlins/smile.gif Little sample - like 75 hands.


I'm ready to take a shot at $2/4 but according to ppl here have to get through 6-max first (party). So, okay after hearing ppl here talk about 6-max I've been kinda dreading it because I have no idea how to play it. Sure enough, I took my first unplanned peek tonight for about an hour and I'm COMPLETELY lost. Up and down but managed to lose only $20. But man this is addictive - it's a blast! Full ring is like a funeral parlor compared to this.

Anyway, I looked at some 6-max threads previously but really have no idea what I'm doing. With full ring I feel like I've been studying for the bar exam and when I showed up at 6-max they gave me a coloring book. I just don't know how to play it so would like to ask some specific 6-max questions. I think I got the wrong idea about 6-max being like an insane asylum and when I tried to act crazy too I got mowed down.

Compared to full ring games:

1. What's a good hand? (like do pairs win most of the time?)
2. What's different postflop? Am I mainly playing for pairs?
3. Smaller connectors any good to limp?
4. Limp weak hands to see if flop hits/fold?
5. What gets raised ep? Blinds?
6. What are appropriate stats?
7. Is there much bluffing?

I know I have to play more hands but 6-max *seems* to be a different animal so right now I don't know when to let losers go (or even what a loser is). Everybody else's vpip was 50-75% and mine was a lame 25% once I figured out betting down A-high is no good. I came out blasting with both barrels and would lose to straights/flushes. The hands I sat out bottom pair or J-high would win. So yeah, I'm a little confused.

I'm not asking how to be a 6-max expert tonight - I just want to know enough so I can play again tomorrow. I don't want to play full ring anymore.

Mike

[aK13]

I just started as well =).

As standards for playing hands, think of the table as a full ring game where UTG, UTG+1, and UTG+2 have folded -- that's a pretty decent range (assuming you have already established good opening hands from LP in full ring). My VPIP went from 18% to 23%, PFR from 9% to 12%, and aggro went up roughly .5

[Paxosmotic]

I know this thread might not be recieved too well, since it's so broad and all encompassing, but I'm hoping we get a lot of answers in here. I've played 1/2 6-max once in my life and it took me 2 hours to lose my 25bb buy-in. I'm currently stuck in Iraq for the next 3 months with no poker (studying the hell out of the game and using Wilson's Turbo Texas Hold 'Em), but I have NO idea what I'm doing in 6-max. Here's hoping that this thread takes off with advice.

[aK13]

Both of you realize there is a short-handed/heads-up forum?

[tinhat]

[ QUOTE ]
Both of you realize there is a short-handed/heads-up forum?

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolutely but after getting bitch-slapped in penny-ante $1/2 6-max you don't really think I'm gonna go whimpering to the middle-limit players in HUSH do you? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Mike

[tinhat]

[ QUOTE ]
I know this thread might not be recieved too well, since it's so broad and all encompassing, but I'm hoping we get a lot

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, you're probably right. I should've put "nc" in the subj or asked if my stats were okay after 75 hands and there'd be 3 pages of replies.

Anyway, stumbled on this at another site so will start there:

http://www.flopturnriver.com/6-Max-Limit-Guide.html


Mike

[12ozLongneck]

A nice intro to 6max by MrWookie can be found here (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=2536762&page=0&view=colla psed&sb=5&o=14&fpart=1).

[Reqtech]

My VP$IP/PFR/AF stats after around 10K 1/2 6 max is roughly 27/14/2. I think that I need to get my AF up a little more and I can probably add a few more playable hands.

6 max is a bit more "read" specific than .5/1. Even at 1/2 6 max you can't just expect to play ABC poker and rake in lots of big pots. It's a good place to really play on your opponents tendancies.

Also, your opponents will also start paying a little more attention to you, too. Whenever I get on a roll on a table and go up 30-40BBs, a lot of times the other players a little more likely to fold to me. Likewise, whenever I go down 20 or so BB, it seems like the other players seem to smell blood in the water and don't respect my bets. Both are good situations /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Sasnak]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't want to play full ring anymore.

Mike

[/ QUOTE ]

Tinhat has been lost to the Darkside.

There are some seriously good threads which have been put together on 6 max. I'm staying away from them for the time being as I think I'll get my SH experience from full ring tables first.

Have you considered playing the .50/1 6 max tables at Stars to begin with then switching to Party 1/2?