6 max couple of hands

[Roadstar]

I'm relatively new to 6 max (playing at .5/1 6 max) but figured I need to be good at it if I want to move up to 2/4 and above. I've played probably 30K+ hands at .5/1 and 1/2 full and have pretty much played fit or fold poker. Any pointers at 6 max would be greatly appreciated!


Villain is 20% VPIP and 15% PFR, aggro factor >1 over 50+ hands.

Party Poker (6 max, 6 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is BB with K/images/graemlins/diamond.gif, A/images/graemlins/club.gif.
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>. (everyone calls, I raise, everyone calls)

Flop: J/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, UTG folds, Button folds, SB folds. (checks to me, I bet, Villain raises in MP, folds to me, I call) (converter missed this)

Turn: 4/images/graemlins/spade.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks. (converter missed this too, villain bets, I call)

River: K/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>
Hero checks Villain bets, I raise, Villain calls

Final Pot:

Villain is quite loose and aggro, pretty clear hes stealing. Do you call the flop and raise turn or raise it right away here?

Party Poker (6 max, 6 handed) converter (http://www.selachian.com/tools/bisonconverter/hhconverter.cgi)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif, K/images/graemlins/club.gif.
<font color="#666666">3 folds</font>.
SB raises, Hero calls
Flop: K/images/graemlins/spade.gif, 8/images/graemlins/heart.gif, 9/images/graemlins/club.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
SB bets, Hero calls

Turn: 4/images/graemlins/heart.gif <font color="#0000FF">(3 players)</font>
SB checks, Hero Bets, SB folds.

Final Pot:

[droolie]

Hand 1 looks good. What was your question on this?

There's a decent chance you have the best hand on the flop but you might consider checking there given the size of the field. Auto-betting into four other players is not a good idea as a rule.

The turn call you have a gutshot and two overcards that have a good chance of being clean.

If you think villian will bet the river the check raise is perfect. Can you fold to a reraise?

Hand 2: I don't really think it matters what you do here. The pot is very small, your hand is strong and there aren't many overcards that can beat you so giving cheap cards and sandbagging isn't bad at all. You could've taken it to the river. Raising the flop or turn is fine too. The important thing is to vary your play and keep in mind board texture. When you are HU and have a strong hand like this you want to get more money in this small pot. Winning it early is not that important.

[DeathDonkey]

Hand 1 I bet the river. Hand 2 I raise the flop.

-DeathDonkey

[Roadstar]

Thanks for the comments.

Sorry my question for Hand 1 at the river is whether your line is:

1) Check Raise (and fold to reraise?)

2) Check/Call

3) Bet (call a raise probably?)

Generally speaking, should I more often wait till the turn to raise if I hit TPGK or TPTK on the flop in 6 max? And also, I noticed some players basically always bet the turn or river if I check out of position (eg. with something like AK UI or bottom to mid pair or bottom pr plus gutshot). Do you counter this by check raising with a good hand (which may not be frequent enough) or try to keep betting (forcing you to bet the turn and the river tho)?


Thanks again

[droolie]

On the river in hand 1 basically you need to estimate the likelihood of him betting the river with a hand you beat and his willingness to call your C/R. The K is certainly a scare card so he might check behind if you go for the C/R. If you bet into him you need to call a raise because he might think you are bluffing at a scare card. Given your description of him as being a TAG I would expect him to value bet the river and pay off the C/R a pretty large % of the time so I think the C/R is fine if you can fold to a three bet. If he was a really tough TAG he probably doesn't pay off the C/R enough to make it worthwhile but most of us just look at the pot and make the call. If you can't fold to a 3-bet you're better of bet/ calling. There's no way I'm check calling here. You're ahead well over 55% of the time.

As for your next questions you need to vary your play. Always betting or always sandbagging when you are HU with a good hand is a mistake. Look at the board texture, the size of the pot and the vulnerability of you hand. Take into account the type of player you are up against. How likely is he to keep betting with nothing? This matters. If your hand is very vulnerable to overcards don't wait until the river to raise. If the board is coordinated or all low cards tend to bet more than call.

In your hand the pot was small, you were likely ahead and not likley to be drawn out on AND YOUR OPPONENT WAS AGGRESSIVE so sandbagging was fine. If the high card on the board was a T and you had a pair of tens I would say raise the flop because there are too many ways to get drawn (or bluffed) out of the pot.

Check raising your good (but not great) hands on the flop and turn a certain % of the time OOP is a must in 6-max. You simply have to keep them guessing when you check. 6-max requires imagination and variation. If you always lead with good hands but check when you miss or are drawing you will be far too easy to read and will get eaten alive against players who pay attention to such things (you really need to focus on this when watching other players tendencies!)

Many 6-max players suck pre-flop but are pretty decent postflop and will spend more time trying to figure you out than the donks at full-ring. You need to pay attention to their tendencies as well in order to be successful. If you go into the hand with the strategy of simply betting and raising when you think you have the best hand or might be able to steal when no one else shows interest you will struggle to win at a solid rate. (Players will take shots at you so if you fold to a raise in a tough spot be prepared to catch some bluffs for the next couple orbits!)

Focus all your attention on one table or two at most and you will learn a lot about hand reading and tendencies. It's very important to develop this skill now at a low limit because this is how you will make money when you move up. Finding players tendencies and adjusting your strategy to exploit their weaknesses is critical. That's why you need to learn to be unpredictable by C/Ring OOP on the flop and turn with both good hands and rarely with nothing. Obviously these moves pay far greater dividends against better players but there's no reason to remove them from your arsenal just because you don't respect your bad playing opponents. Practive now when the stakes are cheap. S&amp;M talk a great deal about this concept in HEFAP.

Vary your play and be willing to give up some marginal EV in order to set up bigger pots in later hands from time to time. Make your default plays ABC maximum EV plays but playing the same way in similar situations every time is a mistake.

WHAT I AM ABOUT TO SAY IS VERY IMPORTANT

I tend to err on going to showdown a lot when HU just to help me develop reads. I'm paying for the chance to show my hand down but also for information. If I'm not in a hand and two players or more make it to SD I check the hand history immediately after the hand is over to see what the losers showed down. I then look at the previous action in the hand and review how they played their hands in context. It will help you with your reads immensely. You will see that a guy bets bottom pair aggressively or that he raised the turn when he picked up a flush draw. If you are not doing this you need to start right now. It rarely gets mentioned but not checking the hand history when it's right there for you to see is just plain stupid. It's part of the reason why playing more than 1 table is often a mistake because you simply won't have time to be doing this if you are playing 3 or more tables. My last piece of advice on this try to guess what they had before checking the hand history. If you are wrong try to figure out what clue you missed and why. Before you know it you will have solid reads on every player at the table and you will be making good laydowns, good value bets and will even know who and when you can bluff out of a pot and more imprtantly who you cannot!

[GTSamIAm]

Hand 1: Check raising can't be correct on the river. Check/call or Bet/call. This depends mainly on reads. Check raise opens yourself up to a 3-bet by a flush.

Hand 2: Your hand is never good enough preflop to stop a steal. Flop you need to play more aggressively.

[Roadstar]

Great pointers Droolie! Another question tho - I checked out the 6 max starting guide for 6 max... but I'm not entirely sure, what hands do you now include in completing the SB (with limpers of course) that you wouldn't in full games?

Thanks again