Full vs. shorthanded

In another thread, I read this:

"learn shorthanded if you ever want to be a great limit player."

I am interested to hear opinions about this as I do not know a) if it is true and b) why it would be true or false.

Thanks!

[nervous]

Shorthanded play puts hero in more marginal situations than full ring play. This way hero can get a better feeling for all types of situations. Most pots at the larger limits are contended headsup and 3-handed so hero will already have a great edge in that kind of play. Shorthanded play also helps hero with blind stealing defense more often.

If hero learns to play shorthanded well, hero will crush full ring with better postflop experience.

[ncboiler]

I'm voting no because they are two very different games. It's like comparing no-limit to limit. Yes you are play hold-em and all the rules are the same but they play very different. I leanr=ed how to play by playing Party limit SNG's. That taught me full ring, short handed, and heads up. Again however, SNG's are different then cash games.

[nervous]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm voting no because they are two very different games. It's like comparing no-limit to limit.

[/ QUOTE ]

They aren't that far apart. Learning shorthanded play will definately help your postflop play (mostly) whether it be in a shorthanded game or a full game. The game is fixed limit holdem, and it's just varying the amount of people.

[jasonHoldEm]

SH makes you a better player after the flop. In a typical (full) low-limit game success is based largely upon your starting hand selection (i.e. if you play tighter than your average opponent you're going to win money). You don't have that luxury in a SH game (because of the blinds coming around more quickly, among other things) so you have to get in there and mix it up with a wider range of hands...this reduces the preflop advantage you had previously so you make up the difference after the flop.

Even if you're sitting there saying well I never want to play SH I'm just going to play the full games and move up...you've gotta realize that as you move into the bigger games more and more people will be playing similar holdings before the flop (i.e. more people will be playing "correctly") so the preflop advantage you once had will be reduced or eliminated...the only way you can win at that point is to be the best player after the flop.

I hope that makes sense. I've gradually switched over from the full games to the SH games over the last year (I'm now playing 5/10 SH so I'm not exactly an expert or anything) but now that I'm comfortable with SH play I really wouldn't have things any other way. There's so much more you can do in a shorthanded setting...opportunities to exploit your opponents weaknesses more, opportunities for more creative plays, etc. To me it's just a hell of a lot more fun...you actually get to play poker instead of sitting around and folding.

All that being said, I'm sure you could still become a "great" player if you stay in the full games, but playing SH will get you there much sooner.

J

[SoftcoreRevolt]

Short Handed will also make you marginally better preflop. I'm not as big on it as other people, but I think playing 5 Max in my early going helped out alot.

[jstewsmole]

Ive read that SH games are more profitable because u get to make better decisions than ur opponents (assuming they are less skilled)more times an hour.

Has anyone ever heard this before. Is there any merit to it?

I figure ur making better decisions more times an hour but they are more marginal in nature. I would think that these things would equal each other out. not sure though.

But i would have to agree that i dont see how it couldnt have a great benefit to ur postflop play.

[bicyclekick]

while I agree short handed is far more about post-flop than pre-flop like others have said, there are sitll plenty of big mistakes a TON of people make pre-flop short handed.

[trainslayer]

Here's one of my favorites on the subject of 6max (http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=micro&Number=2536762&fpart =1&PHPSESSID=)

Shorthanded in general makes you a better player. It forces you to make more reads and push edges that are less obvious. But the swings are worse and that gets to some people.