What about not so short handed?

[BottlesOf]

At what point do you start making serious adjustments to your pre flop playing requirements? For example, I've read that in 8 or 7 handed games, one thing to do is count away from the button to determine your modefied position. In other words, the button and the position to its left are late position, the next 3 are mid position, and any remaining are early position. Using such a system in a 7 handed game, you would play UTG as if you were in middle position. Does anyone like this strategy for 7/8 handed games? Is more required? What about 6/5 handed?

[anatta]

Yes, that's how I do it. I label the postions the same way you describe, Button and Cutoff are LP, 3 MPs, and the rest is EP. So if there are only seven players, there is no EP.

For example, if the game is nine handed and I am UTG, I may chose to limp with a hand like 88. If it is folded to me in MP, I will likely raise with this hand. Similarly, if I am UTG in a 7 handed game, I will open raise with 88.

Even when it gets down to five handed, I still am using pretty much the same preflop standards, just pretending that there is no EP and all have folded to the lone late middle position. This has worked well for me in the Paradise 5-max games.