General strategy in short-handed vs. loose opps?

What is generally the best way to play in a short-handed or heads-up game against very loose opponents? I'd appreciate answers for either low-limit (3/6) or for PL/NL (i.e. near end of tourny).


I usually don't try any true bluffs in limit games with 5 or more (semi-bluffs excluded). Against 1 or 2 loose players, should I take more chances? It sounds dumb but blinds dig into my bankroll quickly so I'm wondering if I should be playing overcards (with nothing else) on the flop aggressively, etc.


I haven't found any sites with detailed short-handed strategy, could someone help me out?

Hello,Kevin,

Chris posted these hands for short-handed play:

Button: 44,A4o,A2s,K9o,K6s,Q9o,Q8s,J9o,J7s,T9o,89s

************************************************** **************************************************

Cutoff:

66,A7o,A3s,KTo,K8s,QTo,Q9s,JTo

************************************************** *************************************************

2 off the button:

77,A9o,A5s,KTo,K9s,QJo,QTs,JTs


Happy Pokering,

Sitting Bull

I think if you go to abdul's positive ev sight (i think its one of the favorite links).


Short handed is alot more complicated than just a starting hand strategy. Look at that sight and reading the short handed section in holdem for advanced players would help also.

Against loose players headsup i think you should be calling preflop with hands that have a decent chance of flopping a medium or high pair, eg K3o is a fold, but J8 is a call, and if you have an A always put in a raise, and ofcourse with hands like Kq and Kj and the pairs u but in a raise too, then on the flop bet your strong hands and give them action while your medium hands should be check called unless u are sure that you are beaten. Don't try bluffing a lot, betting the river is the best bluff against loose players since they often call with anydraw they can find, but when they only have their high card or low pair they might fold. i Hope u will find this information, helpful.

In heads up, optimum strategy against a loose/extremely passive opponent would be to play just slightly more than half as many hands than he does. The same would be true against a loose/extremely aggressive opponent.


I'll explain more if interested.

This is not correct. You should play just about all of your hands against a loose extremely passive opponent.

If you assume your opponent will always bet, the optimum strategy is to play slightly more than half as many hands as he does. From memory the formula is (P-B)/2 I think, where P is the pot size, B is the blind, and the result is the percentile (e.g. .45 would mean play the best 55% hands). I'll post the derivation tomorrow if you're interested.


Note this is a theoretical observation, not a practical one. That is, this is assuming you're playing a moron who will always bet his hand.


By playing more hands than the above, your EV goes down because he wins a higher percentage of hands. By playing less hands than the above, your EV goes down because you lose too many blinds.