Man my starting hands have been all over the place
 

I've been playing 6-max for a while now, just broke 10k hand yesterday, and I've noticed a drastic shift in my preflop play and I'm wondering if anyone has undergone something similar.

When I first started playing, I took the general advice, and raised everything. 4-bet pf with KTo etc lol. Had like 35 vpip, 25 pfr. Ended up running really good through this session and was up substantially.

Then my play began to taper off a bit. I realized KTo etc are just as bad in 6-max as they are in fullring, and settled into a 28-30 vpip, but still a high pfr of 20-22.

Recently I've been going through a downswing, and I'm realizing I need to be tightening up more. I'm also finding it acceptable to limp drawing hands like small pp and small suited aces UTG. I'm around 25-26vpip, and 16-17 pfr, which I feel is close to correct, but I'm still not sure about a lot of marginal situations, such as:

AXs utg
JTs utg
KJs on the button facing a raise
KQo facing a raise
AJo facing a raise
Opening from the CO with Ax
88-99 facing 2 limpers in CO

I've been playing 2/4 and 3/6 on pokerstars for a sense of the game I'm playing

Re: Man my starting hands have been all over the place
 

Here are my general plans:

Axs UTG - raise A8s+, fold A7s-
JTS UTG - raise
KJS OTB vs raise - usually 3-bet
KQo OTB vs raise - usually 3-bet
AJo facing a raise - 3-bet
Ax in CO - raise A7+, fold A6-, but this varies. Loose blinds I fold more hands. Tight blinds I raise more.
88-99 vs 2 limpers in CO - depends on the limpers. Usually raise, though. Usually, EP limp = loose.

Re: Man my starting hands have been all over the place
 

I play almost the same, it just seems like I lose so much from things like AJ when I get involved in a 3-bet pf pot that it feels like it can't be right.

Re: Man my starting hands have been all over the place
 

I just started 6-max, too, but here's how I play it generally:

Axs utg -- raise

JTs utg -- raise

KJs on the button facing a raise -- read-dependent, but generally raise in light of my position.

KQo facing a raise -- on button, same as immediately above. Otherwise, mix between fold/call.

AJo facing a raise -- on button or co, raise. Otherwise, still usually raise but occasionally call.

Opening from the CO with Ax -- raise.

88-99 facing 2 limpers in CO -- raise.

Seeing a trend. I think most of these are raising situations when in position. Makes the rest of the hand easier to play.

Re: Man my starting hands have been all over the place
 

It just seems like "oh, let's raise some marginal hand, then miss the flop and lose money, or sort of hit the flop and lose money"

I dunno. It's obviously right because EVERYBODY does it, but eh. Probably just having the downswing blues.

Re: Man my starting hands have been all over the place
 

I haven't been playing 6-max long either, but AJ and KQ are often folds (!) for me these days as I've become a bit selective. If I 3-bet, it's usually with a read. But reading this thread I think I might start 3-betting these. I'm also careful about playing hands A6o and below and only do it when there is only one other caller and I'm on the button. JTs I will limp UTG, as well as most suited aces. I'll fold A6s and below about half the time UTG. KJs I re-raise half the time and fold the other half. AT I've been folding to raises.

Re: Man my starting hands have been all over the place
 

I should reiterate that none of this is definite. It's fine to fold AJ and KQ vs a raise from a 20/5 player. I wouldn't play JTs UTG unless you have a fairly passive table. You can end up isolated out of position - yuck.