[D.J.]

I'm no expert on short-handed play by any means, but I have played in my share of short games. I can definitely tell you that the value of Ax goes up the shorter you get, as for that magic number I don't have any facts behind this, but just from experience I'd say 4-handed, b/c I still don't think A2o is worth much utg in a 5-handed game, but when you get down to 4 I think things change a little bit b/c you're only getting 2 free hands per round, and you've got to take advantage of your Ace hands when you get them. Hope I somewhat helped.

-D.J.