[Rozez]

I don't actually have any experience on full ring games, I only play poker once a week in a very good home game so you might not want
to take me too seriously [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

We usually have four to six players in our game. Well, it's obvious that high cards go up in value with just three opponents but six-handed is indeed a little trickier. I think this is an ideal game
for you if you're the kind of a player who likes to see flops because it's that grey area you mentioned. I believe both suited hands and high cards are profitable in these games.

People seem to have trouble with hands like KQo or even AKo in full ring games and I'm not the one to argue them about that. They are good hands six-handed, though. It really isn't such a rare thing to see a pair of kings winning the pot. Of course it doesn't happen as often as in shorthanded games, but it happens frequently enough to make them profitable (I think).

Suited hands are also pretty good. They are especially good in the game I play in because there are just two players who could raise preflop with something else than monsters and I'm the other one.
[img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] These hands are quite profitable if you can always limp in for one bet, hoping to hit it big. I don't mean you should play any two suited in any position, but you should definitely loosen up with these hands (especially against passive opponents).

Six-handed also seems to be a good game to some of the hands Ed Miller categorizes as "Junk offsuit hands" in his excellent Small Stakes Hold'em. You could give a shot to the stronger hands of this category if you have position and you are confident that it won't get raised. I'm talking about hands like J9o or T9o. You probably lose too much by limping in if you go lower than that, though. For example, 87 is definitely too weak to play.

To summarize, I believe many hands are playable in six-handed games. The interesting thing is that every group seems to lose some of it's value when played under these conditions. In addition, some of them gain value because you're in the "no man's land".

Remember that the skill level of your opponents is crucial at this level when selecting your starting hands (as it is always obviously).
I play against weak opponents and that's probably the reason why I
can get away with those offsuit hands I mentioned. If you play against good players you have to make some adjustments to these suggestions.

As for the stack I can't give any accurate estimate regarding it's size. You are probably talking about no limit and I'm only playing limit poker. I hope this post doesn't turn out to be a load of crap because of that (just noticed that 200BB in your post and it got me thinking... [img]/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]) I've been on amazing streak lately, last time I lost my whole buy-in of mighty 25BB (lol) was on new year's eve [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Some of you readers may find these guidelines questionable and it's OK to share your angry thoughts concerning the offsuit section (admit it, you feel the need to do that [img]/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]) Hopefully this post will arouse some discussion about this interesting topic.

These ideas are quite difficult to put together and it doesn't help much that I'm still a newbie when it comes to poker. So forgive me if this post is a little evasive. BTW, if you haven't read SSH it's a must read for more detailed discussion about this. This ended up longer than I had planned, but I just couldn't help it.

Best of luck,
Rozez