[Ed Miller]

[ QUOTE ]
As I understand, Ed Miller is not a big fan of online play (actually, didn't he admit to busting out at the 1/2 and 2/4 online tables when he started out?) ... but has been successful in B&M poker rooms.

Hey, his book is awesome. But I need a book written by someone who is, say ... successfully ten tabling 2/4 online games.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lately I've been 5-tabling the $3-$6 6max at Party. I suppose they play semi-tight preflop, but the games are still really soft.

Here's my quick tips:

Preflop:
1. Don't open-limp.
2. Play quite tightly in the first two spots. Open up a bit in the cutoff and a fair bit more on the button.
3. Favor hands with showdown value. On the button you want K8s, not T8s.
4. Treat many raises with respect still. A lot of these guys don't raise enough preflop in general, so those raises mean something. Or rather, get PokerAce so you know the difference between someone who raises 7% of the time and someone who raises 25%. KQ is still a fold against the 7%er, 6-max or no.
5. No need to play your small blind that much, but defend your big blind liberally against the 25% raiser types. This means some nasty stuff like Q8o and so forth. If you roll over on your big blind in 6-max, you'll get hammered. There's an article on my website about shorthanded blind defense.

Postflop:
1. A big chunk of your money will come from a relatively small number of really terrible players. They tend to be either mega-maniacs or calling stations. Bet the calling stations to death, and fire it up against the maniacs when you flop something decent. The thing that's so great about maniacs is everyone starts playing stupid. Wait for fairly good hands and cap away. Though use common sense. Even maniacs tend to back off on the turn and river some, so if they keep coming, be careful.
2. Avoid putting in lots of action and then folding. That's a huge mistake, yet one players who are trying to be good tend to make. They get fancy with semi-bluffs, get taken one more bet, and then end up folding in a huge pot when they miss. Every time you raise, you should be more and more sure you're going to showdown.
3. There are also bettors and callers. The bettors try to push you off every other hand. They can't resist betting into a raiser on a T55 flop. They call to the river with their ace-high, and when they don't improve, they gotta take a stab at the pot. You beat the bettors by calling. Generally you don't want to slow them down... just use their momentum against them.

The callers have adjusted to the bettors, and call everyone down. While that works fine against the bettors, it shouldn't work against you. Bet for value on the turn and river when you flop good, and check behind when you don't. They won't adjust, and they'll be calling you down too often.

With due respect to the chart-lovers, no chart is going to make you a winning 6-max player. You have to pay attention to your opponents' proclivities and take advantage of them. You'll be playing a lot of heads-up pots against a lot of one-dimensional players. This one's a bettor. This one's a caller. This one likes to give up too fast if you 3-bet him preflop.

You don't have to play great to beat these guys. But you do have to be identifying how they play (usually badly and with systematic errors) and adjust to their play.

PS. For some reason, a lot of people seem to like this particular dummkopf play in the $3-$6 game: Open-raise with some jank and get 3-bet by me from the blind. After I auto-bet the flop, they auto-raise me. If I call and check the turn, they take the free card with a ton of hands.

The problem with this play is that I had the better hand preflop, and I'm still just as likely to have the better hand after their flop auto-raise. They are making the pot bigger, tieing me to my hand for showdown. And they are asking to get themselves 3-bet on the flop drawing very thin.

For instance, some guy open-raises with A9. I 3-bet in the blind with AK. He calls. Flop comes KT4. I bet, he auto-raises. It's dumb. Don't fall into that trap, but watch out for it.