small table play.

what are the significant differences between 10 player games and 6 player games?

[pzhon]

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what are the significant differences between 10 player games and 6 player games?

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In theory, shorthanded games are not much different from full games after there are 4 folds, which should be common. In practice, it can be different.

Much of your advantage in a full game may come from punishing people who limp with mediocre hands like ATo and KJo in early position by raising or overlimping. In a short-handed game, they can't make that mistake, so you have to find other sources of profit. There are still plenty.

More pots are multiway in full games. In short handed games, it is more common for the blinds to be stolen or for only two players to see the flop. In my first $5-$10 session, I remember I raised UTG and 6 people called, so 7 saw the flop. That couldn't happen in a shorthanded game.

There is no early position in a shorthanded game. Some people have heard that you need a great hand to raise UTG, but that's for a 9-handed or 10-handed game. UTG is in middle position at a 6-handed table, and you can profitably raise with KJo, 77, etc.

You will often hear people say that the variance is greater in shorthanded games. According to polls of some of the forums, the standard deviation is only slightly higher in shorthanded games than full games, 16-17 BB/100 instead of 15 BB/100. You may need a larger bankroll to play shorthanded if you win at a lower rate.

Because you play more hands per hour and play a greater percentage of hands, many casual poker players who are looking to gamble are attracted to shorthanded games. The common wisdom has been that the $5-$10 full games on Party are much tougher than the $5-$10 shorthanded games, and similar phenomena may be observed on other networks.

In full games, many players are not used to defending the blinds against a steal raise (a late position open-raise), and they give these raises too much respect. In short-handed games, steal raises are much more common, and the players tend to recognize that the raiser may not have much.

Ed Miller had a good article on aggression in shorthanded games in the 2+2 Internet Magazine. Unfortunately, that was more than 3 months ago, so the article is no longer up. At any rate, players tend to be more aggressive in shorthanded games, which allows you to reraise for value from the blinds with hands you would fold against an early position raise.

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what are the significant differences between 10 player games and 6 player games?

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4 players. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Seriously though - mostly starting hand selection and speed of play.

[aargh57]

read the links on the post about info for 6 max on p.2 of the beginners forum here.

thank you all very much; and pzhon particularly.
tlt