6-Handed (Max) vs Full games

[evain]

Ed Miller has a great Two Plus Two Magazine piece about this a month or two back. Read it for yourself but here is what I took from it:

You don't have to play more hands out of the blinds. But your blinds hold more equity in each pot because there is less chance of a genuine hand being out there against you. So you have to defend your blinds more than you would in a full ring game.

I have also found that people in the blinds (at my level, 5-10) defend TOO MUCH and that changes my play. If I was on the button with 89s against two guys who I KNOW WILL CALL A RAISE then I will flat limp. They are more likely to fold when I bet on a Q high flop than if I raised pre flop. ie they are mentally attached to the pot and will often call on the flop with anything which leaves you in a tricky turn situation.

cheers

evain

[silvershade]

Do you have a link to the article? I'd actually be quite interested to read it.

[evain]

Sherm, how can you expect to stay in front when you are seeing TWO THIRDS of the flops, man? That seems a little excessive.

[evain]

Just went to check which month it was published and it looks like it was more than 3 months ago. They take down anything older than 3 months and recommend you contact the author. Sorry man it was good reading.

Maybe someone has kept a copy?

[evain]

I think it's important to realise there may be a difference between "aggressive" players and players who go too far with their hands or bluff too much. If they are in the latter two categories suited connectors are wonderful in 6MAX because you can raise pre flop, build a pot and get your odds to call, raise or bet on a draw. Anyone staying in with bottom pair or overcards may well be doing you a favor if your good cards hit.

[shermn27]

Evain,

I don't really know how I can afford to see that many flops. I have played only a little over 1500 hands and have been quite successful. You can judge for yourself.

Hands Played = 1532
Hands Won = 28%
Showdowns Won = 73%
Flops Seen = 62%
Win w/Flop Seen = 41%
$ won = 278.92
$/Hour = 15.24
BB/Hour = 30.48

This is on .50/1.00 6max games. One thing that I think is important to recognize, is that the games I play in are not often filled with 6 players! Often times they are even more shorthanded with on 2 or 3 other players. I am sure this has an impact on the % of flops seen. I would really like to know if I am playing too many flops b/c I know my sample is small, but it appears to be working quite successfully. So intuitively, I think what I am doing is correct, while theoretically, it may not be. Thanks.

[Cased Heel]

Be aggressive with a wider range of hands. For instance, you get KT suited in EP at 6-max, that's a raise. KT suited in EP at full ring is either a fold, or a limp hoping to see a cheap multi-way flop, in case you hit either draw.

At 6-max you want to play KT as in "high card value". You don't need to hit straights and flushes for this raise to be +EV.

I tend to play very tight at the 25 and 50 NL cash tables because most people still play pretty loose. However, if I'm going to play a hand, I'll usually try to raise it up, especially if I'm first in. My raises are small, usually just 2 or 3xbb, that way if I get reraised significantly, I cant throw it away pre-flop for cheap.

RARELY call someone's raise preflop. Even if you have a good hand like KQ off. You can be too easily dominated here by any pair, especially QQ KK AA, and also AQ and AK, as well as KQ suited (I know I know...) but you get the point, don't get involved with a raiser for a small pot when the correct play is not to re-raise. In other words, if you cannot feel strong enough to re-raise to an EP raiser, you should fold. Laying down KQ is fine, because at 6-max you'll win your share with 93 and Q2, etc., especially if your post-flop play is better than par.

Hope this helps. I'm not great but I'm currently beating the 50 NL cash tables fairly handily (1-table)

[CORed]

The key to playing short handed is to base your play on postition relative to the button. There is very little difference between being UTG in a six handed game and being 4 to the right of the button in a ten handed game when everyone has folded to you. Because you will be opening in late and middle position more often, and stealing or defending the blinds more often, you will play looser than in a ten handed game. OTOH, you will probably play fewer speculative hands (suited aces, baby pairs, sutied connectors) becuase you will not be in late position with multiple limpers to your right as in a full game.

[pudley4]

[ QUOTE ]
Hands Played = 1532

[/ QUOTE ]

There's your answer.

[Rasputin]

Couldn't you do some extensive datamining of some six max tables then aggregate all the data from all the players to see what hands happen to be profitable in what positions?