Variance of full ring vs 6 max

[Duerig]

I've recently started playing 6 max (LHE). I've heard that the variance for shorthanded games is much higher than for full ring games. It seems to me, however, that variance should be lower for 6 max. Smaller pots = easier to protect your hand. What am I missing?

[GMan42]

My experience at 6-max is that there's a ton of PF raising, and lots of heads-up blind steal/defend pots where one player bets the crap out of his A-high while the other calls down with bottom pair. I've lost and won back 25BB buy-ins within a few orbits at these tables.

[mudbuddha]

6 max = more hands = more variance.. (alot more aggresiveness adds to variance)
but.. if you find a fish on 6 max.. you will hit him alot more than at a 9 max.. so i dont know if it would have higher variance.. fewer ppl to track..

[subzero]

[ QUOTE ]
6 max = more hands = more variance.. (alot more aggresiveness adds to variance)

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Not sure about this. I play 3 tables at full ring so I can have more chances to play good hands in good position. I think this would reduce variance. I don't play 6-max, but I think the variance has more to do with looser starting requirements. With less players, you can't wait around as much for premium hands, bluffing becomes more of a factor, and weaker hands (e.g. 2nd or bottom pair) are more likely to be ahead. Reads are also more important (and our reads can be incorrect).

If I'm way off, someone please correct me. I'm a full ring player.

[pudley4]

[ QUOTE ]
I've recently started playing 6 max (LHE). I've heard that the variance for shorthanded games is much higher than for full ring games. It seems to me, however, that variance should be lower for 6 max. Smaller pots = easier to protect your hand. What am I missing?

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Several things:

1 - Because you're playing against fewer opponents, you will be playing more hands than you do in a full ring game. More hands = more variance.

2 - Because you're playing against fewer opponents, you're raising more often than in full ring games. More raising = more variance.

3 - Because you're playing against fewer opponents, you need less of a hand to continue. More playing to showdown = more variance.

4 - Because you're playing against fewer opponents, your opponents will also be more aggressive. More aggressive opponents = more variance.

Side note regarding pot size: Board is QJ74r. Your opponent has 75. You're more likely to get a fold from a full ring player in a 6BB pot than from a 6max player in a 4BB pot.

[pzhon]

People love to talk about how much more variance there is in shorthanded games, but this is not borne out by the polls of the HUSH forum and SS Limit forum. The average standard deviation reported was a bit under 17 BB/100 in the HUSH forum, and over 15 BB/100 in the SSS forum, a difference of about 10%. That's not much. There are larger differences within the populations.

Why is there such a discrepancy between what people say and the data? Here are some possibilities:

[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Playing more rapidly gives you the same swings faster. There may be larger swings per hour without larger swings per hand.

[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] Lower win rates mean larger downswings. Many people are significantly worse at short-handed play than they are in full games. It feels better to blame the downswings on the game.

[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] People associate raising with variance. However, raising often means the field is narrowed, and blind steals and heads-up pots have less variance than multiway pots.