Opening Standards at Short-Handed Table

RPatterson · #1 05-10-2004, 02:29 AM

I only play the 6 man UB tables and I think things are a little different there than a short-handed full table, since that would insinuate some time has passed and the blinds are probably getting high.

Anyways I have been generally playing very tight wanting to protect chips and waiting for things to come to me. But tonight I was trying out having much lower opening and limp-calling standards and it seemed to work out well. I know we all have different styles and I'm still trying to find mine.

For instance with 5 players left and you opening the pot what would you do with Q8 offsuit at a typical table? What about 58 suited? I am raising with this stuff now and it seems to be working well.

Just curious how tight or loose you guys like to get.

CMangano · #2 05-10-2004, 02:42 AM

I think it would depend on how many chips I had, and how many chips the players to act after me had. I would be more inclined to do it with short stacks behind me rather than large stacks, since large stacks can afford to gamble more. Also, I would definitely raise or fold with these hands, never just call.

RPatterson · #3 05-10-2004, 02:45 AM

I too open almost everything with a raise. The way I normaly view it is with a big stack I can push people around and should play loose. With a short-stack I need to make things happen and should play loose. And with a medium stack I can lean on the short-stacks and try to grow and should play loose.

Maybe I just want to play loose.

CMangano · #4 05-10-2004, 02:50 AM

I think it really depends on your stack size in relation to the blinds and the other stacks. If you are the chip leader but 3 other players are within T500, and the blinds are 100/200, then playing loose is just going to cause you to lose your lead quick. However, if you have close to half the chips then you can bully them around more.