I need some 6 max help

kiemo · #1 09-25-2005, 12:25 AM

Having 30k hands of 4 bb/100 winning at .5/1 and 12k hands of 2.3 bb/100 at 1/2 (was 3.3bb/100 until I hit September!) I have decided to give 6 max a chance after reading everybody here talk about how easy and essential it is too win at it. My last foray into 6 max was during TGCs OIC last year and suffice to say it went poor, I dropped about 75BB in less then hour after I got drilled on every hand I even thought about playing. Also when I play full ring I generally leave a table when it gets down to 6 or less, becuase I never seem to fare well in those situations. In short either I get super unlucky at shorthanded or I really suck.

So I decided to venture back to Absolute since they offer so many reloads and wanted to check how their software is since last time I played there a long time ago it was horrible.

Small sample size of only 141 hands recently but I am down 40BB already. Results are not really important due to sample size aside but I dont know if I am adjusting to 6 max very well. My biggest concern is my VPIP, which is 18.44 abd half of that number is from the SB. My last two sessions my VPIP has been under 12. I am using MEbenhoe's starting hand chart as my guide and yet I cant seem to get this number up.

Also winning hands after the flop. I am not doing it. I have only 9 won pots total in 141 played and only one pot over 6BB, most of my wins are blinds only, but even those are very far in between. In fact I have only showdown one hand better then 2 pair and that was a K high flush which was promptly beaten by the A high flush.

Now this isn't really supposed to be a whiny post, its supposed to be a plea for help. The recent sample size is small and not really significant, but my plea goes out becuase of all my past experiences SH games and I have no idea why I do so bad.

Here are links to the last 141 games I have played that I hope a few of you can import into PT and give me some advice. (Look at my two AJ hands. raise from the BB with 4 limpers with AJ? When AJ is 3 bet preflop by button and flop misses do you get aggressive?). Looking over my hands it seems like I am kinda hitting a cold deck which may explain the low VPIP and some plays may look dumb but dont take into accounts my reads on players, these players on Absolute seem to very passive, so a raise from most of them screams I got the best hand.

http://www.visi.com/~kiemo/temp/history1.txt
http://www.visi.com/~kiemo/temp/history2.txt

I appreciate any advice

Here is an example of the kind of fun stuff that happens all the time to me in shorthanded games. Nothing really spectacular about the hand, and in the long run its nothing, but I cant seem to escape this crap when playing SH.

Absolute Poker 0.50/1 Hold'em (6 handed) converter

Preflop: Hero is SB with K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
1 fold, MP calls, CO calls, Button calls, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, MP folds, CO calls, Button calls, Hero caps, BB calls, CO calls, Button calls.

Flop: (17 SB) 3[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (4 players)
Hero bets, BB raises, CO calls, Button folds, Hero 3-bets, BB folds, CO calls.

Turn: (11.50 BB) 6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets, CO calls.

River: (13.50 BB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets, CO calls.

Final Pot: 15.50 BB

CO of course shows 62 hearts

scotty34 · #2 09-25-2005, 12:58 AM

First of all, you should be ecstatic that you can run into people that would play a hand such as CO did in that case. Secondly, a 75BB downswing is NOTHING. I recently started 3/6 6m again, and I had a 50BB upswing immediately followed by a 110BB downswing. I am not too upset by these results, as I know I have been playing better than the majority of my opponents. I have made 60BB back in the last few days and am back to even now. One thing you really have to understand is that 6-max games have considerably higher variance than full ring. Read the recent thread in the HUSH forum about the guy(who is a known solid winning player) who just went through a 650BB downswing. All I'm trying to say is 100BB or so doesn't mean anything. If you take a 20K sample, and are still doing extremely poor, then maybe you need to look over your stats for advice. Right now, there is no way we can attribute it to anything besides variance (not to say I'm sure you are actually a winning player however, it just can't be told by this alone).

Aaron W. · #3 09-25-2005, 01:54 AM

Your 141 hands have a decent number of mistakes (I assert this without looking very closely at them -- but I'm fully confident that they are there). The game is for you to find them. This is how you learn to play poker well.

#4 09-25-2005, 02:41 AM

I looked through the .50/1.00 file a bit. Wow, what was the VP$IP at those tables? Your opponents were playing any 2 cards, cold calling raises with absolute garbage. I think part of why your VPIP was low is that you never got a chance to steal blinds, I didn't see people folding to you on the button and letting you play Ace-rag or other marginal hands.

Looks to me like your low VPIP is just a combination of a bad run of cards and not having the chance to play marginal hands from the button.

grjr · #5 09-25-2005, 10:57 AM

[ QUOTE ]
I looked through the .50/1.00 file a bit. Wow, what was the VP$IP at those tables? Your opponents were playing any 2 cards, cold calling raises with absolute garbage. I think part of why your VPIP was low is that you never got a chance to steal blinds, I didn't see people folding to you on the button and letting you play Ace-rag or other marginal hands.

Looks to me like your low VPIP is just a combination of a bad run of cards and not having the chance to play marginal hands from the button.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't look through the hands but if 2 or 3 people are limping in front of you then you CAN and probably should play marginal hands from the button--raising on a few of the better suited connectors.

kiemo · #6 09-25-2005, 12:02 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Your 141 hands have a decent number of mistakes (I assert this without looking very closely at them -- but I'm fully confident that they are there). The game is for you to find them. This is how you learn to play poker well.

[/ QUOTE ]

I am absolutely 100% confident they are there, I dont see them though thats the reason for the plea for help.

As I stated, the sample I provided is just my recent sessions, my past play at 6 max tables or full ring that have gotten down to 6 or less have pretty much played out similar to the sample I provided, I just didnt provide those histories becuase they are very old or I cant locate them.

I look over the history and I see some really horrible luck on my part! Maybe its a natural swing, maybes its bad play, maybe Absolute is rigged specifically against me and the owners of the site are sitting around their mansions sniffing coke over porn stars asses, laughing at how stupid I am not to realize they rigged the deck against me so they could collect the 2.20 in rake they have taken from me.

numeri · #7 09-25-2005, 12:20 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Maybe its a natural swing, maybes its bad play, maybe Absolute is rigged specifically against me and the owners of the site are sitting around their mansions sniffing coke over porn stars asses, laughing at how stupid I am not to realize they rigged the deck against me so they could collect the 2.20 in rake they have taken from me.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is the sweetest run-on sentence I've read in a long time. NH sir.

Oh, and Absolute is definitely not rigged. Or at least not against me. [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]