Should I play 6-max?

[deception5]

From time to time we get a thread on here about how everyone should go play some 6-max. I haven't seen a thread like this in a while, I know Clayton made one a few months ago and I think Grunch had one a while back as well. And of course the Wookie 6-max baby steps thread (which I will link at the bottom of this post). And I've seen a few "should I try 6-max" threads over the past few days. Anyway, I just wanted to reiterate what people have been saying since way before I started here. If you want to improve your game, you should play 6-max.

It will improve your situational aggression.
Some players limp way too much. When you have someone that limps very often you can punish them severely by making them pay 2 bets preflop whenever you have a reasonably strong hand. The more 6-max you play the more you will recognize these situations. I don't think twice isolating a bad limper with K9 anymore unless the rest of the players are incredibly loose.

You will learn the value of ace high.
Ever raised before the flop with AQ, only the BB called and had a flop come T32? What do you do? What about a 789 flop? K83 flop? Any difference? You will be forced to handle this situation routinely in 6-max and will learn when you should bet and when you should check and fold.

You will learn to play with 2-3 to the flop.
In full ring there are often 4-5 players to the flop giving you odds to draw to all sorts of hands. This is not always the case shorthanded and you will need to reevalute some things you thought were automatic. You will also be able to apply some advice from HEPFAP about heads up play (some pretty cool stuff in there).

You will relearn the value of ace-rag and pocket pairs.
Many times you'll see a starting player who has read about domination saying they don't feel comfortable with A7o on an Axx flop. Or 88 on a J52 flop. 6-max will teach you how to handle these situations.

You will learn all about blind play.
With the blinds coming around very often, it will be folded to the button reasonably routinely so you'll learn to deal with steal situations both in defending and making them.

Your full ring game will improve drastically.
You'll go back and be surprised how often you attack the blinds and how often the meekly fold. You'll feel comfortable check/raising with marginal hands which you would have check/folded. You'll handle shorthanded postflop situations expertly compared to your opponents who have never played 6-max. These situations are more and more common as you move up in full ring. And if the game drops down to 6 players you'll dominate the too-tight or suddenly-crazy players who don't know the first thing about how to adapt.

Some things think about:

Variance
It's often said that 6-max is swingier than full ring. Remember you are playing more hands, so the swings seem to come faster. I find that I am a much more consistant winner at 6-max personally but you have to be able to put a -50BB session behind you and realize that in the short term variance is king. 6-max is also a faster way to clear bonuses as you do play more hands per hour (just make sure you are playing well, I lost more clearing one bonus 3-tabling when starting than I made from the bonus).

When I first started 6-max I thought it was all about aggression. I was a 35/20 player and was actually beating the game over 10k hands but was bleeding chips all over the place. I have toned that down to around 26/18 and have been having a lot of success with that ratio at 2/4. Try not to make the common mistake "there are only 6 players at the table, my opponent could not possibly have a better ace than A9" (sometimes they will, sometimes they won't). On the other hand don't try to take your full ring game there and play unchanged, you will need to loosen up slightly. But really the way you will loosen up is by playing as though you are in later position. Try to follow MBEbenhoe's chart especially when starting out (in the wookie 6-max post).

When someone raises on the button and then bets the flop when checked to, don't automatically assume they have AA. Likewise when you have A7o and the button raised preflop, don't assume you are outkicked on an Axx board. This bet is often a continuation bet from the preflop action (or a worse ace). Fold if you have nothing, but don't automatically fold something like second pair.

Similarly when you raise preflop and it's checked to you on the button you should tend to bet unless the board is crazy-connected like 789 with 2 suited. There's a good chance you still have the best hand.

Not all 6-max games are created equal. Pay attention to how many players tend to limp before the flop, how many will cold call raises, and how often it's raised behind you. Figure out who the maniacs and calling stations are. Don't bluff calling stations and don't fold to maniac bets. If you are in a very passive game you can limp along with a lot more. Reads are more important as you will more often against these players postflop.

Make sure you are properly bankrolled. Think of it as moving up to a new limit. At higher limits 500BB is recommended but at lower limits 300BB is fine.

If you're tired of constantly folding at full ring, 6-max may be just the trick. It's prety much all I've played for the past 30k+ hands and I love it. You will be involved in a lot more hands at 6-max. For this reason I would recommend starting off with no more than 2 6-max tables even if you are comfortable 8-tabling full ring. This is a common reason people think 6-max is swingy - they start with too many tables when they are not sure if they are a winner/loser at 6-max. Multitabling reduces your winrate and the lower your winrate the more swings you will have.

Wookie's 6-max guide

[numeri]

Thanks for the great post. I've been having fun clearing some Absolute bonus money at 0.5/1 6-max, but I find myself still playing poorly in many of the situations you mentioned. Great stuff!

[gharp]

Was just looking through my favorites and I thought I'd give this a bump since I think it got overlooked.

Nice post, D5...

[MrWookie47]

Good bump, gharp. I missed this. Also, with the shakedown at Party, a lot of people have a lot of good reasons to switch to 6 max play, since those games will be considerably easier than full at any site I've played.

[xenthebrain]

Really good post. I wonder why it got so few responses.

[deception5]

Hey thanks, I was wondering what happened to this [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[tiltaholic]

good post.
missed this one completely.

alternate solution is to forget 6max, move up in full ring and learn all that stuff the really expensive way. (like i did - except i'm still learning)

[Reqtech]

If you guys are going to play 6 max and sit down on my tables...please just sit on my right and not on my left. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[car ramrod]

[ QUOTE ]
If you guys are going to play 6 max and sit down on my tables...please just sit on my right and not on my left.


[/ QUOTE ]

good they can sit on my left, and your right.

[Reqtech]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
If you guys are going to play 6 max and sit down on my tables...please just sit on my right and not on my left.


[/ QUOTE ]

good they can sit on my left, and your right.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I know that it's better to have tight players on your left so that you can raise them out of pots preflop, but in my experience I like having the thinking players on my right...seem to have better luck bluffing them out on later streets.