How much to loosen up starting hands when Shorthanded

[coltrane]

At what point do you guys start loosening up your starting hands (7 players?, 6?), and what changes do you make?...I've been experimenting with different things from playing A LOT of hands, to not changing anything....on the one hand, the blinds can eat you more because they hit you faster, but on the other hand, you can burn up a lot of chips by playing trash hands (even if you play them well after the flop).....

one part of me says that perhaps strength of kickers and such is less important (i.e. - KJ on a K83 board might be good enough), but then again, I'm not sure how profitable it is to play those mediocre hands....for example, I know some people who'll play any ace and hands like K8o shorthanded....and I guess a lot of times their top pair will be good, but it seems like this is a way of winning small pots and getting in big trouble in big pots.....if your playing A6o shorthanded and an ace flops, you're probably not gonna get any action unless someone else has an ace (or two-pair), and in that case, you're most likely beat......but maybe I'm wrong and in fact winning these small pots has positive EV over letting the blinds get you......comments?

[dennischambers]

I have put a lot of thought into this as well, and I have experienced a lot of the same problems as you have in the matter. Most of the time when I play live games, they are relatively short-handed, so I have a great deal of interest about what people have to say on this thread. Your reasoning about Ax seems very straightforward (you either win a small pot or lose a big one), but maybe there is some better way to play top pair in those situations to milk it for more money. For example, maybe check it on the flop and hope somebody makes a second-best holding on the turn (for example, if a king comes or something). Although i'm not sure if this is a sound playing strategy. In general, I tend to play 6 or 7-handed games about the same way I play ring games, and I have a feeling that this is a major leak in my game. Any more comments would be appreciated.
Thanks, Andrew

[coltrane]

yeah, often the live games I play are seven-handed and it would be interesting if someone did an in-depth study as to how exactly conditions (statistical odds, probability, etc.) change per persons at the table....I'm sure it's out there....thought I'd start by asking here.....