[Dazarath]

If we ignore bunching, and we take a set of full-ring players, put them in a 6-max game, and assume they play the same from the same positions (same position means, relative to the button, not UTG = UTG), then yes, you should play the exact same way as if the first 4 people folded.

When I did play 6-max, I did not play the same starting hands, but that's because I wanted to attempt a LAG strategy. So that's irrelevant to this discussion.

I think you're thinking about it in the wrong way, though. Let's say my UTG raising standards are 77+, ATs+, AJo+, KJs+, KQo+ (which is what they are for mid-stakes), then would you suggest I raise those same hands UTG in a 6-handed game? I'm pretty sure a lot of people believe 66, A8s, KJo, QJs, as well as some other hands to be plenty raisable in that situation. Not surprisingly, this is about what I open-raise with in MP.

One of the reasons you can open-raise with more hands in LP than in EP, is because there are fewer players behind you to act, so less chance that someone has a better hand than you. This is true for MP in a full game, as well as UTG in a short game.

Here's something that I think is related to what you're thinking, but I'm not sure if I'm explaining it well. Let's imagine a normal game, except that you, for some reason, don't have to pay the blinds when it comes around to you. To be a winning player, you could just play AA and fold everything else, and you would show a profit. To be a breakeven player, you could play zero hands.

Now, let's say you have to post one of the blinds every round, but not the other. Let's say it's the BB, so now we're losing 0.5 BB every orbit. Now, you'd need to play enough have to earn 0.5 BB every round, to breakeven. Now we throw the SB in. You're now losing 0.75 BB per orbit.

So when you say that you're "forced" to play more hands, I guess it's arguable that that is correct, if you define it as the necessary number of hands you need to play to be a winning player. Another thing that's missing is that short-handed, you have more equity in the blinds. Short-handed players lose less in the blinds than we do. Also, your EV for a given hand, let's say AA, is different in a full-ring game, as compared to short-handed.

But the discussion should revolve more around what's the optimal strategy to maximize your EV, and it would be pretty close to the same for full-ring with 4 folds, and short-handed. There would need to be some slight (probably negligible adjustments) for bunching, as well as some adjustments made for the other players.

Preflop adjustments need to be made because of the postflop play of your opponents, as well as postflop adjustments. For example, in full-ring, you tend to have more fold equity in a blind steal situation, as people are tighter. As a result, you can steal with certain marginal hands that require FE. Hands like A9o are plenty powerful no matter how the blinds play, but hands like 87s, and A2o, 22, to some extent, usually require a little more fold equity to be profitable.