My first day of shorthanded play

cts · #1 03-24-2006, 02:00 AM

So I've been playing full-ring limit for the past few months and have worked up a decent bankroll. I've always heard people talking about how great 6-max is, but up until today I hadn't tried it. I dropped down a few limits to the Party 5/10 and it was pretty fun. Some of my observations were:

1.) It's really fast! I was surprised at how many more hands/hr it plays. It's tough to play as many tables as is possible in full ring.

2.) Domination didn't seem to be as much as an issue. Maybe it's just because of my limited sample size (I played 5000 hands or so) but people kept entering pots with weak holdings and I didn't seem to run into kicker issues as often as in full ring (particularly with AJ).

3.) There was a lot more bluffing. Plenty of times I was raised on the turn and called a river bet to see some Q-high garbage.

4.) All it takes is one horrible player. It was crystal clear when a lousy player entered the game, and his money disappeared a lot quicker than in full ring.

5.) Occasionally when I would be semibluffing with a premium draw, by the time I missed on the river the action was check-check when firing the third barrel would have easily taken the pot down (opponents calling down with something like Q9 - not terribly incorrectly - trying to hit a pair). This happened a couple of times and when my T-high was no good I felt like kind of an idiot for not betting the river.

I would definitely recommend trying 6-max out to any fullring players, maybe drop down a limit or two. I found myself stuck about $800 pretty quickly, but finished the session up about $300 and feeling like I had the hang of it. My stats were 21.63/16.81; is this a little too tight? I modeled my play as if 4 players had folded (and no open limping) and glanced at the starting hands chart here. I had no problem opening with any ace from the CO or button, but if there is a limper or two do you even call (I've been folding)? Also, my WTSD was only 32.38 (at full ring I'm around 35) although I didn't feel like I wasn't going to showdown enough; is this too low?

I'll finish with a hand. I haven't played many hands with villain, but he is pretty LAG.

Party Poker 5/10 Hold'em (4 handed) FTR converter on zerodivide.cx

Preflop: Hero is SB with J[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img].
1 fold, Button raises, Hero 3-bets, 1 fold, Button caps, Hero calls.

Flop: (9 SB) 4[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets, Button raises, Hero 3-bets, Button caps, Hero calls.

Turn: (8.50 BB) A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets, Button raises, Hero 3-bets, Button caps, Hero calls.

River: (16.50 BB) Q[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero checks, Button checks.

Final Pot: 16.50 BB

Too many bets? Stupid river check?

Rev. Good Will · #2 03-24-2006, 02:08 AM

even for a LAG, that flop looks outta control

shaodeee · #3 03-24-2006, 02:22 AM

Check raise the flop..Call if 3 bet
Check raise the turn...Call if 3 bet
Check/call river.

You played this way too aggressively imo.

Newtown · #4 03-24-2006, 02:28 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Check raise the flop..Call if 3 bet
Check raise the turn...Call if 3 bet
Check/call river.

You played this way too aggressively imo.

[/ QUOTE ]

Kwaz · #5 03-24-2006, 04:06 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Check raise the turn...Call if 3 bet

[/ QUOTE ]

Why would you not cap this turn?

82Steve · #6 03-24-2006, 06:54 AM

kwaz is right
turn is a must-cap.
theres only 2 combos out there that beat you.

El Ishmael · #7 03-24-2006, 06:59 AM

How aggressive is "pretty LAG"? Also, please don't show he checked the river.

modnareno · #8 03-24-2006, 07:15 AM

It seems like you figured out the important parts of shorthanded play already. I think you might find a big difference is with how you select tables. My friends that play full ring tell me they look for a "table average" to find a nice table... When I table select for 6max I try to look for 1 or 2 specific "bad players" (based on their pre flop stats and seeing them make a bad call down) instead of a table average.

K-mac · #9 03-24-2006, 07:46 AM

[ QUOTE ]
kwaz is right
turn is a must-cap.
theres only 2 combos out there that beat you.

[/ QUOTE ]

Only two combos? Do you mean that there is only two combos that beat you that he is likely to have based on the way he has played?

When the turn card falls i count quite a few more than two combos. AA (1 way), JJ (1 way), 44 (1 way), 4X ( not sure, but lots of ways), A4(4 ways i think), J4 (4 ways i think)

Note: the numbers that go with the combos may be off.

Is my thinking off here?

dietlime · #10 03-24-2006, 08:11 AM

You forgot AQ.