Playing Three Players or Less

[Hope2play]

You are in a NL Hold'em tourney. The table is paired down from 9 to three. It would seem that you would need to become more aggressive with the hands you hold vs only two opponents. What are some keys in playing? Some players go all in with pocket 4's and even less and unsuited examples like a K-9 or A-3. Waiting forBig Slick and monster hands will eat up your blinds. Your advice?

[Bona]

Early in an SnG you are probably playing the top 10 to 20% of hands. That figures you will playing about one or 2 hands per orbit. I adjust that as the number of players decreases and by the time we are at three (and in the money) I am playing the top 50-70% very aggressively. At two players I am playing all but a very few hands and keeping the pressure on. It is usually more about stack size, position, and the tendencies of your opponent(s) at that point than it is about your cards. At least I think it is,

[whickerda]

3 handed the blinds are usually eating you up, unless the structure of the tourney was really good. In this spot any pair is a monster and hands like A3 and K9 go way up in value. If you're a conservative player, proper 2 and 3 handed play can be hard to adjust to. You have to find your inner maniac to play well.

[Harv72b]

It is almost all about stack sizes. The bigger your stack relative your opponent(s), the more patient you can afford to be. However, even as the big stack vs. two short stacks (say you're at 10k & they each have around 2k), you should still be raising with any hand that you'd play on a full table, whether to limp behind with it or raise with it there. Plus other high card hands like any ace, many kings, etc. As the big stack, you want to strike that balance between keeping the pressure on the other guys while protecting your chip lead.

As the short stack, and particularly if both opponents are well ahead of you, you usually can't afford to sit around and wait for a premium hand. So in that case you have to go with what you've got; any pocket pair, any ace, any king, suited cards, any two broadway, you name it...especially if you'll be making the first raise.

Being in the middle is tricky, because you don't want to bust out before the short stack & give up a pay increase, but at the same time you don't want to allow him to get ahead of you either. Then it's a lot about feel & figuring out what you can get away with--generally avoid confrontations with the big stack unless you feel you're getting way the best of it, and keep pressure on the short stack as much as he (and the big stack) will allow you to.

If you do see a flop and you hit any pair or big draw, be prepared to go with it. Top pair in a short-handed situation like this is almost an automatic all in.