Short Handed Strategy

[happyhornet]

I have just started playing a bit of short handed cash at .10/.25 on Boss (5 seaters), and although I feel that I am doing okay, I am still struggling with changing my mindset away from playing a patient full ring game.

I am looking for any advice on starting requirements, aggression levels needed etc. I found one article on 2+2 which was useful, but I was wondering if any of you could either proffer advice or point out any good strategy articles?

Cheers Guys

Steve

[ubermonkey1]

usually on a five seat i am raiseing pre flop with any ace,any two face cards or any pocket pair from any position with no raise in front of me.

with a raise in front i will usually reraise with a 10 or better,mainly to get a better feel for their hand (were they semi stealing or do they really have a good hand)

if i get callers i will be wary if i hit an ace on the flop with a rag but anything above a 10 i will call reasonable bets.

apart from reraiseing with a 10 +preflop really its a similar strategy to late position in a ring game but from any position in a 5 seater

its always a good idea to play monsters the same way as your a7 etc ,keep to a 3 or 4x bb raise whatever the hand.
peoples hand requirement will be lower so you will get more callers/raises than in a ring game and its less advantagous to slo play because of this.

[libbert]

I was in the same situation. Started of with full ring game, 10 seats, and moved to short handed. Found it extremely difficult to start of with. It is a tough transition to become more loose.

Now it is opposite, I could never go back to full ring games. Love the action at short handed!!

My suggestion would be to start playing short handed sit and go, or move down in limit. After you feel comfortable with the numbers of players and have adjusted your stating hand range, move up again.

[SteveO]

It's all about position. Play a large amount of hands in position but don't get married to any hand out of position. Be wary that when you raise from early position quite frequently you will get multiple callers and if it comes something like Ac8s9s and you raised with AQ then you need to tread very carefully. Bet out by all means but you're likely to get reraised by flush or str8 draws obviously trips two pair etc. So don't get too attached to top pair decent kicker against multiple callers.

[WASP]

Originally Posted by Steve'O

It's all about position. Play a large amount of hands in position but don't get married to any hand out of position.

Bang on Steve

You need to play more hands in short handed regardless of your cards and obviously this is best done with position. You also need to 3 bet (and 4 bet) more and go all in more. It is more difficult to play because putting your opponents on hand ranges is a lot trickier. It is a more action packed, looser, gambling game with bigger swings so be careful out there

[ubermonkey1]

Originally Posted by WASP

Bang on Steve

You need to play more hands in short handed regardless of your cards and obviously this is best done with position. You also need to 3 bet (and 4 bet) more and go all in more. It is more difficult to play because putting your opponents on hand ranges is a lot trickier. It is a more action packed, looser, gambling game with bigger swings so be careful out there

yeah your right there guys
in theory tho this should really improve your post flop play and your general read of your opposition because you play more hands and have tougher decisions to make when you do ,its a lot less abc than a ring game.
libbert makes a good point about dropping down a level as well,with tougher swings you can bump off a lot more than playing ring games,best to feel secure with the change before you risk a reasonable amount of your roll

[Nade]

Been playing it for a few months and it's a bit mental and seem to get a lot of tough beats but it's an exploitable game, for example people will play very obvious uber aggressive just because it's short-handed without any real strategy.

Good articles:
http://www.inside-edge-mag.co.uk/pok..._strategy.html

http://www.totalgambler.com/pokertip...ed_holdem.html

[SteveO]

Originally Posted by Nade

Been playing it for a few months and it's a bit mental and seem to get a lot of tough beats but it's an exploitable game, for example people will play very obvious uber aggressive just because it's short-handed without any real strategy.

Good articles:
http://www.inside-edge-mag.co.uk/pok..._strategy.html

http://www.totalgambler.com/pokertip...ed_holdem.html

Yes I believe these people are known as Scandies, and play any 2 cards from any position.