In this Storm Poker coaching series on short-handed Texas Holdem, I provide comprehensive advice, strategy and pro-poker tips for 6-max cash games at online and brick-and-mortar casinos. Jul 18, 2014 In this Storm Poker coaching series on short-handed Texas Holdem, I provide comprehensive advice, strategy and pro-poker tips for 6-max.
by Mel Leggett (MellowYellow on the Low Limit Poker Forum)
So you've read up on holdem and have begun perfecting your game. You've built up your bank roll and have begun slowly climbing up the limits and you’ve noticed a new style of table that seems to grow with popularity as you move up. It's 6 Max, same old holdem rules, but with… well, 6 seats per table. 6 Max is popular on many online poker sites, and on some, such as Bovada Poker, you may even find more 6 Max than full tables. So why are people choosing to play them, and what adjustments to your normal strategy need be made.
It's time for some Action
One problem many players encounter in holdem is the boredom factor; folding hand after hand preflop, waiting around for the other players to finish up, finally getting a playable hand, only to fold it on the flop after totally missing, and starting all over again. This can lead to leaks in your game such as playing too many starting hands, or refusing to fold once you finally do get cards worth calling the blinds. You could take a break and play action oriented non-poker online casino UK or online casino EU games (craps, roulette, or blackjack), or you could try 6 Max poker. Players in 6 Max will get to see more flops, win pots more frequently and generally have more hands per hour simply due to the lower number of players competing in them. This keeps the game more interesting and may actually help you avoid playing too loose.
If only I could read…
Perhaps the most sought after and admired skill of many professionals is their ability to get reads on their opponents and classify their play. Some pros like T.J. Cloutier even claim to be able to observe the way each of his opponents have played in every situation and remember it for later use even at a packed table with side conversations going on throughout the game. However, for those of us less versed in this field it may be asking too much to remember enough to have a general classification of each player at our table while in the midst of a full game. Trying to keep tabs on the style of 8 different players simultaneously can be overwhelming causing you to get inaccurate reads or to simply give up and play based solely on your cards potentially costing you numerous big bets/session.
In 6 Max however you only need to observe 5 opponents making it much easier to keep track of their particular style. Also you generally see them play more hands more often making it quicker and easier to get an accurate read on who you are up against. This is a great way to practice categorizing your opposition and adjusting your play according to what you have observed. Just remember that while at a 6 Max table your opponents will likely have a better read on YOU as well! Getting to know your opponents style is very important in 6 Max because you will be raising more often with a wider variety of hands and it is important to know what type of hand your opponent will 3 bet or cap the betting with pre flop so you can adjust your play accordingly.
Making the necessary adjustments
A common mistake players make in 6 Max is playing almost every hand.
The first thing to adjust when playing at a 6 Max table is your starting hand requirements. The average game you will run into will have about 3 callers per flop. This means that your average drawing hands are not going to be worth while, 6 Max is a high-card game. Hands such as 67s are not going to be profitable long term. They just don’t hit often enough, and when they do there aren’t enough people in the hand paying you off to compensate for all the times you’ve missed. Unlike a loose full table where the winning hand is often a flush or straight, 6 Max hands will be won time and time again by middle pair or top pair with a mediocre kicker. Given this, here are the suggested starting hand groups:
Group 1: AA, KK, QQ, JJ, TT, AK, AQ
Group 2: AJ, KQ, 99, 88, AT, KJ, A9
Group 3: A8, A7, KT, QJ, QT, JT, K9, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22
Group 4: Axs, K8, Q9, J9, T9s, 98s
Group 2: AJ, KQ, 99, 88, AT, KJ, A9
Group 3: A8, A7, KT, QJ, QT, JT, K9, 77, 66, 55, 44, 33, 22
Group 4: Axs, K8, Q9, J9, T9s, 98s
Group 1 hands should be played with a raise or re raise from all positions. Most times it is correct to cap the betting preflop except for the instances where you have been 3-bet by a player you know would not do so without Aces or Kings.
Group 2 hands should be played from all positions and should come in for a raise in an unraised pot. These hands can be played even in early position in a raised pot, and in late position hands like AJ are even strong enough for a re raise.
Group 3 hands are playable from all positions but are not strong enough to raise in most circumstances. They are strong enough to come into a raised pot from late position but with a lot of action preflop you should strongly consider getting away from these hands in early position.
Group 4 hands are borderline at best. These are only playable in late position and under perfect circumstances. For these hands you want about 4 limpers in the pot before you. Also you don’t want to play these hands when the person to act after you is the type that is very likely to raise preflop. The weaker Kings and Queens are playable in this circumstance because if your hand is dominated there would have likely been a raise, also with 4 limpers in the pot you are getting better odds to play the better drawing hands like T9s. There are more people in the hand to pay you off if you hit and if not T9 may be capable of taking down a pot simply by pairing up, however like any time you play marginal hands such as these you have to be ready to get away from them without a perfect flop when there is lots of action.
A common mistake players make in 6 Max is playing almost every hand. They realize there are fewer players and therefore their 2 cards have a better chance of taking down pots. However this isn’t just a slot machine, taking any two cards and pulling the lever hoping for a winner. The adjustments to be successful are to play higher cards stronger and get away from most drawing hands, you will be surprised what hands your opponents will play at this table but by playing the cards listed above and letting everyone else play any two cards you will OFTEN find your top pair getting called down by someone’s pair of 3s, and that is a great place to be in.
The Game Play
The main difference in 6 Max post flop play is the degree at which you must hit the flop to continue. In a full table with 7 people seeing the flop you probably wouldn’t dream of raising with bottom pair let alone with Ace high. However with only approximately 3 people seeing each flop often times that is all it will take to win the hand. That is why aggression is so important. When you have a premium hand and have raised PF unless a very scary flop emerges it is almost always correct to proceed betting to the river until you have reason to believe you are beat.
There are three reasons for this:
- You don’t want to give anyone a free card to allow their Q9 to hit a 9 on the turn and beat your AK.
- When the flop is rags your opponents will not put you on a pair and you will be surprised how often they will call you down with King high and you don’t want to miss out on bets when they make this mistake.
- If you are consistent it will be hard for them to get a read on you and the next time when you are raising down to the river with QQ they will give you lots of action assuming you have nothing but ace high.
You should also realize that your opponents are likely playing a similar style. So it is important to play your middle pair hands aggressively. If player 1 has raised PF and follows up with a bet on the flop, you should be raising with your middle pair and even if he 3-bets, you should usually call down to the river until you are shown that this particular player will only raise with a made hand. In short handed games middle and lower pairs gain strength and need to be played accordingly.
Another issue that can be somewhat dismissed is the idea of being out kicked. This isn’t to say that it doesn’t happen, especially when aces are involved, but due to the smaller table it doesn’t happen nearly as often. Therefore, if you flop top pair you should be raising or even re raising, And unless you are up against an absolute rock you would NEVER want to fold top pair, even a hand like Q3 that pairs its queen for top pair should be calling down to the river unless you are getting multiple re raises. If you find that you are being out kicked on a regular basis by a certain player you need to tighten up your starting hands when faced by a raise from him.
One final issue to be wary of, when choosing a table, be sure it is truly a 6 Max table. If you find that nearly everyone is seeing the flop then you are basically at a full table. The starting hand chart and strategy on this site was written for tables where 5-6 people are seeing every flop, and if this is happening at a 6 Max table then your strategy should be more like playing against very loose players at a full table.
When you find yourself at this style of table it’s not a bad idea to find another, the suckouts are going to drive you insane, and this style of table isn’t really why you started playing 6 Max to being with. However if you decide to stay, keep in mind that on tables like this, aggressiveness is not going to get you as far. The players are not going to fold to your bets even when they have nothing, and are going to call to the river waiting for their 6 to pair up. You are going to be truly up against 5 random hands every time making it impossible to put them on any hand. In these situations you need to be extremely aggressive pre flop, raising as much as possible with your premium, and even mediocre hands, making them pay as much as possible to see the flops with their Q5o etc. This does NOT mean that you should loosen up on what hands you play!! When you do flop your top pair, again, you have to make them pay as much as possible to see the next card to try and suck out on you, but if you flop nothing you have to be prepared to drop it, as bluffing will get you nowhere against these players. It’s not necessarily a bad idea to play at tables such as this. They are definitely beatable and for people who prefer full tables over 6 Max, at the very least playing at loose tables like this will help you perfect your ability to read your opponents quicker and more accurately. Then once you feel comfortable with your ability to classify your opponents you can make the transition to a full table with ease.
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By Rob Smith
Introduction
In today’s online cash games, most poker sites offer three options for table size: Heads-up (2 seats), full ring (9 or 10 seats), and 6-max (6 seats). Over the last couple of years, the 6-max tables have become the most popular by a significant margin. There are a number of reasons for this:
- More hands per hour. As there are fewer players to make a preflop decision and usually less players to a flop, the game runs a lot quicker than when at a full table. While this may not improve winrate in terms of BB/100, it can make a big difference to your BB/hour winrate, purely because you’re playing more hands.
- More action. Similar to above, but not only are you playing more hands per hour, there’s more flexibility to play a larger percentage of preflop holdings. The beauty of 6-max is that there is no “correct” style. You can profit playing very tight and solid, or extremely loose and aggressive playing every other hand (If you are extremely skilled post flop!)
- Nowhere for weak players to hide. In a full ring game, there may be one or two very weak players at the table that you would like to play as many pots as possible with. Even if they are directly on your right, most of the time you can’t raise to isolate with weaker holdings due to there being too many players left to act with position on you. This isn’t usually the case in 6-max, and allows for many more profitable situations for strong players.
- Rapid improvement in skill level. You will generally be playing more post flop poker and contesting more pots than you would in full ring. This should allow you to gain experience at a much faster rate, and therefore improve quicker.
I used to play full ring almost exclusively, but one day I thought I’d try out 6-max for the reasons above. After a few fundamental adjustments to my play (and 10 buyins down later), I found myself winning in a more profitable and quite frankly, more entertaining game. If you are a full ring player who has always wondered about 6-max but you’re afraid of either “getting blinded away” or “playing too many marginal spots”, then this article is for you.
Variance
If there’s one reason I hear more than any other for not playing 6-max holdem, it’s that the variance is too high. Some people simply don’t want to endure the downswings associated with a higher variance game of poker. While it is true that your standard deviation per 100 hands will be higher in 6-max than full ring, this should not be a factor in whether you play the game or not. We are supposed to be playing for the long term! If you are adequately bankrolled, then you will do better playing in the game which earns you the most money per hour, regardless of the variance. Remember, variance doesn’t alter your mean winrate, just your spread of results around that winrate. This means above it too! Most players forget this. When you have a monster session and finish up 6 – 8 buyins, do you put it all down to playing well? Or are you aware enough to be able to say “In that session I ran way above my average winrate due to variance.”
Be Observant
With a maximum of only five opponents, you have the opportunity to pick up on, and exploit you opponents’ tendencies much more rapidly in a 6-max game. This is the core skill you need in order to make the best decisions and extract the most profit. You need to know if the player on your left will 3-bet you lightly preflop, or if the guy opposite you pushes top pair too hard. Who will fire 2 or 3 barrel bluffs, and who plays strictly fit or fold on the flop? All of your profit comes from exploiting your opponents’ mistakes, and you can only do that if you know what those mistakes are.
![Poker Poker](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126406001/719420099.jpg)
NEVER Open Limp Preflop
This is the only hard and fast rule I am going to give you in this article. While it’s possible to employ a profitable strategy involving preflop limping, it’s extremely difficult to balance and relies on expert post flop play. For the vast majority of players, it’s simply better to raise any pot you want to enter first. 3 or 4 times the big blind will do it. If you limp, not only will you be isolated out of position a lot, it will be more difficult to build big pots with your monsters. It also makes hand reading a nightmare, especially if you let the blinds in for free.
Throw out that Starting Hand Chart!
Choosing whether to enter the pot in 6-max is very much a function of the observations you have been making. For this reason, starting hand charts will only get you so far. For a start you DON’T have to play more hands than full ring. This is a very common misconception. You generally want to be playing, and raising with a lot of hands from the Button and the CO (Cutoff), but playing very tightly from UTG (Under the Gun) and MP (Middle Position). What these hands are depends on your opponents, and their positions at the table.
So let’s come up with a couple of examples to illustrate this. Here’s a 6-max table with a typical range of opponents. Assume 100BB effective stacks:
SB Tight Passive & predictable postflop
BB Loose Passive & Calling Station postflop
UTG Loose Aggressive
MP You
CO Tight Aggressive, passive on turn and river
BTN Semi-loose & Aggressive preflop, tricky/deceptive
BB Loose Passive & Calling Station postflop
UTG Loose Aggressive
MP You
CO Tight Aggressive, passive on turn and river
BTN Semi-loose & Aggressive preflop, tricky/deceptive
In the above example, if UTG folds, what range should you open with?
You have to stay fairy tight. You are in early position, and there’s a loose aggressive player on the button. I would open:
AA-22, AJs+, ATo+, KJs+, KQo, QJs, JTs
A fairly tight range of mainly premium hands.
Now keep the same players in the blinds, but put yourself on the button. What hands will you open with now if everyone folds to you? A typical range:
AA-22, A2s+, A2o+, K2s+, K7o+, Q6s+, Q8o+, J7s+, J9o+, T8o, 97o, any suited connector, any suited one-gapper, any unsuited connector.
Obviously this is a huge range of hands. In fact, a lot of players will open any two cards here! The reason is that the raise is often profitable in itself against two passive players in the blinds. Especially when combined with a c-bet on the flop (see the next section.) Hopefully you can see that how many hands you decide to play is down to your specific table, your style, and your postflop skill. Just remember that if you’re in any doubt, it’s best to play tight and solid. This still gets the money, even at 6-max.
C-Betting
C-betting is the bread and butter of 6-max holdem. If you raised preflop and get one or two callers, you will be betting most flops whether you hit or miss. These bets should be somewhere between ½ and full pot size. How to choose what size in this range depends on a number of things:
- Flop texture
- Number of opponents
- Opponents tendencies
- Balance
- Own hand strength
C-betting is a topic that requires an article in itself to cover properly, so I won’t attempt to reproduce that here. Just be aware that part of the reason you are raising so much preflop is to take the pot down often with a c-bet on the flop.
Wield Position (No, even more than that)
Most players know that position is to your advantage in NL Holdem, but they simply don’t use it as relentlessly as they should. When you have position, especially on the button, you should be raising a lot of pots. On a tight/weak table, it’s difficult to go too far with this. Raise any limped or unopened pot on the button with all but the trashiest of hands.
Position can be used to exploit different opponent types in various ways. If you have a weak TAG on your left who calls from the blinds too much but gives up too easily post flop, you can raise all sorts of hands from the button and cutoff. You can then apply pressure and 2 or 3 barrel him depending on the situation, making him lay down the vast majority of his range. If you are playing with a loose passive fish on your right, you can also isolate with a wide range. Unless he picks up a big hand, he’ll mostly be check/calling to the river, allowing you to choose where to value bet, and where to check behind. These are the sorts of situation where position gives you a huge advantage, so make sure most of your hands are played in position.
Manipulating Pot Size
I touched on this in the last section. In headsup pots, if you are in position, you always have the option of closing the betting for the current street. This is crucial to manipulating the pot size. It allows you to check behind against LAGs when you have a strong draw and are suspicious of a check raise, draw cheaply against passive players, or value bet calling stations when they check to you on every street. Don’t get caught out pushing top pair all the way to the river though (Unless you are playing a known fish). I know this is shorthanded, but against good, solid opponents, relative hand values won’t be that far from full ring when it gets to the turn and the river and big bets are going in.
Plan Yourself out of Trouble
The biggest decision in most NL hands is usually made on the flop. Mostly you’ll be in raised pots, hopefully in position (if you are isolating correctly!) and it’s at this point that you have to decide what your plan for the whole hand is. DON’T call the flop without a plan for the turn based on whether your opponent bets or checks, or a nasty card falls. DON’T bet if you haven’t thought about your plan if you face a check raise.
Often, I’ll plan the whole hand on the flop, regardless of what falls. Say I raise As Qd from the button and get called by a very bluffy LAG from the big blind. The flop comes
Ad 8h 3c
And the BB bets into me. Here, I’ll sometime decide to exploit his bluffing tendency on such a dry board by calling every street, and raising/value betting the river depending on how the board looks. The point is, I had a plan for future streets. Your plans can change, there’s nothing wrong with that. Just make sure you have some to start with.
Push Your Draws
Due to the aggressive nature of 6-max, you need to be pushing a bit harder postflop than you would do in full ring. Most people know this, but they go about it in completely the wrong way. Instead of pushing hands with an almost guaranteed decent amount of equity, they start value betting their top pair no kickers and middle pairs more, building pots that are far too big when they could be a huge underdog.
A much better approach is to semibluff your draws pretty relentlessly. This has 2 main advantages over pushing mediocre made hands:
- You have a solid amount of equity on the flop againt all but the very biggest of hands.
- You build a big pot if called, so if you do hit, it’s much easier to stack your opponent.
The second point is quite important as a lot of players forget to take this into consideration. If you play your draw passively, not only does it LOOK like a draw, cutting your implied odds, but when you hit, it is going to be difficult to get all the money in without help from your opponent.
So, as a default I always look to bet my flush and straight draws on the flop, and usually the turn too. The exception to this is against very aggro players where it’s often better to check and call, guaranteeing you another card with good implied odds, than betting and being raised off your draw. Also, combo draws should be played even harder than this as they usually have around 50% equity, and with fold equity added in they are hugely profitable. You should aim to get the last bet in (all in) on the flop with hands similar to these:
Live No Limit Holdem Strategy
![No limit poker free No limit poker free](/uploads/1/2/6/4/126406001/607022947.jpg)
- Open Ended straight draw + Flush Draw
- Top Pair + Flush Draw
- Middle pair + Gutshot + Flush Draw
- Nut flush Draw + 2 Overcards.
All these types of hands have a lot of equity with 2 cards to come, and need to be played as fast as possible.
Be Aggressive
If there’s one thing you need to take out of this article, it’s to be aggressive. There are countless profitable styles you can employ at this game, but virtually every single one will centre on being aggressive. Don’t be afraid to use your chips as a weapon, and force your opponents into difficult decisions. Remember, you only profit when your opponents make mistakes. Give them a chance to do just that.
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