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peterbirksBetfred came up with a bonus scheme thhat was too good to resist and so, for a week, it looks as if I will be playing a lot of 50c-$1 6-max.
It's enormously different from full ring, but if I had to put it in one phrase, it would be "no-one believes you". If you continuation bet at full ring, nothing less than top pair is likely to call. If you CB at 6-max, bottom pair or better will call. You will never, ever, get an overpair to fold. Usually they will push. I even stacked a guy off when he had top pair top kicker (AJ). I can't remember when that last happened at full ring.
In a way, this makes things much simpler, because you shift your attitude from "what does he think I have" to "what do I have"? In other words, it's much more a matter of betting your hand, rather than betting what your opponent thinks is your hand. Forget about "creating believable narratives". If you've got it, you play it. If you haven't got it, the default belief is that opponent will call if he has anything.
Of course, part of this might be because I am playing at lower stakes, so the skill level will be slightly less, but the rest of it is merely a function of the fact that you are posting blinds more often. You can't afford to believe opponents as much as you do in full ring, because, if you do, you will be blinded into oblivion. So, you have to play thinner values, which means that opponents also have to play thinner values.
Logically, there should be very little difference between a CO vs BB situation in 9-handed or 6-handed (there's a minor factor of the earlier folds in full ring slightly strengthening the average hand in the BB and CO, but this is much more marginal than people seem to think). But you will see far thinner-value play in 6-max than you will in full ring. And, to be honest, the skill level seems to be higher in the full ring games (although this too might be a matter of the different stake levels).
Lot of volatility, obv, although it's nice to get paid off when you have a hand (at full ring, you get used to playing whole sessions where you never get paid off at all). Once again, paradoxically, this makes tricky play and stealing less important, because you will be playing a far higher proportion of "big" pots, and that means that your decisions there becomke proportionally more significant. Solid ABC play seems to be quite good enough at the $100 BI 6-max on IPoker, whereas the ABC players at $200 BI on FR Stars just get eaten alive.
So why not play the 6-max game? Well, because a lot of people can play ABC poker. Not as many can play the tricky stuff needed at $200 BI full ring. It's kind of "a waste of a talent". That tricky stuff would become a necessary ability at the higher level 6-max games, but then you would be looking at a massive hike in volatility as well.
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It's enormously different from full ring, but if I had to put it in one phrase, it would be "no-one believes you". If you continuation bet at full ring, nothing less than top pair is likely to call. If you CB at 6-max, bottom pair or better will call. You will never, ever, get an overpair to fold. Usually they will push. I even stacked a guy off when he had top pair top kicker (AJ). I can't remember when that last happened at full ring.
In a way, this makes things much simpler, because you shift your attitude from "what does he think I have" to "what do I have"? In other words, it's much more a matter of betting your hand, rather than betting what your opponent thinks is your hand. Forget about "creating believable narratives". If you've got it, you play it. If you haven't got it, the default belief is that opponent will call if he has anything.
Of course, part of this might be because I am playing at lower stakes, so the skill level will be slightly less, but the rest of it is merely a function of the fact that you are posting blinds more often. You can't afford to believe opponents as much as you do in full ring, because, if you do, you will be blinded into oblivion. So, you have to play thinner values, which means that opponents also have to play thinner values.
Logically, there should be very little difference between a CO vs BB situation in 9-handed or 6-handed (there's a minor factor of the earlier folds in full ring slightly strengthening the average hand in the BB and CO, but this is much more marginal than people seem to think). But you will see far thinner-value play in 6-max than you will in full ring. And, to be honest, the skill level seems to be higher in the full ring games (although this too might be a matter of the different stake levels).
Lot of volatility, obv, although it's nice to get paid off when you have a hand (at full ring, you get used to playing whole sessions where you never get paid off at all). Once again, paradoxically, this makes tricky play and stealing less important, because you will be playing a far higher proportion of "big" pots, and that means that your decisions there becomke proportionally more significant. Solid ABC play seems to be quite good enough at the $100 BI 6-max on IPoker, whereas the ABC players at $200 BI on FR Stars just get eaten alive.
So why not play the 6-max game? Well, because a lot of people can play ABC poker. Not as many can play the tricky stuff needed at $200 BI full ring. It's kind of "a waste of a talent". That tricky stuff would become a necessary ability at the higher level 6-max games, but then you would be looking at a massive hike in volatility as well.
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6-max
Date: 2010-03-03 11:35 pm (UTC)I'm surprised you find 6-max easier than full ring especially since it's not your regular game. For some reason although I used to play 6-max limit regularly, and the fact that I'm quite happy playing 6-max PLO, I've never felt comfortable playing NL short handed.
The reference to wasting talent is interesting - maybe the fact it seems easy (or ABC) to you is actually just because you have a talent for it? The way I'd have assumed you'd think about it is 'where can I make the most money?'. I think that 6-max winrates are higher, and as expect BBD would say, the game is also more scalable. Assuming you're level headed and well-rolled the increase in volatility works in your favour, at least in theory.
Mattito.
Re: 6-max
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