Shorthanded Holdem

From Online-Poker-Insider.com:

Prior to the era of online poker shorthanded games were worthy of relatively minor analysis at best, simply because they were the exception. At your local card room a shorthanded game occurs by accident when several players leave the table at once, and it is usually temporary. In online poker six-handed limit hold'em games are very common, and some poker rooms are well known for the huge number of shorthanded games that they offer.

If you are a good poker player then it is logical that shorthanded games should provide you with a greater level of expected value than a full table game. Your profit increases for two basic reasons: One, you see more hands per hour, which allows you more opportunities to play well. Two, mistakes in shorthanded games are more serious (in terms of drawing to the wrong pot odds) than they are in a full game. For example: If some idiot is drawing to a gut-shot draw at a full table and enough players remain in the pot and bet it up, there is a good chance that he will get the necessary pot odds to justify that slim draw. In shorthanded games, however, where it is typical to see only three or two players taking the pot it is hardly ever justified to draw to those hands. Yet bad players have no understanding of pot odds and most of them will not alter their style of play when they face fewer opponents.

The majority of online shorthanded games present good players with profitable situations. Players have a dim understanding that they are meant to loosen up their game - fewer opponents mean that the value of a middling starting hand like KQ must be increased and played more regularly, and more aggressively. Unfortunately, most players use this reasoning to justify outrageously poor play, hanging around with bottom pair and very optimistic draws. It is easier to isolate players post-flop in a shorthanded game, as opposed to a full table of Limit Hold'em players, and once players are isolated a good player should be able to outplay them safe in the knowledge that there is no one waiting in the wings to ambush everyone.

If you intend to play shorthanded Limit Hold'em games you have to make some key alterations to your basic game. Suited connectors become far less valuable, because their real strength is in multi-way pots with lots of action. Most shorthanded games feature three or two players only taking the flop, and heavy betting action before the flop is not standard. Hands that can get you into trouble in a full game, such as KQ, AJ, AT, and Ax suited now have to be played and played aggressively.

Limping in with a huge hand is not recommended in this format of Hold'em. This is the type of game where raising with mediocre holdings is expected, and so raising with big pairs has to be the right play every time. The reason is that your opponents are less likely to put you on a big hand and will pay you off throughout the hand. If a big pair holds up it is far easier to extract maximum value in a shorthanded game than it is at a full ring game. Cold calling raises is also frowned upon by the experts when facing a thinned-out table. Selective aggression is rewarded with more frequency at these tables, and passive play is punished. If your pre-flop strategy is sound, and a little tighter than the rest of the table, your constant aggression when you are in a hand should lead to profits regardless of how the community cards treat you. A number of shorthanded players like to stick around until the turn when they commit to a hand, but once the bets double it is possible to bully them out of pots.