Exclusive Netbettor Texas Hold'em Article:

Playing the online ‘six max' Texas hold em tables is faster, more exciting, and ultimately more profitable than playing in a full ring game. Yet for whatever reason many players shy away from these games—either because they tend to be more volatile or because they're unsure what kind of adjustments they should make in their game. Due to the volume of information that we're going to cover here we've decided to break this up into another serialized article, with one article exploring the play before the flop, one (or maybe two) discussing play on the flop, and so on. This week we'll look at some general pre-flop guidelines, as well as some basic concepts that everyone who aspires to beat the shorthanded Texas hold em games must understand.

First, some general thoughts:

•  Shorthanded play is about frequently exploiting small edges, as opposed to occasionally exploiting huge edges.

This may be the single reason why many players dodge the short handed games. In a full game you can more or less wait for a premium hand, or wait to flop a set, then pour chips into the middle and expect to come out ahead in the long run. It isn't the most profitable way to play a full ring game, but it will beat the rake, and your variance will be fairly low (especially when compared to other forms of advantage gambling, such as sports betting, blackjack, etc.). In a short handed Texas hold ‘em game you just don't have this luxury. You must get in there and gamble. This means frequently value betting second pair on the turn and river, or three betting (or even capping) with top pair no kicker on the flop. You are looking for smaller edges, but you are looking to exploit those smaller edges repeatedly. Whereas a full ring game player is looking to hit the occasional three run homer, a short handed player is looking to produce a steady stream of singles.

•  Short handed play still requires prudent hand selection.

Bad players love short handed games, since they think these games ‘allow' them to throw all starting hand requirements to the winds and just get in there and gamboool. If you've played a significant amount of shorthanded Texas hold em you've seen guys flip over some hands—like T3o, Q4o, 83s, etc.—that they wouldn't think of playing in a full game. There is a huge misperception out there that shorthanded play requires superior post flop skills at the expense of solid pre-flop skills. This is just flat out wrong. If you still can't pick a decent starting hand you're destined to lose at short handed Texas hold ‘em.

An old pro—I believe it was Bobby Baldwin—once said that shorthanded poker doesn't require you to play more hands, but it requires that you play the hands you do decide to play more aggressively. This sums up my experience with short handed Texas hold ‘em, and it's a good rule to start with. If you get mixed up in a heads-up or three handed game then yes, you're going to playing some fairly ratty looking hands. But in a straight six max game you aren't going to playing a ton more hands. You're just going to be doing a lot more pre-flop raising and three betting.

Now, pre-flop strategy:

•  Never open-limp.

This is a little bit of an exaggeration. If the game is just stupid loose then it might be right to just call (given that nobody has raised) from early position with a hand like A8 suited, or 55, and try and get six way action before the flop. But as a rule you want to be either folding or raising pre-flop if the action is on you and nobody has yet entered the pot. From the first two positions you should be raising with AA-77, AK offsuit-AT offsuit, KQ offsuit, KQ suited, AK-A9 suited, and QJ suited. Everything else should probably be pitched. As your position improves you can add more hands, and on the button you can add Ax (suited or otherwise), and pocket pairs and K9.

A huge portion of your profit in shorthanded Texas hold em comes from playing heads up with either one or both of the blinds when you have a superior position and a superior starting hand. If you have those two things working for you—a better hand and better position—you just cannot help but make money so long as your post-flop game isn't significantly worse than your opponents. If you play about the same as your opponents after the flop your edge is substantial. If you play better then you basically have a license to print money.

Given this, it's important to realize that how much you decide to expand the range of hands you're raising with is largely dependant on how loose the players are to your left. If you have a guy (or worse yet, two or three) who are simply committed to playing every hand they're dealt, for a raise or otherwise, then you can afford to tighten up considerably in the earlier and middle positions. You do not want to take pocket 4's, or A6 suited, to the flop against three players who have all cold called a raise.

•  Do not call a button raise from the small blind.

This is a definite no-no. If you have a playable hand from the small blind and the button raises you cannot just call and give the big blind 5:1 on a pre-flop call. If the button's raising requirements aren't too stringent (and they probably aren't, as many players try to steal the blinds with nothing when they're on the button) the big blind will be correct to call, AND his call is far more likely to hurt you then it is the button. Consider a typical scenario: You have AJo in the small blind, and the button raises with T7s. If you call you just call the big blind is correct to call with all kinds of hands. Further, while the button doesn't mind that call (since he's currently behind and his blind steal was unsuccessful) you DO mind it, since if the big blind pairs is hand his taking your pot away from you. If the flop comes Q53, for instance, and the big blind has 65s, a pot that should have been your is now in all likelihood going to be pushed to the big blind.

If you're going to play against a button raise from the small blind you must three-bet and try to isolate the button. From there the hand can play out in a number of different ways, although hopefully it will end with you either taking down the pot on the flop or the turn with a bet. Hands like AJ play very well against a lone button raise, but they play much worse against three players—two of whom have position on you. For one, it's much more likely that you'll need to improve to win, and second you'll have a much harder time figuring out where you are in the hand if all you flop is ‘air' since both opponents will have better position.

•  Never limp from the small blind if it's been folded around.

If everyone has folded to you, and you're in the small blind, you should raise or fold. This is actually an extention of point ‘1', where we recommend ‘pumping or dumping' if nobody else has yet entered the pot. Rest assured this applies to the blinds as well. If you raise the big blind only needs to fold 50% of the time for your raise to break even. Figure in the number of times that you'll improve on the flop after being called and you can see that you probably only need to have the big blind fold around 30% of the time for raising to be a profitable play. This also keeps you out of the nasty position of calling and then having to call a raise from the big blind. If you have and kind of playable hand—and this includes hands like 86 suited, or Q5 suited —you need to raise from the small blind.

The general idea pre-flop is this: Keep playing tight, but increase your aggressiveness quotient. You'll know you're playing correctly if people keep making remarks in the chat box about how they're getting ‘sick of your aggro bullshit', or if they keep reminding you that ‘calling is an option also' (remarks that I probably hear about 4-8 times a week). Keep the heat on, and don't be afraid to kick it up a gear when you think you can steal or you think you have the best hand currently.

Check back next week for Part II of this series.

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