Something’s happened to me in the past week; I’ve fallen in love. Specifically, I’ve fallen in love with the 6-handed $2/$4 tables at FullTilt. The $1/$2 and $2/$4 full ring games are pretty tight (weak/tight bonus chasers who grind out the points playing only premium hands). These tables are still profitable, because although people usually play strong hands, they don’t manage to hit me where it hurts when they have me beat - they fail to punish me properly. Also, they fold a little bit too often - an unusual mistake at low limits, but common if you’re playing only for the bonus, I guess.

But not so at the 6-max tables. Oh no. Here be the action junkies. At least 3 of the 6 at the table usually play more than half their hands (”any ace, any king, any pair, anything suited and anything connected” or so). Some play 80% of their hands. Because of the fast action, the swings are pretty wild, but the profits are wilder. I can easily drop $100 in the scope of 5 minutes, but I can just as easily be up $120 after five minutes of playing.

A lot of the people playing at these tables must have read somewhere that winning at shorthanded play is all about aggression, so they raise with junk, re-raise with junk and call down with junk. For this reason, bluffing with your missed draw is not to recommend. For this reason, betting with your second pair, no kicker, is a must. You’ll be surprised how often you win the showdowns with hands that you might not even have considered calling a single bet with on the river in a full game.

A reason for this may also be that a common mantra when it comes to shorthanded play is “ace-high has showdown value.” Yes, it does, it’s right. Heads-up, it’s common that both players will miss the table, and therefore the person with the highest kicker takes the pot. But a lot of players at my tables think that ace-high has showdown value regardless of bets and raises throughout the hand, and seemingly regardless of a hand being five-handed to the flop.

Another common hand to be called with on the river is bottom pair - like, say, 92s decides to call two bets cold preflop (because it’s suited - clearly a fold is out of the question - I kid, of course), and they spike a pair on the KQ2 flop. You bet, they will call, and they will call your bet on the turn and they will call your bet on the river. Lesson? Don’t bet ace-high on the river. But never fail to bet your pair of queens.

A word of warning - if you intend to play shorthanded tables, do so properly bankrolled. The swings are huge, and can break you if you can’t handle them. 300 BB should be enough, but I would still tread carefully if you’re not very skilled. If you play limit full ring at this time and want to try shorthanded, step down one notch in limits for the shorthanded games. This can be a problem on specifically FullTilt since they seemingly only offer 6-max tables starting at $2/$4.

I leave you with two pieces of practical tips when it comes to how to play:
1) Play like you would at a full table, in regards to starting hands, but as if the first four people after the big blind folded. You should open up your starting requirements only as much as you would at a late position at a full table (which, if you play well, is considerable, but doesn’t let you to play J6o).
2) Raise preflop for value. AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, etc. are all strong hands, and will likely beat what your opponents are holding. You will often miss the flop, but they will miss it just as often. You don’t want cheap flops, because you will play better hands than your opponents - therefore you need to punish their loose tendencies. You can’t make them fold, but you can make them loose the maximum - and that way you will win the maximum.

Good luck.

/FP