What hands to play - 6 players, live

I play a weekly live game with 5-6 buddies and we have a good time of it. Their skills in poker vary, but at least a few are very good and everyone is capable.

Our game is probably average tightness for a live game (very tight compared to say an online sit 'n' go), with lots of limping when the blinds are low but very few showdowns after they go up a couple of times.

My post-flop play is generally pretty competent, though we have some good bluffers which complicates matters.

My question is: if you're playing in a 6-player game in this kind of environment, how would you play pre-flop? What cards would you play? I like to play fairly tight, throwing in some mid-level hands once in awhile just to keep them guessing.

There is a lot of strategy in the game; ie, some players will deliberately punish limpers, etc. So position matters a lot.

Treat the game as it was 10-handed, and the first 4 players folded. And then play the hands the same way you would've played them in that scenario. I don't think you'll find a shorthanded startinghands guide anywhere, so that's the best advice I can give you.

Interesting methodology. I've always tried to somehow scale my 10-person strategy to a smaller table, but it's right around 5-6 people that I have trouble. Smaller than that and there's more nuance, bigger than that and you can basically use the 10-player strategy.

I may try that.

Well it depends, if you have a good read on your poker mates, you could play anything up to 27o. Its all a psicological warfare, remember they are going to miss the flop a lot , around 64% , just like you . If you dont want to go to this extreme i would play the following .

Any A suited , you can limp with
AA
KK
QQ
1010
JJ
99
88
77
66
55
44
33
22
AK
AQ
A10
AJ
A9
KJ
KQ
K10
Q10
QJ
Q9
23
J10
J8
34
56
45
78
67
89
910
J9
47
68
45
79

If they are suited its even better, and if you have position is just lovely.
These hands all have potential, especially the gappers who can flop open ended draws and bully buster with are very hard to read, and if it is suited, those flushed might pay a lot unless your opponents are so strong as to not give implied odds . You need to play a little bit losser in these games, but not make it so obvious . A lot of people will disagre with my hand selection , but you need to be very aggressive, especially once the blinds raise. Remember your opponents will miss a lot, so that middle pair and low pair sometimes are the current nuts . If its heads up and your opponent checks, you should bet almost 2-3 ( two out of 3 ) and take the pot right there . If you want ,you can always always bet half the pot, when your bluffing or value betting, that way your bets wont give a tell away, or maybe 60% of the pot. This way there is no one correctly chasing and if they hit, it was mathematically incorrect .

Ok this has really answered your question. If you get punished for limping dont do it Really the way to play a game like this is to be the aggressor, only limp with hands that warrent a re-raise and raise everything else.

Ive been asked the question many the time in my regular game, how the hell could you raise with that ? Well the answer depends on position, table image, blind sizes and chip stack sizes.

Ok early on, limping is fine, if the BB is a small proportion of your stack then its a fine stragegy, easy to throw away to a raise. Now in the middle to late stages, raise if your going to enter a flop, now you ask why ?

Well being the pre-flop raiser means that your opponent HAS to hit the flop, and usually if you continuation bet after the turn and are playing against tight players then not alone do they have to hit the flop, but hit it HARD. Routinly raise your button one these games, raise from the BB if the SB completes, play an aggressive game. You may bust more, but youll also win more, and if you get to a position where you have the tables massive stack, use it.

Thanks guys, this is some great food for thought.

Over time I have naturally developed a fairly nuanced strategy that's a combination of what tenbob and sexyacejoker speak of: carefully consider the situation, but ultimately go in with potentially almost any cards depending on said situation, and then just play well after the flop.