6 Max Ring

I read somewhere, I forget where, that as players improve (in stakes and skill) they tend to migrate to 6 max from full ring. It seems that it could be that way from taking a quick glance at PS. Is this actually true? If it is, there must be a good reason, so should I just start trying to play 6 max now while I'm still a beginner?

if you are still a beginner i would either drop down a level and try 6 max or grind it out more at fr

i play fr but i keep adding tables, so i always have action on at least one table
i think this is alot of reason that people play 6 max

In 6 max you have to loosen up and play more hands, this is an advantage to the good players and they can exploit worse players weaknesses easier and make more money. It requires better post flop skills because you will be playing more marginal hands than you will in FR.

This. If you play full ring, you could probably stick to playing just Sklansky group 1 & 2 hands and still make profit. Those hands are usually pretty easy to play. 6-max, the blinds hit you more often, and you're in position more often, so playing a weaker range of hands can be profitable.

To answer your question more directly, no, you should stick to full ring if that's what you like. Full ring has less variance (your up & down swings will be smaller, and you'll have a gradual increase in money). Additionally, you can usually play more hands per hour playing full ring, since its easier to multi-table. So unless you really want to learn to play 6-max, I'd stick with what you're comfortable with.

Here in South Africa the most popular online tables are 6 max. It adds a whole new element to the game, with good players showing alot of aggression while in position. You can raise it up on the button with a wider range than 10max, and I don't know if this is conecidental but I find my c-bets are folded to alot more. Probably because players call lighter on 6 max

6max is great for so many reasons.

1) More hands per hour

This instantly improves your $/hour, even if your BB/100 stays constant, which is always nice.

2) Get to isolate weak players more often

In FR games, it's more difficult to get to get to heads up flops just due to the law of large numbers. There's a greater chance another player has a hand to take a flop with you, or just decides that they want to.

3) Get to own the button

In FR, you have to have 6 people fold consecutively to get able to really steal the crap out of the button. Again, by playing with a smaller field, now only 3 people are ahead of me on my button, so once they fold I get to open with ~55% of my hands, more if I've table selected properly and have passive blind defenders on my left.

Overall, you just get into profitable situations more often, and get to exploit those situations more as well. Combine this with getting dealt 70+ hands per hour instead of 50+ at FR, and it's tasty

*Edit*

C9 has a solid point about hands per hour. If you get to the point where your decisions are automatic, esp at tiny micros like $5 or $10nl, then you can get a lot of hands per hour at FR. If I'm playing FR at $10nl, I'm 16 tabling, while at 6max, 6 is the most I'm comfortable with. Any more than that and I'm not making solid reads, etc. and I'm more focused on improving my game and stepping up the levels.

16 tables was getting me around 830 hands per hour, and 6 6max tables gets me 403

6 Max can be a huge drain on your bankroll if you do not adjust your game to play it. You need to loosen up your starting hands, fold less on the flop and be prepared to show down with A high in some cases. I would not recommend 6 max to someone starting out unless you have specifically prepard for that. If you are new to poker, learn a tight strategy, then a tight agressive strategy, and the when you are comfortable with your game, start experimenting with different table conditions like 6 max. Build a good foundation and go from there.

yes I agree with Bolt. When I started out at 6max I just played my nitty beginner style and tried to only play premium hands. This lead to me bleeding alot of chips away to blinds, and I was easily exploited!