O8 micro starting hands - short handed

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genleemb

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I'm looking for input on staring hands in these type of micro cash games. Say I just sit down at a 02/04 6 max game and all I know is 58% are seeing flops and the average pot is $1. That's not crazy loose or crazy tight for these games.

What type of hands should I add in addition to what I would play in a full ring. Full ring I'm nearly always seeing flops with A2xx and AAxx. A3xx 23xx KKxx I will likely play when xx is reasonable and my position is ok. Hi or low wraps I'll play, middle wraps I'll dump. That's just a general full ring guideline and I know "it depends" comes into play.

So the questions ... are hands like any 3 wheel or any three broadways now become playable/profitable? Something like 245J or KQT6. TT66 is pretty bad UTG full ring, now is this hand pretty good on a 6 max table? 369Qds play it or drop it UTG+1?

Looking more for general guildlines then answers to ^^^ those specific questions.
 
c9h13no3

c9h13no3

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Its the same game...

You should be looser on the button than UTG in a full ring game, and you should be on the button a higher percentage of your hands when you're playing 6-max. But you should pretty much be playing the same ranges (maybe a little tighter for 6-max, since you'll get away with stealing less).

Lots of KKxx hands are trash, depending on the XX. And just dump the low wraps, that's just a good way to make the second nuts.

And on the button, you can pretty much just play cards. Hands after the dominant top 10-20% just get really close in value. So just play something like the top 75% with nits in the blinds.
 
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genleemb

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Thanks for replying C9,

I'm a little taken back by the very first line of your reply. "Its the same game". Maybe I'm reading to much in that. I think overall in any style of poker the less people playing the looser the starting hands should be. Not saying maniac loose, just looser.

As far as playing top 10% or top 25% that is closer to what I'm ideally looking for. I mean finding a top 10% chart for NLH is real easy to find. Finding a top 10% chart for O8 is more difficult for many reasons. Primary reason I suspect is there are soooo many hands possible in O8.

Have you seen such a chart? Or anybody else seen something like this? Charts for top (premium) hands I have seen. Where a hand like A45Q ranks is a mystery to me. That is plenty strong enough for a button steal, no doubt. UTG I'm not so sure.
 
c9h13no3

c9h13no3

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I'm a little taken back by the very first line of your reply. "Its the same game". Maybe I'm reading to much in that. I think overall in any style of poker the less people playing the looser the starting hands should be. Not saying maniac loose, just looser.
No. In a 4-max game and a 9-max game, your hand range should be the same in the same positions. In fact, in a 4-max game, your opponents are probably more LAGgy and more willing to fight back against your steals. So you should maybe even play tighter at a 4-max table.

So for a 4-max table on the button, we'd raise 40% of hands. For a 9-max table on the button, we'd raise 40% of hands. Its just that we're on the button 1 out of 4 times at the 4-max table, and 1 out of 9 times playing full ring.

As far as playing top 10% or top 25% that is closer to what I'm ideally looking for. I mean finding a top 10% chart for NLH is real easy to find. Finding a top 10% chart for O8 is more difficult for many reasons. Primary reason I suspect is there are soooo many hands possible in O8.
Yeah, you're not going to find such a chart. If you've read Ray Zee's book on LO8, that probably gives you a good place to start.

Also, since you're talking about general preflop hand selection, lets just go through why you play hands preflop in the first place:

Hands run very close in value, preflop. Like, crazy close. Having an A2 only makes you a 55:45 favorite over a random hand. The reason you play hands like A2 preflop is because it easily makes a dominating draw (this usually means a draw to the nuts).

You want to make draws postflop that dominate the draws/hands postflop that dominate your opponent's. So I'd rather have a hand like QJT8 than 7654, even though 7654 is a preflop favorite. Sure, the low potential in 6543 has *some* value, but its offset by the fact that when it makes two pair/a full house/straights its usually second best.
 
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