Winner in sits 9-10, loser in 6 max

Question for those who know more than me (surely most of you): why am I a winner in sit and go 9 or 10 max but in short handed I can't overcome microlimits, being rather a loser (even in double or nothing)? As always I will apologize for my rustic English

As a DoN player I believe that 8-10max game favors passive players who play less hands. However at 6max games blinds come faster to you which means that if you stay passive you will lose a big part of your stack before realizing it.
6max need a slight change of strategy.
In 6max DoN games I try to open my range a little and steal the blinds more often.
In 10max I might dont even play a single hand in the first 2 levels and still have a healthy stack.

How many have you played? Unless its a very large number, it could simply be variance.

Cash games are far tougher, is likely why.

Yes, it is in connection with your range. When only 6 player there, you should be more agressive. Cards like 5,6 in colour can do a mini-raise or a call, cause your chances are bigger than the 8-10 max. People are willing to play more hands, and you cannot be so shy, cause they will bluff more. Here the notes are more important, cause you'll have more imformation from everyone.

Fundiver is right; the first thing to consider is that it's just bad luck rather than something you're doing. For example, if you've played 300 games at 6-max SNG and are losing with a -3% ROI, that could definitely just be runbad at short-handed tables.

The most important thing strategy-wise is not playing too tight in the late positions. This is a leak that you can have and still win playing 9-man. But at 6-max you have the button 1/6 of the time instead of 1/9, and the same with CO, blinds, etc. So any leak pertaining to tightness will get magnified and it's vital to open up your game from these positions.

For every player not at the table you have to widen your range a bit, in 6 max you need to see a lot of flops, especially early when blinds are low. Every time a player goes out you should be calling a little more. With cards and position being considered of course. Watch out for steals at these small tables too on 9 max you will have more people in on flop so players assume 1 of the 3 or 4 still in probably have it. 6 max only 1 or 2 opponents seeing flop less likely one of them has it and easier to steal. If someone keeps betting over the top of you just know they don't have it half the time. It's up to you to figure out witch half...Good Luck!

Thank you all for your answers, opinions and advice. It is true that the sampling that I have in short handed is not yet large and may be variance but I will take into account your ideas to open up my game a little more, which is really quite conservative. Again, thank you very much to everyone.

If your always losing in 6 handed tourneys that's because more hands become playable and you'll have people who are masters of 6 handed play. I personally like 6 handed more than a full table of 9.

Warrior1961 said:

Thank you all for your answers, opinions and advice. It is true that the sampling that I have in short handed is not yet large and may be variance but I will take into account your ideas to open up my game a little more, which is really quite conservative. Again, thank you very much to everyone.

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Its not like, your opening range from CO or BTN should be any different, just because there are more players at the table. However any flaws in your CO or BTN strategy will be magnified at 6-max, because you are om these positions more often, than you are at full ring, and the chance it folds around to you is also larger. So if for instance you are not comfortable to open a hand like Q9s from CO, this will be more of a problem at 6-max, because it happen relatively more often.

I am not mainly a SnG player, but based on my most recent experience on 888 Poker, I would say, that the 6-max SnGs are probably a little bit softer on average. The last two, I played, had 4-5 huge fish on them, which you typically dont see at the 9-handed tables. Besides all SnGs end up being shorthanded, so as a SnG player you definitely need to master short-handed play.

Thanks a lot for your answers. Obviously I must study and work hard to improve my game. Best regards.

Putting in the time to study is always good. Also study your players at the table or just even watch a game go down and study it and the players

Main reason in my opinion is that you have to play a bit more agressive in 6 man and play wider range than in 9 man

I play more marginal hands at short hand tables. 8-9 off, baby pairs, hands I would usually fold. I also defend my blinds much more in short hand tables