Short-handed

I love playing short-handed. I'll play three tables short-handed because four is too many to handle. The action is a lot faster, you are playing a lot more hands, and the decisions are much less automatic than when you are playing at a full table. Inevitably, I’ll win quite a bit on two of the tables, and lose on the other. The loss is usually due to the fact that someone calls down a bluff or two, and then they just keep hanging in there with a small pair and call me down. That’s trouble since the key to short-handed hold’em is aggressiveness.

I played three 6-player max tables of $1-$2 limit hold’em the other night for about an hour, buying in for $50 on each. On Table A, I lost about $40. At Table B, there were several players seated, but they were usually out of the game, which was almost always heads up. The guy I was playing would fold more than 50% of the time if I raised preflop! This is a heads-up dream! He clearly had full-table standards for the hands that we could play, so I raised almost every single time. If he called, then I would play cautiously depending on the flop. He actually started playing smarter in the short time that we played together. I won about $30 at that table.

Table C was the best. A player called down my bluff with middle pair, then the deck starting hitting me hard. Players were calling down my monster hands with crap. I kept saying “man I’m lucky” and showing fabulous cards when there was no showdown. On one hand, I had KK and the flop came AKK. It was checked to me and I checked. My opponent then immediately bet the turn and I raised. He called, and called my river bet too, with a medium pair. My “luck” allowed me to steal a pot a few hands later. I had T4s and limped in. The flop came AKQ. I had an inside straight draw. Checked to me, I checked. The turn was a deuce. My opponent bet, and I suspected that they had a K or Q. I called. The river was another deuce. No flush was possible. My opponent bet, and I raised. He hesitated a long time, chatted “3 2s?”, and folded. I typed “sorry” as if to apologize for getting lucky. He typed “haha”. It was awesome, we had a nice camaraderie going, with everyone in awe about how lucky I was. Shortly after that, with a different opponent (I forget the cards, but they are irrelevant), the flop was checked around and I bet the turn with nothing, no pair, no draw. My opponent raised, and I bluff re-raised him, which I can honestly say I’ve done about three times in my entire life. And he folded. Man, that felt awesome! I won $70 with a $50 buy-in in less than an hour. Yes, I did get lucky, but I felt that I played it well too.

I really like having three or four people at the table. This is nice because you don’t feel obligated to play or raise every single hand, like when it’s heads up, so you can actually limp or fold preflop with your poor hands.

An interesting phenomena has occurred on PartyPoker in the last year – the players have improved quite a bit. There are still plenty of fish, but many of the players have improved. They know that they should bluff when three suited cards flop, and if you ever check and they are the last player, they almost always bet. But I’ve been able to use that to my advantage to call down with mediocre hands when they can’t stop firing in bets, thinking they will win with their bluff. And you can use it with big hands too, letting them bet it for you, then raising on the turn or river. Of course, the good players have used this very strategy against me, and then I need to adjust.

- schneid