Online Poker Com

Posts Tagged ‘tight game’

If this happens in your usual game, and you're playing against your usual opponents, then those hands before the game breaks up provide an excellent opportunity for you to practice your short-handed skills, particularly if you feel that the other players' short-handed game is not much better than yours, and especially if you think that they don't even know of the differences between a full and a short-handed game. Do what you can to keep the game from breaking up so you can take advantage of this chance.

Here's a list of points to keep in mind if you find yourself in a short-handed game:
1. Players whose usual style of play is loose and aggressive will unknowingly be playing a good game when it's short-handed. Short-handed play is characterized by continuous, unrelenting betting and raising, so players who already play that way will have a leg up on the game.

2. You should change your playing style from tight-aggressive to mostly loose-aggressive. If you play your usual tight game, the blinds will eat you up, and you'll be folding before the flop too often.

3. Big cards are worth more. AK, KJ, and OJs will win without much improvement against three players more often than they will against nine players.

4. Because big hands win more easily, you can raise preflop with many more hands than you would in a full game. If you have a good handle on the other aspects of a short-handed game, you can usually raise preflop any time both of your cards are an 8 or above.
5. Because there's a lot of preflop raising when it's short-handed, you should always raise before the flop when you hold AA, KK, QQ, AKs, and other big cards. Since players expect that you'll raise anyway, the raise actually helps disguise your strength.

6. Forget that your cards are suited, if they are. It doesn't take a flush to win every time. In fact, you don't have to try to make flushes or straights, because two high cards will often be enough to win. Usually, you won't be getting the correct odds to draw to a flush or straight, but that's no problem, since you're really betting on just the high rank value of your cards.

7. Because most pots will be raised before the flop, small pairs and suited connectors go way down in value. It costs a lot of money to call a raise with 7^64, flop a draw, and pay to draw, only to miss the draw or make a pair of 6s on the river. Think ahead.

• Poker – Short Handed Games Part3 (0)
• Reading Poker Hands Part3 (0)
• Reading Poker Hands Part2 (0)