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In the Money - Chapter Ten
From In The Money: Strategies for Winning Texas Hold'em Cash Games
by Antonio "the Magician" Esfandiari
Chapter Ten - Shorthanded Strategy
Shorthanded games generally have three to five players. With more than six players, you are getting close to a full table. With less than three, you are heads-up, which is the discussion of the next chapter.
When would you play shorthanded? If there is a lull at the casino at an off time like early morning or dinnertime, games will often be shorthanded.(However, with the ever-increasing popularity of poker, the lulls in cardrooms are becoming fewer and farther between.) Many online sites offer shorthanded games in which a maximum of only five or six players are allowed at a table. Many players like these tables, as they provide a faster-paced game. With fewer players, not only will you be involved in more hands, but the hands will also go quicker.
Even if you prefer to play full-table games, I would suggest that you get some shorthanded table experience. You never know when you will find yourself in a shorthanded game. The juicy game you are playing may lose a few players at an off-peak time. The only game available may be shorthanded. Or if you are playing a tournament, you will find yourself in many shorthanded situations. For instance, if you are playing a nine-person single-table tournament, you are only three eliminations away from shorthanded play.
So what are the main considerations for shorthanded play? There are two big differences between shorthanded play and a full-table game. The first is your starting-hand requirements. The next is aggression. Let’s talk about starting-hand requirements first.
Since you are playing shorthanded, it makes sense that you should loosen up your starting-hand requirements. That is indeed the case. The hands you would have played in middle position in a ring game now become playable in early position. However, since the texture of the game has changed, so should the texture of your starting-hand requirements. What do I mean by that? In a full-ring game,we based our starting-hand requirements on the likelihood of what our opponents could be holding and how many opponents are likely to see a flop. With fewer players, it follows that there will be fewer strong hands to contend with and that there will be fewer players seeing a flop. If that is the case, we need to adjust. Hands such as A-10 or K-J that were marginal opening hands in a full-ring game now become much stronger. Not only can these hands be played, they can be played with strength. Since these hands play best shorthanded anyway, you are better off raising with them to try to narrow the field.
Conversely, hands such as suited connectors lose some of their value in a shorthanded game. The payoff from these hands comes from flopping a monster and getting paid off from a number of opponents. In shorthanded games, you are less likely to get that much action. Why is that? In a full-ring game, when you can get to see a flop cheaply with suited connectors, you are likely to be up against three or four other opponents. When you hit a monster flop with this many opponents, there is a decent chance that at least one of them will have a playable hand and will give you some action. In a shorthanded game, when you enter a pot with your suited connectors, you may be heads-up or have two opponents at best. So even if you hit your hand, the odds are smaller that an opponent will have made something. Your chances of getting paid off are smaller.
I am not suggesting that you should not play suited connectors. What I am suggesting is that you keep this in mind and make an adjustment. If you are in a loose, passive shorthanded game with lots of preflop limpers, then play those suited connectors. If you are playing No Limit Hold ’Em and there are a couple of hyperaggressive players who are guaranteed to give you action no matter what, then you may want to play those suited connectors as well.
The next big difference in shorthanded play is aggression — or, more specifically, how aggressive you have to be. Compared to a full-ring game, you have to step it up a notch. Be more aggressive than you normally would from every position. Position is still critical, but now a hand like A-10 suited is playable from early position. Not only is it playable, you may even consider raising with it from early position. If everyone folds to you in late position, A-x suited becomes much stronger. Why would that be?
Whether you are in a full-ring game or shorthanded and everyone folds to you on the button and you have A-x suited, why is that hand stronger in a shorthanded game, when in both cases you still only have the two players in the blinds to follow you?
Because in a 10-handed game, there is a greater likelihood of there being better starting hands out there than in a 5-person game. If everyone folds to the button, then the chances are greater the number of players, the stronger the remaining hands are likely to be. If there are only three players at the table, then almost any hand becomes playable if you have position. I remember playing threehanded in Colma a few years back. Phil Laak was being superaggressive, and I couldn’t let him walk all over me. So I called him with the 7-2 of spades, which is far from a decent starting hand. The flop came Q-10-2 with two spades.We each get our money in the middle, which is about $6,000 each. Phil turns over the Qc-10c, making him about a 60 percent favorite. I didn’t catch another spade, but the beautiful two of hearts rolled off the turn, and I got to whack the Unabomber. I don’t get to whack him too often, so it was especially sweet to draw out on him.
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