06- 1-05, LearnTexasHoldem:
Six Person Tourneys
Here is my question for this time: In reviewing the suggested starting hands from the various experts including you, I think they are assuming a starting table of 9 players. Obviously, with starting with 6, I need to play looser than that. But I'm trying to get a feel for how much looser.
I know there is not a "right" answer and each hand depends on position and the type of game we play.
Just looking for the general guidelines to adapt my play.
Thanks,
RickTop 3 Beginner Rooms
Answer: First of all, it is true that the fewer people who get dealt cards, the less likely there is for one of them to have a big hand. For tournament play, other factors affect your starting hands and what you hope to accomplish with the hand other than just the amount of people dealt cards in preflop. For example, someone's chip size may be the only determining factor in whether or not you play a hand. You may pass on another hand just so you can get into the money or you may go all-in because you are shortstacked.
Now if we are talking about the sole strength of a hand between a 6 person and 9 person table, I don't think you'll notice much. The reason is because it takes a long period of time before the empirical probability reflects the theoretical probability. Let me give you an example, let's say you have a hand that is a 60/40 favorite -- 60% of the time you win, 40% of the time the other person wins. Over even a couple tries, it's anyone's game. Only after a great number of tries, will you see that your hand is actually a 60% against the 40%. Even if you do it 10 times, I doubt it will be exactly 6/4. It would probably take 100 tries.
See if you raise with 99 in middle position in a 6 person table compared to a 9 person table and the big blind moved all-in, the variable of "how many people are seated here" isn't going to be a big enough factor to move you in one direction or another. More likely you'll be weighing your chances of having the best hand against that player, how many chips they have, you have, etc. On the other hand, as people drop off, it is much easier to win pots uncontested when you raise.
So make a distinction between hands where someone plays back at you and when you raise and they fold. The amount of players remaining will affect how you much you try to steal with lighter hands, but it won't affect your thought process when someone reraises you. Given that everyone still has enough chips to work with, I think when it gets down to about 4 people, then you can really start taking into account the amount of people dealt in with relation to the hand strength. My guess is that when it gets down to 4 people, it would be more like a 70% to 30%, in the example above. The wider range of being a favorite you have, the less events have to happen to see the theoretical probability represented.
Now some concrete tips... I would probably raise any pair number one. Next on the list would be a suited Ace, followed by any Ace. There isn't a big different between Ace 6 and below and other Ace 6's and below (like A4 vs A2) because most are split pots by the river. After the Aces, I would raise a good King, and then cards that can make straights and flushes. If you are raising too much and you're getting called, you want to tighten up some and wait. Much of the value of raising with these hands would be to just steal the blinds, not play the hand out.
Lastly, I would be less inclined to do much calling preflop with these hands unless I was committed to playing them strongly on the flop. Most of the time you'll miss and the person with the initiative preflop will win the pot by betting. You want to be that person, not the person who is calling and hoping to flop something big. Force the other people in the hand to catch something to beat you.
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