6-max

Yes, after hearing about how soft the shorthanded games are and with some prodding from my "coach" I finally decided to stick my pinky toe in the scary waters of 6-max. I had never tried it before due to the fact that my blind defense has always been a weak part of my game, and I thought 6-max was chock full of aggressive players always trying to steal your blinds and making it 3 bets before the flop with air.

Boy was I wrong.

Or, rather, yes there are those people but they are far outnumbered by the fish. And by fish I mean someone like 60% VPIP, 4% PFR, 0.30 AF. When you can count on 2 or 3 of those people at your table (half the players!) you can see why the games might be considered soft. With a bit of good table selection and the diligence to stand up from a table when it is readily apparent I am in the wrong seat (maniac players to my left) I have managed to clip right along at a rate of nearly 5 BB/100 for the 2500 hands I have played. I realize this is very, very short term, but is certainly a good indication of the softness of the games. Chart:


You certainly can't bring your normal full-ring game to the 6-max table, or you will get eaten alive by the blinds. The funny thing about 6-max (to me) is so far I see people either playing way too tight (VPIP 8%) or way too loose (VPIP 50%+ including some in the 80-90% range!) with very few people "in the middle" where the sweet spot is. How do my playing statistics compare? At comparable money levels:

Full ring: 15.8% VPIP, 7.6% PFR, 1.99 AF
6-max: 22.3% VPIP, 13.1% PFR, 2.49 AF

So, as you would expect, more opened up pre-flop and more aggressive post-flop. Amazing that I am raising almost as many hands at 6-max as I am playing in full ring.

I have now split up my bankroll update between full ring and 6-max to separate the two - see the right column for the results.

Believe it or not, I may actually go after a BJ bonus next, even with as much fun as I'm having with 6-max. Don't try to figure me out......