Online Poker Guide - Texas Holdem Strategies
Texas Holdem Strategies: Short Handed No Limit Holdem
Texas Hold’em, especially tournament Texas Hold’em, is often seen as a ten player game. Indeed the majority of games on and off-line are played with the full compliment of ten players. However there is a faster variation of Texas Hold’em poker known as “Short Handed”.
Short Handed games are usually played with five or six players and they are becoming increasingly popular amongst the online poker players. The advantages of short handed poker include; more hands per hour and more exciting play as players usually play with a wider ranger of starting hands.
The temptation many players fall into, when playing Short Handed poker, is to play too wide a range of hands. Playing too loosely, too often quickly becomes obvious to your opponents. If you adopt a tight-aggressive approach to ten handed games and that strategy has proven to be successful for you then stick with it for five or six handed tables. You will need to play more hands in Short Handed poker or you’ll simply be blinded away. So expand your range of raising and re-raising hands and use position as often as you can get away with.
A strategy for many Short Handed cash players is to buy-in with the minimum amount of money in an attempt to double or treble up with the absolute minimum of cash exposed. Be wary of being too aggressive towards those type of players. The majority will wait for a very strong hand before pushing their small stack all-in. The temptation may be to take them on because they have a small stack and your loss would be limited to what they have in front of them. Instead, pick your spot carefully against them because when their money goes into the middle they are likely to have a stronger hand than most.
You should, of course, buy in for the maximum amount where you can. Play Short Handed poker to win the absolute maximum each time. Buying in for a small amount may limit your loss exposure but it will also limit the amount you can win if you double up.
Expect a Short Handed game to move much faster than the standard ten handed tables. If you’re a multi-table cash player at the ten handed games then you may struggle to switch to multi-table Short Handed poker. Instead of jumping into three or four tables straight away start with one and get a feel for the action then increase by one table at a time and explore your comfort level.
Large Short Handed poker tournaments are becoming more popular these days. The WSOP even has six-handed events. Playing Short Handed poker is considered a skill in its own right so if ten handed poker has become a little stagnated for you then try the Short Handed game and you could discover the fun and excitement of poker all over again.
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Online Poker Guide: Short Handed Poker
You'll face shorted handed poker games often in tournament play, but for players used to cash games this maybe quite a unique experience. Get a head start by reading the short handed no limit holdem strategy above, then put it all into practice at your chosen online poker room.
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