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Short Handed Texas Hold'em Strategies
Over the last few years short handed games have become some of the most popular games online. It is most commonly played with 5-6 players at the table instead of the full 9-10 handed ring games. What separate the short handed games from the full table ring games are the high volatility and the aggressiveness. When playing short handed games a player needs a larger bankroll because of the swings involved in the game and adjust to an aggressive style of play.
The reason why players need to be more aggressive is that the blinds are paid more often and if a player is tight the chips will decrease to fast to make it profitable.
One adjustment is loosening up the starting hands requirement. When you play against few opponents the chance that they will have a strong holding decrease and thus making it correct to play more hands. Hands that increase in value are high cards hands like Ace and King high, even Queen high with decent kicker is a raise hand. Also hands with low pairs now become more playable. Avoid hands with low cards as many pots reach showdown and if those hands are unimproved they cannot win.
Position is still important in short handed games. Be as aggressive as you can from late position, raise on the button as often as you can, picking up the blinds is important. By raising from late position you have the lead in the hand. From early position raising is still an big part of the game but since the late position players will re-raise you more often it is better to vary the game and play more restrictive and tight.
If you raise pre-flop you need to continue betting, it is especially important on the flop, no matter what the board comes. Be careful of betting the turn if your hand is unimproved as many players check-raise the turn with a pair only. Of you course you should do the same and check-raise opponents with top pair that is betting.
If you decide to play short handed Texas Hold’em make sure you have a bankroll large enough to handle the swings. A streak of bad luck can quickly destroy a normal bankroll of 300 big bets, thus a bankroll of at least 1000 big bets is recommended for short handed play.
Related:
How to Play Texas Holdem
Poker
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