Author: T

At brick and mortar cardrooms short-handed (i.e. six players or fewer) games are generally quite unpopular. The nature of poker is such that each game requires a table and a dealer whether there are four players or ten, so from the cardroom’s point of view, full games are a far more economically viable option. Furthermore, many players are uncomfortable playing in short-handed games, which require that they make adjustments to their play, since the standard full 10-player ring game tactics are usually unprofitable in this instance. Indeed, some players try to avoid playing short-handed at all, if possible, either taking a break or leaving the game altogether when numbers run short, whereas those players who do prefer short-handed games are often able to play for only a brief while before the game either fills up or breaks up altogether.

However, as a result of online poker a new breed of player has emerged – the short-handed specialist. These players focus on the special five- and six-player (and even heads-up) tables that most sites offer as an alternative to normal ring games. Unlike brick and mortar cardrooms, online sites are generally more than happy to accommodate these short-handed tables, since of course they do not have to pay a dealer or take up valuable floor space with such games. Furthermore, the fast-paced nature of these games is ideal for the cardroom from a rake standpoint.

The main attraction of online short-handed games from the player’s point of view is obvious: such games are dealt at a much quicker rate than a normal ring game (typically well over 100 hands per hour for hold’em), so if you are the best player at the table, your advantage will be greatly enhanced. In addition, the quite different nature of the short-handed game (in particular, the increased importance of attacking and defending the blinds since, with the blinds coming around so quickly, you cannot afford simply to wait for premium hands) lends itself more to a looser, more aggressive ‘action’ style of play, which is particularly suited to those players who don’t enjoy having to wait patiently for a good hand. Furthermore, if you are able to identify a desirable opponent, you are that much more likely to be able to benefit from their bad play, whereas in a full game other players may reap the rewards rather than you.

Typically the maximum rake for a typical six-handed game is capped at $2 compared to the usual $3 for a full 10-player ring game, despite the fact that the average pot size is often not that much smaller, since short-handed play generally has more raising and re-raising than full ring play. Set against this, of course, each individual player will be winning a greater percentage of pots than they would in a full game, and will therefore be obliged to pay the rake far more often (although in short-handed games more hands are decided pre-flop, without a rake being charged). Certainly, if you prefer heads-up play, it is important to choose your site carefully, since heads-up rakes can vary tremendously, but in general if you have good control over your opponents you should be able to beat the rake in a normal short-handed game.

Rather than focusing on five- or six-player tables per se, one strategy that short-handed experts sometimes use is to search out full 10-player ring games that are either just breaking up or just getting underway. This way they are able to compete advantageously against full ring game specialists in a short-handed game, rather than merely against other short-handed specialists.

Whether you are someone who heads straight to the short-handed games, or immediately leaves a game when it is reduced to six players or fewer, is largely a matter of taste. If your playing style leans towards waiting patiently for good opportunities (using better hand selection strategy than most of your opponents), then you will probably be best suited to normal ring games, but if you enjoy the cut-and-thrust of a poker game, in which bluff meets counter-bluff and bet meets check-raise bluff, then online short-handed games may prove to be your forte.

Whereas most live-action players (outside of California and Las Vegas) have a very restricted choice of possible games, the range of games on offer online is immense. Instead of driving to a cardroom, placing your name on the $5/$10 list and taking a seat when it becomes available, online you can choose between several limits, with many sites even offering several simultaneous games at the same limit. With so many different games to choose from, selecting the right opportunity becomes a much more important aspect of the game. Indeed, for players at $5/$10 and above, in particular, the consistent ability to identify good games in which to play have a significant effect on your bottom line at the end of the year – game selection becomes that much more important as you move up in limits.

Finding your Limit
The first and most fundamental aspect of game selection is identifying the correct limit at which to play: one that is commensurate with your abilities and bankroll; not so high that you feel intimidated, and not ‘ so low that you become bored and fail to play your best game.

In general, the standard of opposition will rise as you move up in limit, since you would hardly expect someone with the ability to beat a $10/$20 game to be playing in a $1/$2 game; it would simply not be worth their while. However, it is sometimes argued that some of the players in the $30/$60 game at TitanPoker are considerably weaker than those that frequent the $5/$10 game. One possible explanation for this is the fact that some $30/$60 players may be very wealthy and are naturally drawn towards the higher limits to make the stakes meaningful, regardless of whether they possess the requisite poker skills or not.

In contrast, the $5/$10 games at Titan Poker are neither big enough to provide excitement for these wealthy ‘action’ players, nor small enough to appeal to poker newcomers, most of whom will naturally choose to begin their apprenticeship at $3/$6 and below. Furthermore, some winning $30/$60 brick and mortar players may choose to play at lower limits online for reasons of trust, fearing the possibility of collusion.

Thus sometimes the $5/$10 PartyPoker games are filled with solid, experienced players who lack the bankroll or confidence to play at higher limits. Having said all that, the nature of poker is such that successful players do gravitate towards the higher limits, so the very best online players can nearly always be found playing at the highest limits available.

In a fairly recent (2001) Card Player article Nolan Dalla put forward the interesting theory that ‘the highest-limit games do not necessarily equate to the greatest potential win amount.’ He claims that over the years he has made far more money playing in the second-highest game in a brick and mortar cardroom than the highest, and in such circumstances he will often prefer a $10/$20 game to a $20/40 game. His theory rests on the following arguments:
•    The highest-limit game will usually contain the best players at the cardroom.
•    The highest-limit game may contain players who would usually play even higher if such a game were to be spread.
•    The second-highest game will often contain a cross-section of players, including players who are not good enough for the higher game and those who are stepping up from low-limit games to ‘take a shot’ at a higher limit.
•    The second-highest game will usually contain more ‘loose-passive’ players than the highest game, and this absence of aggression (with many players seeing the flop without a raise) is, he believes, exactly what you should be looking for in a game.

Dalla concludes that ‘A winning player can make just as much playing one limit lower than his normal game – providing that the players are considerably weaker.’ Instead, many players become tied to their ego, believing that it would be a step backwards to play in, to use his example, a $10/$20 game when they usually play higher. Don’t fall into this trap – by all means strive to find the ‘ideal’ limit for your ability and bankroll, but at the same time you should be flexible enough to move up or down depending upon the specific game selection opportunities available at that particular time.

In the past few years a new generation of poker players has emerged: the online professionals. There is something very appealing for most people about the idea of playing poker professionally from the comfort of their own home, making their own hours and not having to answer to anyone else. And indeed, online pros do enjoy numerous advantages that their live counterparts do not. For example:
•    They can find a game 24/7. Nor is it necessary for them to be in reach of a casino – all they require is a computer and an Internet connection.
•    They are dealt many more hands per hour, with a cheaper rake and no need to tip the dealer (and no travel expenses as well).
•    They can play multiple tables (possibly even at different sites) at once.
•    They do not need quite such accurate people-reading skills.

Online poker is much more a game of understanding cards and betting patterns than of deciphering tells. Online professionals also need not fear giving off tells themselves.
•    They can spend time studying precise hand history records to determine their own strengths and weaknesses and those of their opponents.
•    They can specialise in short-handed play (where the skill differential between strong and weak players is maximised) if they so wish.

Set against this, the downside of playing online professionally is that it is impossible to cash-out instantly from an online site, and online professionals may also experience a sense of social isolation from sitting in front of their screens playing poker day after day. Despite these disadvantages, online poker is an attractive means of earning money for many regular players. Indeed, there are hundreds of players who play online for such long periods every day that it must be their primary source of income, and thousands more who rely on online poker to earn a secondary income in their spare time.

The issue of how much online players might expect to earn is a very topical one on the various poker forums and newsgroups. In Poker Essays, Mason Malmuth discusses the issue of earnings expectations in some detail. He estimates that for $3/$6 hold’em an okay player at that level would probably be earning $4 per hour, a good player $8 and a great player $12. In full10-player ring games online you can probably estimate that you are playing at least twice as many hands per hour as you would in a live-action game (on which Malmuth’s figures are based). On that basis you could say that a great player at the $3/$6 might expect to earn $24, or four big bets per hour, playing a single table.

However, online players do not have the same opportunities to read their opponents (i.e. tells), so for online play a figure of two to three big bets per hour is probably about right for a great player at that particular limit, with good players earning anything between one and a half and two big bets per hour and decent ones between one and one and a half big bets per hour. At higher limits than $3/$6, there will be less overall discrepancy in the general level of play, so the hourly big bet earnings ratio will decrease as you move up in limits. For example, it is hard to imagine that there are too many $20/$40 players who are capable of sustaining a long-term hourly profit much in excess of $100 playing exclusively on a single 10-player table.