Are *all* low limit casino nlhe games 9 or 10 max? Is 6 max at all prevalent? I'm used to playing 6 max online and am curious.

The lowest I've seen is 8 handed.

I would say it's pretty hard to find 10 handed cash since CV .. so the vast majority of rooms will be playing 9-handed.

While I do think that 6-max poker would be a popular cash game I don't think the casinos would see it that way. They would see that less Players are playing .. so more are waiting. And they would have to add staff to accommodate the lists. They also 'should' see that it's potentially more rake, not less. The other issue in live casino games is that Players tend to walk more than online IMO .. so you will end up playing even shorter a lot of the time.

Live Players can't stand even one open seat at 9-10 handed, so I can imagine if some of these 'treats' started to play 6-max.

To counter my point above, at a 'full ring' table there always seems to be at least one Player walking, if not two, so you will be playing somewhat short anyway! What's silly is the complainers can't say one thing (but they do anyway) about a Player walking, but the moment a Player busts they are all over the Floor to fill the seat. GL

Short version: no, 6 max essentially does not exist in the live environment.

Constant walkers are the worst. Dude's just trying to get points on their card to score free meals and sitting down to play 5 hands to just get back up again. I personally prefer to play 7-8 handed so I don't mind 1 or 2 up unless it creates (and all regular live players know what I'm talking about) an environment at the table where the action is killed because one is a loose player and everybody is practically waiting for that person to sit back down. This'll go on for 20-30 minutes and the game is basically done at that point.

Thank you for the many responses. I guess it's not the worst thing in the world. I see a lot of both 6max and 9max online today so I could just spend some time playing 9max to adjust my ranges and get a feel for things before I go to the casino.

Where would one find 4-6 handed live cash games if not in a casino? Anywhere other than online?

What about that Razz game back in the corner?

The only time I've ever heard of a live 6max game is a bracelet event in the WSOP (not counting the "pandemic")

You can obviously check local home games and see what they offer.

But a lot of (most?) live players prefer full ring games and as soon as there's a dedicated dealer who needs to be paid, rake also becomes an issue. In short, most people would prefer to split the cost for the dealer and setup between more people than less people.

So I guess the real ticket for someone like me (attempting to do this full time, reaching for the highest stakes I can) is to mix both live and online as I had planned to? A few different game types, I get to start playing 1/2 live, and I still get in a ton of volume online.

I'm north of NYC. I know I have a few different options as far as casinos go and I will absolutely start putting out feelers for home games. I've always been a cash game player but I'd like to begin cherry picking tournaments here and there as I have enough time for that, as well.

After Black Friday I went from multi-tabling six-max online to playing live full ring. It's definitely a different game in more than ranges. There are opportunities to create action, and sometimes action will find you, but mostly you have to be comfortable with folding a lot and waiting. I enjoy it though.

Home games are going to try to fill the table due to attrition and because they are more social events that use poker as a vehicle. Some mix games will run shorthanded, but those are less common than NLHE.

I have made a lot of connections and found games on the Poker Chip Forum. Obviously the focus of that board is chip collecting first, but they like to put those chips into play, and they take their hosting seriously. I'm sure there are a ton of games around you.

You're going to have to make a lot of adjustments going from online to low stakes live anyway, I wouldn't stress too much about getting 9 handed experience online first. Just play tight for a while and watch, then look for training materials that match the kind of games you're finding.

The players in those games will know where the home games are, but many of the home games up here are shady and/or very high rake so be careful.

You are very seldom going to find six max at live poker and basically never at low stakes.

Playing live you will be playing full ring. Pre COVID the standard was 9 handed for live cash but some places did play cash 10 handed. COVID is mostly over and most rooms are back to normal but some rooms have made 8 handed their norm for cash. But even this is often not true at 1/2 or 1/3.

You might find 6max at higher stakes. You might find less popular games that run with a few open seats. But again, likely to be at least mid stakes.

But even private games are not likely to play long at 4-6 players. Live poker is really a full ring world.

Btw, your full ring online ranges are not going to translate well to live. They might work great for you but don’t think those ranges represent what the other players ranges are. You will also be shocked at the betting. Many more limps, but opens will be much larger, fewer raises or pre flop 3-bets but plenty of folks will limp and then call a 7bb open.

Online and live truly are different games but with the same rules.

Very, very true statement. (perhaps even throw a few more "very"'s in there)

Thank you for going into depth. And to others who stressed not putting much effort into range construction for 9max online. I still have some work to do on my overall game before I sit a $200+ buyin but at least I know what I'm ultimately moving toward. I've been watching some live videos where guys are wearing cams and talking through their thought process so I get a feel for how different the game really is and what the overall tendencies/frequencies are. I know all of this is highly game and location dependent.

Thank you for the link and the info. My overall approach to my first live sessions will definitely be far more passive than I'm used to. I'll more be getting a feel for the chips and how the action moves around the table than anything else.

Online today, multiway pots are considerably more abundant than they used to be. I would imagine we're looking at a lot of 3+ to the flop in 1/2 and 1/3 live, as well?

Yesterday, five limpers for $2, raise to $35, all five limpers call.

Same here .. I used to open for $11 and now I open for $16 and still get the same amount of callers. But DARE you open for $22 or $27 and they all run for the hills unless I've just been spazzing out and raising every hand.

If there's a $6 Straddle then 'opening' bets in the $30+ range are almost seen as limps at most 'evening' tables. During the day with the OMCs it's a little more like the 'old days'. There's one OMC guy in my pool who will immediately table change if I sit down because I 'don't let him see enough Flops' for the limp price.


Some Players can't change gears from online to live and that really will take more mental effort than you are expecting. You will feel that you are making extremely thin calls and find out you were way ahead. To flip it, 3 and 4 bets on Turn and River are typically way more nutted than online.

The best thing to do live is to just sit back, play position and wait for the mistakes to roll in on their own accord. GL

It's the same as what I often see on global poker, then. In fact, a lot of the players I've come across on there have openly discussed playing at live venues near me. Tons of chain calls around the table.

Of course, these mw spots are far less understood and far less solved.

TY

While there aren't 6 max games in casinos in general the higher the stakes the more they will open a table with fewer than 7 players. When I played 20/40 LHE at Foxwoods (FW) we would sometimes start a new table with 3 players and then it would build up (slowly) as people came in. A lot of the regulars won't play 4 handed or less. I would and always encouraged others to start.
Both because I wanted to play and because I was looser than most which suits a short handed game a lot. But once it gets to 6 the table will fill up quickly. Even sometimes at 5 because the sixth will sit down and play. I'm guessing the same may be true for higher stakes NL games because people want the game to start.

So in theory you could abandon a game once it maxed at 9 and come back half an hour later, be moved to the top of the list, and potentially be at the start of a new short handed table.

The other thing was for 40/80 LHE at FW we would sometimes play 6 handed because there were only like 18 players who played at those stakes at FW.

The biggest difference for me between live and online poker was that the pot size online was always given so there was no need to calculate it. Live it needs to be a priority so you are constantly aware of it especially because turn and river bet sizing can be crucial to get calls or folds as needed. Flop cbets are less crucial to know pot sizing because it is sort of subconsciously ingrained based on the number of callers and your standard flop sizing based on whether the flop hits your range or the other player(s).

Most players dont care about the bet size at all, they have decided to play their hand when it's their turn. In fact hyper betsizes can actually induce spaz responses. Couple of weeks ago the nittiest of all OMC's at 2/5, oxygen tank with shaky hands and vietnam hat opens to $75 utg. Recfish who doesnt generally get out of line decides this is the hand he's going to make a stand and 3bets AQo to 250 or so. They're both $2000+ OMC snap jams, rec snap calls. OMC has AA obviously. How, how do you get that kind of value? How does this rec who has been quiet as a mouse yet still entering pots here and there so not like he's bored or impatient decides to hang himself not with AKs, or KK, but AQo of all hands? Like the nut low of anything he could ever hope to get it in with preflop vs an OMC? Was actually tilting to see him punt like that.

You need a reality check. $200 is basically a minimum buy in a $1/$2 game. The ones I've seen in N. Cal are $300-$500 max. The $1/3's are $300-$500-Table max (sometimes from all the tables running) and you will need $500 just for your first bullet.

Basically, my pocket bankroll for $1/$2 is $600-$800, and $1,500 for the $1/$3 Table Max.

$200+ is just kinda cute.

He doesn't have to buy in for the max though. Maybe there are 1/2 games in public card rooms where the min buy-in is $200 but there are probably way more where $200 is actually the maximum buy-in. I've played at several rooms that had a $40 min for 1/2.

For 1/3 the big Vegas card rooms (Aria, Bellagio, Venetian, Wynn) all have a min buy-in of $100 with $300 max at Venetian and Bellagio and $500 max at Aria and Wynn.