I searched the forum and couldnt find relative discussion on this. I was wondering why choose 6-max over full ring? Are win-rates higher on 6-max? I assume the hands/hour are greater. How much greater? Games looser? Tighter? How differently do these games play from full ring?

Im thinking of making the switch. Can you point me to a strat discussion on how to adjust from FR to 6-max?

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help.

6max is somewhat boring, but FR is like watching paint dry. In 6max you can play more hands and so also the winrates are higher, but on the other hand mass-multitabling FR is easier because there is less difficult decisions.

At least in smallstakes FR and SH play quite differently imo, as almost all FR regs are playing very tight and straightforward, in shorthanded games they are a bit more creative (I'm not saying better).

As for adjustments, never openfold hands like QJs or KJs preflop and don't openfold suited hands on the button. If you get dealt QQ and someone cold-4bets your 3bet you are fistpumping instead of facepalming. Postflop TPGK is the nuts and against almost everyone easy 3 streets of value. It's hard to say anything more exact but in general postflop adjustment should probably to be playing a bit more aggressive and valuebetting lighter.

This has to be the most concise post I have ever seen.

My impression is that better players are at 6-max. Is this truly the case or does it attract a lot of action donkeys. It seems the higher the level you play, there are fewer FR tables. Is this because its the preferred game or is it just that there are fewer people with a roll that can fill a FR $100/$200 table (for example). Will playing 6-max improve my fundamentals, and thus, improve my FR play?

You beat me to the post. I was wondering the same thing myself... so thanks!

"6max is somewhat boring, but FR is like watching paint dry. In 6max you can play more hands and so also the winrates are higher, but on the other hand mass-multitabling FR is easier because there is less difficult decisions.

At least in smallstakes FR and SH play quite differently imo, as almost all FR regs are playing very tight and straightforward, in shorthanded games they are a bit more creative (I'm not saying better).

As for adjustments, never openfold hands like QJs or KJs preflop and don't openfold suited hands on the button. If you get dealt QQ and someone cold-4bets your 3bet you are fistpumping instead of facepalming. Postflop TPGK is the nuts and against almost everyone easy 3 streets of value. It's hard to say anything more exact but in general postflop adjustment should probably to be playing a bit more aggressive and valuebetting lighter"

Great post pretty much spot on. Since the blinds will hit you much more often 6 max you need to play looser, that's pretty much the difference. Also, if you're UTG you're starting hand requirements are much looser in 6-max because there's less players after you, thus a smaller chance of running into a better hand. Also, antes will make the game looser (just watch High Stakes Poker).

either you're lazy, a liar or just plain stupid----i'll give you a benefit of doubt and say you're lazy...

Take it easy there big guy...

The win-rates generally are higher for players in 6-max than FR. This is largely due to playing a larger % of starting hands by necessity. This results in stealing more blinds, and playing more larger pots postflop.

The question is too vague, but I'll assume you're playing 1 table. The hands/hour on a full table for FR generally range from 60 - 100, whereas 6-max they range from about 90 - 130. So we can round that to about 80/tablehour for FR and 110/tablehour at 6-max.

Say you're playing 8 tables. At 6-max you would then be seeing about 880 hands/hour (not exact, naturally), and at FR you would be seeing about 640 hands/hour.

Again, by necessity, the games are looser. In full ring, at a full table, you are seeing the blinds 11 times. So at 100NL, in 100 hands, you're losing $16.50/100 hands just to blinds. If you're running at 11/11 in FR and all of your plays happened to be successful blind steals from the BTN, you would be breakeven.

At a full 6-max table, however, in 100 hands, you've been hit by the blinds up to 17 times. That means, if you're running 11/11 and those plays are as well successful blind steals from the BTN, you're still losing $9/100 hands!

So, in order to breakeven doing just blind steals you would need to run about 17/17. Naturally there's a lot more to poker than stealing blinds, but seeing as they come around so often in 6-max, this does become much more essential than in FR.

Honestly, everything in the stickies in the SSNL forum (and uNL and MSNL for that matter), are of great great aid to anyone, especially people making the transition. Click here for SSNL strat heaven!

1 - To be completely honest there are better AND worse players at 6-max. It's just a different situation. As you asked, there will likely be more "action donkeys" playing at 6-max because of the nature of the game. A lot of people will join a tight game knowing they can steal a lot more in 6-max than FR. The odds of a player having a premium hand are lowered, as there are less hands in play. At the same time, there are more players paying attention in 6-max than FR.

2 - The reason that you see less people at FR tables in nosebleeds and even high stakes has nothing to do with bankroll. 6-max has become the acceptable standard for playing poker, and heads-up is definitely seeing an increase in volume of players as well. Most pro's prefer to play shorthanded, because then the game is much less about your holdings, or your opponents' holdings so much as the opponent themselves.

3 - Playing 6-max will definitely make you a better poker player all around, but only if you want it to. You will learn more about post-flop play, opening ranges, hand reading... Just about everything. It all comes down to the fact that you are going to start taking notes and making reads (hopefully) on every opponent at every table. This is more a tangent on playing >6 tables at a time moreso than 6-max compared to FR. I do personally feel that playing 6-max would make you a better FR player, but I don't think you would ever go back to play FR.

Cheers, hope this helps.

for the past 4 or so years, people have always recommended 6max over FR for reasons stated above, however, at some point you have to figure that the tipping point will be reached and all of the good players that were told to play 6m on 2p2 are now reg filling those games, and the fish ratio is higher at FR, right?

when will that point be reached (if it hasn't already)?

I know from my perspective, friends or live fish that have moved to online almost always start out at FR just because that's what they play at the casino...

6 max u have more room to iso the fish, and its more fun

people dont always have the nutsszz when u get it in

You're about 30% right. Both games have what I believe to be an equal amount of fish. And I don't think that will ever be different.

There's SO SO SO SO many regs at both 6-max and FR. But every single reg is exploitable in one way or another. This is what makes 6-max the game to play. It's easier to pick up bet sizing patterns, and an overall playstyle of a player if they're involved in more hands.

Your goal should be to improve faster than the rest, and to learn to exploit anyone. Regs, in a lot of cases, are no better than fish in that they're extremely predictable.

I've just switched to 6max from full ring in the past week or so. I think the games are a lot more fun and more profitable. I'm not longer playing 12+ tables on auto-pilot and I'm actually trying to analyze hands better thanks to playing more hands per table at 6max but playing half as many (usually 4-6 tables at a time). If you're in poker for the long run, you should give 6max a shot as playing short-handed is going to be a neccessity as you move up the ranks.

i agree with the other posts and i think the biggest factor even though it sounds obvious is that ur in more hands with the fish at 6max than FR bc u have many more opportunities to iso them

Since one of the most-often-cited advantages of 6-max is the number of hands played, how does FTP Rush Poker fit into that?

since when is this one of the most-often-cited advantages? the most popular answers to why 6max is better is

1) iso fish much easier
2) open up hand ranges
3) more blind steals

i'm pretty lost to your question about rush poker though....if you see more hands at 6max, you're going to see even MORE hands at 6max rush....easy math imo

It's the number of hands played... against the table fish, not in general. There's less players at the table = more play against fish.

FYP, in other words when you have a positional advantage on the fish you are able to play many more hands with that person rather then worry about your relative position to others at the table, ie UTG+2 9 or 10 handed, where in 6max if youre UTG+2 youre really the CO, which allows you to have a much wider opening range, thus playing more hands against the fish, thus making more money.

at 6-max noone is just sitting there waiting for monsters/set mining