When I play ring games, it's almost exclusively NL 6-max at Party. Adam, I don't understand why you don't think a good player can get decent reads online. By paying attention and using PT, it is very easy to spot the suckers and just play patient aggressive poker. The 6-max games are right up my alley because I want to really play rather than feel like an automated bot on cruise control, which is how multitabling at full ring games felt to me. By playing almost exclusively SNGs and short-handed NL, I am much more intellectually involved in the game, and having much more fun, and being much more profitable since when I'm bored I play worse. I'd take a 4-handed holdem game over a 20-handed game any day of the year.

Oh, and one point. If I'm consistently winning and making good profit, then short-handed internet games are definetely "in my interest", regardless of how much money the site is making.

I'm curious on this one as well. I played 10-handed for almost a year until I had the bankroll to play the 5/10 games. At that point, I switched to the 6-max games. What I noticed on Party is that the 6-max games usually have as big, if not bigger, average pot sizes to the 10-handed games. To me, this seems to indicate that the 6-max tables would be more profitable for the better players. The more hands I can play per hour vs. weaker players the better, right?

Ben

I'd agree, I only play 6 handed and do well. However, I've played ten handed NL and I just can't seem to adjust (more accurate: I DO NOT WIN). To me, ten handed I always end up facing those two exact cards that can beat me, plus I can't master the extract money bets vs. make everyone fold, the opposite usually happens to what I want.

I'd like to be able to play ten handed but I don't think I have patience, plus 6 handed allows me to get reads easier.

Anyone else unable to play 10 handed but do well 6 handed?

Molina

adam correctly points out that when playing sh you will be put in many tricky situations. that is one of the main reasons that it is so profitable for the skilled player. if all the decisions are easy even average players are much more likely to make correct decisions and profit comes from making the right decisions while your opponent makes wrong decisions. for everytime you face a difficult decision your opponents will too, and for me thats a good thing.
another point adam made was that you have to play looser to succeed. that is true (however not nearly as much as most 6 max players seem to think) and i love it. if you want to just grind out a profit that is fine but while that is sometimes neccesary i prefer to get in there and play. its more fun and thats good. my brain is engaged and while some will say that fun is not important in poker it just isnt so. if you dont enjoy it you are probably not only not playing as well as you can but your time can just be better spent (and yes i do play for a living.)
anyways just a comment on how loose you need to play a 6-max game:not nearly as loose as most people seem to think. theres a world of difference between 6 handed and fourhanded. looser yes, but the people who play it so that they can play 50% of the hands and stay in constant action they are one of the things that make the games so profitable.
the speed of the game is another very good thing for good players. the more hands you get in, obviously the more money you make. the fact that the site makes more as well should not concern you. some things are mutually beneficial.
anyways the rake is a valid point and the reason i rarely play heads up, as in that situation i find it to be to high to be profitable unless i have a HUGE advantage. party does rake slightly less for games with 5 or less players which conveniently excludes 6 people but many sh games i play there do have 5 or less so that makes it not that much of a burden vs full handed.
matty

I love 6-max/shorthanded. What I find is that the typical player will fail to shift gears appropriately as the number of people fluctuates. It's not uncommon for a table to very quickly and briefly drop down to 3 or 4 then back up to 5 or 6 and most people will continue playing the same game at 3 they played at 6. If you shift quickly on the fly you can gain a huge advantage in those brief windows of opportunity.

Heads-up, I think this applies even more. If you are comfortable playing h2h and adjust accordingly from the very first hand you will run roughshod over the other guy more often than not if you really notch up the aggression in this situation. More than enough to make it a big +EV regardless of rake.

The exception of course is when you face an equal or better opponent, in which case you should just leave or sit out until more people show up. You'll either lose or just push money back and forth until the house rakes away both your stacks.

SH holdem rules. Its very very easy to make mistakes in SH and so those who understand it well can profit alot from it. Its very easy to fold too often or call too often or raise too little. In Sure it takes reading skills that possibly you dont need in limit, but POKERTRACKER helps a lot there. I mean, your never going to know when the flop comes AK4 if the raiser has AK and will glady jam you into oblivion, or JJ, and you can move him off his hand by semi bluffing with your J10. But if you see a guy that sees half the flops, and raises 25% of his hands, you may want to take a stab at him on a flop like this, whereas if you have a guy that plays 15% of his hands, and raises 5% of the time, you may not. Also, if you have a guy that goes to a showdown 70% of the time when he raises (i.e. calling station) then your not going to want to do this...moral of the story ---- peoples HABITS and patterns are the way you read em -- PT is great for this. I mean, how many people have nervous tics and shaking hands anyway?