6-max Is Like Crack Cocaine

[wheezer16 0]

I have only played 9 max until recently, and have been a marginally winning player (1-2 BB's/100hands). The swings are relatively mild and I have always been most comfortable with full ring.Recently I have tried 6-max (using tips from Cardrunners,...) and I am addicted now to the constant action. The variance however seems DRAMATICALLY greater. Even though I feel like I am playing solidly i worry that I am headed for disaster.Any advice?

[NoBBiR 0]

I have only played 9 max until recently, and have been a marginally winning player (1-2 BB's/100hands). The swings are relatively mild and I have always been most comfortable with full ring.Recently I have tried 6-max (using tips from Cardrunners,...) and I am addicted now to the constant action. The variance however seems DRAMATICALLY greater. Even though I feel like I am playing solidly i worry that I am headed for disaster.Any advice?

My advice to you is this, though I'd like to mention that it is precisely related to what stakes you play, and I'm assuming you're playing something 50max or lower:Open a lot of hands when the table is tight, and a few less when they are loose. Stealing blinds is sexy. Make bigger raises against the loose table as well, make them play for being out of line.Knowing what flops to cbet (or not cbet) and what situations to cbet (or not cbet) is nice as well. It's probably not wise to cbet AK into 3 callers on a 689 board.Understand that variance IS going to be much greater at 6-max from full ring. You should be playing more like 20/18 (as far as I know) rather than 17/15, so by playing more hands you're going to have deeper swings. You just have to stick with it.Make sure you have more buy-ins for 6-max than you would for full ring. You're going to need it.Cardrunners helps a lot, so you should be fine.Take good notes and use PT. Notes mixed with PT stats makes a good combination for making hard decisions easier.Just play your game and remember when you take a rough beat that it's just going to happen, and you have to deal with.

[wheezer16 0]

My advice to you is this, though I'd like to mention that it is precisely related to what stakes you play, and I'm assuming you're playing something 50max or lower:Open a lot of hands when the table is tight, and a few less when they are loose. Stealing blinds is sexy. Make bigger raises against the loose table as well, make them play for being out of line.Knowing what flops to cbet (or not cbet) and what situations to cbet (or not cbet) is nice as well. It's probably not wise to cbet AK into 3 callers on a 689 board.Understand that variance IS going to be much greater at 6-max from full ring. You should be playing more like 20/18 (as far as I know) rather than 17/15, so by playing more hands you're going to have deeper swings. You just have to stick with it.Make sure you have more buy-ins for 6-max than you would for full ring. You're going to need it.Cardrunners helps a lot, so you should be fine.Take good notes and use PT. Notes mixed with PT stats makes a good combination for making hard decisions easier.Just play your game and remember when you take a rough beat that it's just going to happen, and you have to deal with.

Thanks for the feedback.I have taken some ridiculous bad beats (no, really...see bad beats forum) right at the beginning of my attempt to learn 6-max and so I am feeling particularily uncertain about continuing. I'm going to give it a good shot though.

[NoBBiR 0]

Ok, so you play 100nl. While you are getting used to playing 6max, you can always drop down to 50 or 25nl to get used to being more aggressive and opening your game up. Then the downswings wont kill your bankroll while you learn, and then you can move back up. Cardrunners helps a lot, you just have to watch them a lot.It's sort of hard for me to give you a certain thing to do other than practice. I played 6max live for like 4 years with friends and read books/posted in the forums/watched cardrunners and I'm still not completely confident in my online 6max game. You've just got to roll with the beats and try not to tilt off buy-ins when you run Queens full into quad 3's