How to Beat 6-Max Cash Games JustGTO covers GTO preflop strategies, in-depth analysis of Single-Raised Pots, 3-Bet Pots, and 4-Bet Pots, and hand reviews with GTO solvers. The correct 6-max poker strategy is to play looser than you would in a full ring game (open 20% of hands) and make more bluffs and wider call downs. This means that in a 6-max game you should be playing a lot more speculative hands like suited connectors and suited aces as well. This book will cover small stakes online 6 max ring games. All hands will be assumed to be 6 handed, though other situations will be discussed. The focus of this book will be the progression of a hand through preflop, flop, turn, and river. Your hand ranges in general should adjust and be contrary to the way the game is playing. Our 6-Max Cash Game Poker HUD has been beta tested for almost a year. During this time, thousands of poker players have used it in their everyday grind, testing it under real life circumstances and provided feedback on every step of the way. Big thanks to all the beta testers!

1. Estrategia Poker Cash 6 Max Cash
2. Estrategia Poker Cash 6 Max Strategy

6-max games are unique in that they serve as the middle man between heads up and full ring games. For expert players, this is the ‘jackpot’ step they had to take for the six figure starting salary.

6-max (or 6-handed) poker games are by far the most popular online cash game format. They’re so popular, in fact, that they’ve almost completely replaced full-ring (or 9-handed) games on most online poker sites. If you want to become a successful online cash game player, having a strong 6-max game is mandatory.

If you are transitioning from one of these two into the 6-max arena, or even if you are just completely new to the idea of short handed games, there is a lot that you will need to learn. The overall pace, dynamics, and game play of a 6-max table is something that is not instantly learned and will take a long time to get a firm grasp on.

Estrategia Poker Cash 6 Max Cash

With all of that having been said, there are certainly some do’s and don’ts that will help to speed up the process of development in the 6-max games. Whether you are preparing for short handed games at your full ring tables, or simply looking to take the dive into 6-max games, these tips will help to elevate your game.

One thing that many players quickly realize is that 6-max games tend to play very aggressively. You will be somewhat hard pressed to find a 6-max table that is full of tight and passive players. Plus, if you do happen to wander into one of those games, your money is as good as printed. The aggression factor is what scares some people off, allows others to make money, and drives yet others insane.

With aggression comes increased variance, and with increased variance comes a lot more tilt. 6-max games truly are an animal of their very own kind, so you will need to be willing and able to adapt to changes as needed.

6-Max Micro Stakes Do’s

Estrategia Poker Cash 6 Max Strategy

6-max play, as a general rule of thumb, will reward an aggressive approach. Now, the line between aggressive play and reckless play is often times quite blurred.

Main Key: You need to be able to measure when you are putting pressure on your opponents vs. when you are handing them money.

This is the sort of skill that can only be learned with time, however, and it is only natural to make several mistakes early on. Every great professional in almost any field knows that they need to push the envelope to see how far they can go. Eventually you will find out what works and what is going just a bit too far. 6-max is great in that aspect because it will allow you to reach new areas of your game, but it will also illustrate what types of playing styles can leech your bankroll.

Key I: Play Aggressively

Aggressive play is very much cliché in poker, especially in any games post Chris Moneymaker winning the WSOP Main Event in 2003. Traditionally, poker had been a game where the smart players would eventually take all of the money. They didn’t need to play aggressively because that only meant that they were opening themselves up to an unnecessary amount of risk. In the games of today, however, everything has changed. If you were playing poker 10 years ago, you never would have even heard of 6-max tables. This is a perfect demonstration of just how far poker has come. 6-max is a product of the new generation of poker, which rewards well timed and persistent aggression.

The primary reason that 6-max micro stakes players shy away from aggressive play is because they fear losing. There is nothing worse than the fear of losing, because if you never lost, it means you probably aren’t winning very much either. Yes, you are going to have a bunch of hands where your pre-flop three bets and post-flop c-bets go unrewarded, but they will be far outlasted by your successful plays. If you are afraid to take some chances and put your money on the line, 6-max is definitely not the game for you.

Key II: Steal Blinds

Stealing the blinds is a basic skill set that is applicable in most any games, full ring included. In the micro stakes, though, full ring games are chock full of calling stations. This can make it difficult to take down a number of pots when you are not holding a hand with some sort of real showdown value. In 6-max games, you will have numerous opportunities to pick up a few blinds at a time through aggression alone. The important thing to remember is that your steal attempts should minimize risk by being placed selectively (against the right opponents) and with the smallest bet sizes properly. If you pick your spots effectively, stealing the blinds will become a fantastic ancillary benefit of your aggressive playing style.

Key III: Value Bet, Hard

Value betting is a skill that is particularly useful in 6-max games when you have the table image of an aggressive player. If most of your opponents feel as though you are playing more pots than would be viable in their eyes, it will give you the opportunity to squeeze extra money out of them when you have made hands. 6-max tables cater especially well to value betting because your limited pool of competition is more likely to pick up on your general playing style. Once they see a few stolen pots, they will eventually decide to take a stand against what they feel is the “table bully.” You need to be able to recognize the spots where your perceived erratic play will let you play a strong hand as if it were a complete bluff.

6-Max Micro Stakes Don’ts

1.) Open Limp

Open limping is one of the cardinal sins in poker cash games. When you are shifting to a 6-max table, the detriment of an open limp is escalated. Not only are you donating dead money to the pot, but it is that much more likely to get stolen away. In some full ring games, you will be able to get away with a limp from time to time, but this just isn’t the case in 6-max. Avoid open limping at all costs. This is one of the first disciplines that is taught to players who are looking to fix big leaks in their game. If you have a hand that isn’t worth raising with, just throw it away. If you plan on limping and calling a raise, you are better off just making the first raise yourself. Again, this plays into an aggressive playing style, the most profitable way to play 6-max tables of any kind.

2.) Play Passively

Open limping and passive play go hand in hand, but you can’t open limp post-flop. Weak, passive play will be eaten alive at any relatively strong table. Even if you only have one or two opponents who are any good, they will isolate you and punish you if they find out that you like to give up after the flop. If you brick the flop, take some shots at the pot anyway. You can always give up later, but you have to give yourself a chance to win before you accept an automatic loss. Making lazy, weak, and careless calls is another epidemic among losing 6-max players. Remember that aggression is always king. Yes, you may want to slow play from time to time, but don’t make passive play your go to strategy.

3.) Play Out of Position

Playing out of position is the worst thing that you can do in just about any poker game. Of course, sometimes you will have no choice but to play pots out of position. After all, you aren’t going to open fold your pocket aces just because you happen to be under the gun. There are some skills that will help to compensate for your positional disadvantage, though. The first thing you should do is always make sure to enter the pot with a strong raise. Don’t limp, don’t min raise, and don’t even make a small raise. Announce that you want to play the pot and do your best to thin out the field. If you are going to play a hand out of position, play it to win.

Now, the real areas to avoid are limp calling, check calling, and even bet calling out of position. Any of these plays will create some truly difficult spots both before and after the flop is dealt. You should have an exceptionally strong hand if you are going to play pots out of position, and you better have a complete game plan in mind. Without both of these, any strong player will exploit you based on position alone.

The key difference between full ring and shorthanded cash games involves the number of poker players. Full ring is essentially a standard poker game where nine or ten players are seated. While some poker rooms offer a maximum of five seats in their shorthanded cash games, most are usually limited to a maximum of six seats, which is why they are commonly referred to as “6-max” tables.

The 6-max cash games are hugely popular online. Some poker players prefer these shorthanded cash games simply because they like to play against fewer opponents and they get to see more hands. Others prefer the standard full ring cash games, perhaps because they’re more like the cash games that are found in live poker venues.

Strategic Considerations

Even though the only difference between the two formats is the variation in table size, they play very differently.

Starting Hand Selection

Full ring cash games allows a player to play tight by being conservative with their moves and holding out and only committing when a very strong hand comes their way. Since the blinds are paid more frequently and there are fewer players in shorthanded games, starting hand values go up significantly. When you play 6-max cash games you need to play more poker hands and play them more aggressively. Anything that is playable in mid-position in a full ring game is generally playable in any position in 6-max games. You’ll also find that you can be the first raiser much more often when in late position, simply because there are fewer players.

Aggression Adjustment

Without a doubt, one of the most important separations between a full ring and a shorthanded game is the level of aggression. If you’re making the switch from full ring to 6-max cash games then you already know that you need to open up your range of starting hands. Aggressive play is always important in poker, but even more so in shorthanded games because you must maximize your ability to play and win with marginal and lighter holdings. This does not immediately relegate the more traditional full ring conservative players, but overly tight play will certainly can count against you. In the same vein, shorthanded games can sometimes tempt players to loosen up too much and play too many weak hands, which can lead to their downfall.

Positional Considerations

Position is important in all forms of poker as it is obvious that it is more desirable to act last rather than first. Playing a hand from early position In a full ring cash game is a much bigger disadvantage than in shorthanded games, since there are more opponents who can enter the pot after you’ve acted. However this doesn’t mean your table position should be disregarded when playing 6-max. Players are more likely to miss the flop in shorthanded games which makes position very valuable post-flop. If you’re out of position then you’re opponents will have more opportunities to exploit you by stealing pots when you miss the flop.

Increased Opportunities

6-max cash games are more profitable for skilled poker players. If you’re fortunate enough to be seated with an inferior opponent then you’ll be involved in many more pots with them. This means you can exploit your edge over these weak player far more than you ever could in a full ring game, simply because there are fewer competing players. The skilled poker player also benefits from playing 6-max games because of the wider range of hands that are played, and the knowledge of how to play these hands against weaker opponents, who might be clueless.

Bluffing and Value Betting

Although there are increased opportunities in shorthanded games and it is generally easier to bluff, you need to temper this with the realization that your fellow poker players know that aggressive play is the order of the day and you’ll get called much more frequently. That is the bad news – the good news is that due to the prevalent mind set in shorthanded games your value bets have a much higher likelihood of being called.

In shorthanded games you may be able to confuse your opponents by making value bets that are larger than normal. These larger bets may seem like bluffs as they appear to be discouraging a call. The contrarian nature of poker (strong is weak and weak is strong) many times makes an opponent even more willing to call. Try betting about one and one half times the pot as a value bet and you might be surprised at how often you’ll be called.

Higher Variance

You’ll experience larger swings in shorthanded games. This is simply because players will be involved in more pots with weaker hands, and betting them more aggressively. Your style of play will influence how much variance you personally experience. If there is greater variance in shorthanded games, then it stands to reason that handling the highs and lows will require a larger than normal bankroll than full ring games.

What Should You Play?

This will depend on your style of poker and your thirst for action. If it’s action you crave then shorthanded play should be your game of choice. By nature of the fewer number of players, you will be forced to play more hands than when at a full table. The playable hand values go up significantly and since there are less players to act behind you, aggressive play is essential. You simply cannot just sit there and wait for premium cards.

If you’re starting out then it’s generally better to begin by playing full ring games. This will allow you to build a solid foundation and learn the basics of good cash game play with less risk to your bankroll and your ego. Once you’ve gained the necessary experience and skills you can then progress to the shorthanded 6-max tables and get a feel for what kind of mixture of patience and aggression that’s required to succeed.

By Tim Ryerson

Tim is from London, England and has been playing poker since the late 1990’s. He is the ‘Editor-in-Chief’ at Pokerology.com and is responsible for all the content on the website.