Open Your Range
Because six-handed play essentially eliminates early positions, you
should widen your range.
At a nine-handed table, the first three 🏧 positions to act
preflop – Under-the-Gun, UTG+1 and UTG+2 – are considered early position. Players
should open from these positions 🏧 only with premium hands (AJ suited or higher, pocket
Ts or higher).
When there are only six players seated, however, chances 🏧 for strong
opening hands are reduced. Premium hands (A-K, A-Q, pocket Aces, Kings, Queens or
Jacks,) occur only 2.1% of 🏧 the time (56 combinations out of a possible 2,652). So at a
6-Max table, one of these hands will show 🏧 up roughly once per eight hands dealt. If
you’re waiting for one of these to open, you’ll be in for 🏧 a long wait.
With only six
players at the table, aces and middle pocket pairs are worth much more. Expanding your
🏧 opening range to include pocket 6s and above, any ace down to A-7, any Broadway
combination (e.g. any combination of 🏧 cards T or above) and all suited aces will give
you 228 total opening hands for an opening range of 🏧 the top 8.6% of hands, which is
still conservative in 6-Max. You can also add suited connectors and one-gappers,
especially 🏧 from later positions.
Why A-7?
With nine players dealt into a hand, the odds
of any player having an ace are around 🏧 83%. Moreover, if you are dealt an ace in a
nine-handed game, the odds another player also has an ace 🏧 are around 69%. This means
that for every 1,000 times you are dealt an ace, you will have the only 🏧 ace 310 times
on average, and there will be at least one more ace in the other 690 hands.
With an 🏧 A-7
against one other player with an ace, you would have the highest kicker 41% of the
time, so in 🏧 those 690 hands, you would be ahead of the other player with an ace 283
times. Combine these statistics and 🏧 your A-7 would be ahead593 times in 1,000 hands
against other aces or no aces (note that this analysis doesn’t 🏧 include pocket
pairs).
With six players dealt into a hand, the odds of a player having an ace drop to
66%. 🏧 If you have an ace in a six-handed game, the odds are 50% that another player
does. For every 1,000 🏧 times you receive an ace, you would have the only ace 500 times.
In the other 500 hands, you would 🏧 have the highest kicker 205 times with your 7,
meaning A-7 would be ahead 705 times out of 1,000, or 🏧 19% higher than in a nine-handed
game (again, this does not include pocket pairs, only high cards).
Middle Pocket
Pairs
Middle pocket 🏧 pairs (7s through 9s) also become more valuable. The odds another
player has a higher pocket pair are reduced dramatically 🏧 when playing six-handed. If
you have pocket 7s at a nine-handed table, the odds are 24.6% that another player has 🏧 a
higher pocket pair. In other words, one in every four times you have pocket sevens you
will be dominated 🏧 by a player with a higher pocket pair.
At a six-handed table,
however, the odds another player has a higher pocket 🏧 pair are reduced to 16.1% – a drop
of 52.7 percent. For pocket 9s, the odds drop from 18.3% to 🏧 11.7%, or a 56.4%
reduction.
Chance of another player having a higher pocket pair
Your Pocket Pair
9-Handed 6-Handed Difference 6-6 24.7% 🏧 18.0% 52.2% 7-7 24.6% 16.1% 52.8% 8-8 21.4%
13.9% 54.0% 9-9 18.3% 11.7% 56.4%
This analysis does not take overcards into 🏧 account,
but does show that mid-range pocket pairs are more valuable pre-flop when playing
six-handed.
Calling Preflop
Some players believe calling a 🏧 preflop raise is a bad move,
and that you should always either fold or re-raise. Fight fire with fire. They’ve
🏧 probably not played a lot of 6-Max.
Calling preflop, especially if you have position
over the aggressor, is a solid play 🏧 in 6-Max if you are playing a hand from the bottom
of your range or a speculative hand like suited 🏧 connectors or one-gappers. There is a
good chance the player before you has opened wider than normal, so it makes 🏧 sense to
take a chance to see if you can connect with a flop as well, especially if the price 🏧 is
right.
Calling will also help you avoid some dangerous situations preflop. The
propensity for some players to be overly aggressive 🏧 in 6-Max could force you to make
many more big preflop decisions than you would face in a nine-handed game.
