I can still recall the first time I played in a short-handed game.  Things were different,  to be sure,  and anyone,  even the neophyte that I was back then, could have told you that.  I was confused,  not at all certain what I was wrestling with,  or knowledgeable enough to deal with it.  Eventually I learned that the differences between short-handed play and a playing in a full game are not all that complex,  although they can be somewhat frightening when the experience is new or unfamiliar.

The internet has made shorthanded Texas holdem poker games more popular than they’ve ever been,  and you’ll even find shorthanded specialists online who never play in full games.  They prefer to play against six players or fewer,  and online poker rooms cater to them by providing six-handed games,  and sometimes heads-up games,  at all betting limits.

Shorthanded poker is a different game altogether,  one that takes some getting used to.  Take a deep breath if you decide to give it a go,  because the fluctuations will be much wilder in short handed play than you are used to in nine- or ten-handed games.  In full games you can afford to sit back and wait for big hands before committing your money.  You can’t do that in short handed play;  the blinds come around far more often and will eat you alive unless you gamble enough with less-than-premium hands  --  hands you’d generally throw away at a full table  --  to overcome their persistence.

Shorthanded poker requires you to play more aggressively,  and betting and raising with less than top pair/good kicker is de rigueur.  If you can do this,  and consider yourself to be clever at reading hands and playing the players, shorthanded play might be right up your alley.  Short games are geared for a loose,  aggressive playing style,  while tight,  passive players  --  who can at least survive in full games  --  will need to adapt to succeed.

Choosing the right starting hands when the game is shorthanded is very different from selecting playable hands for a full game.  Hand values change dramatically as the game becomes progressively more shorthanded.  Some hands that are playable in full games shouldn’t be played at all in short games, while others  --  hands that you’d cast away without a moment’s hesitation in a full game  --  are raising hands when the game is short.

To some extent,  playing Texas holdem shorthanded is similar to a full game when you are in late position and everyone else has passed.  When that happens,  you’d much rather have a hand like A-9 offsuit than 10-9 suited.  After all, when you’re up against the blinds,  that lone ace might be big enough to win.  A hand like 10-9 suited plays better against a full complement of opponents.  It’s the kind of holding to build a straight or a flush with,  but it won’t win many pots without improvement.

Big cards are much more valuable in shorthanded games simply because they can win without improvement.  Flush and straight draws,  particularly if they do not include high cards,  just can’t attract the number of opponents in a shorthanded game to make them profitable in the long run.  You’ll still complete the draws you play with the same regularity,  but the payoff at a shorthanded table won’t always offset the odds against completing your hand.  Some of the hands that offer a positive expected value in the long run at a full table are big-time losers when the game is short,  while some of the hands you’d like to be dealt in a five- or six-handed game figure to be long-term losers in full games.

One significant difference between shorthanded play and playing at a full table relates to clumping theory.  After most of your opponents have passed at a full table,  you can assume they were not holding big cards.  Because most of your opponents probably had small to middling cards, the deck figures to be rich in bigger cards,  and if you are holding an Ace or a couple of face cards you probably stand a better chance of catching part of the flop.

But if you’re in a five-handed game and the two players immediately to the left of the blind muck their hands,  you really can’t be sure what’s left in the deck. Although it’s safe to assume that the folders held small cards,  not enough hands were folded to be certain that the deck is now bunched in favor of high cards flopping.

Blinds come around much more frequently in short games,  and players are more aggressive.  Because drawing hands, like mid-range suited connectors, won’t attract a sufficient number of callers to make playing them worthwhile,  “Pump it or dump it”  becomes the tactic of choice.  Your opponents will no longer require A-K or A-Q before they raise.  In a short-handed game,  any Ace is a potential raising hand.  Moreover,  if you call a raiser,  you won’t necessarily know what your opponent is holding.  When he comes out betting into a flop that doesn’t necessarily figure to have helped him  --  and in a shorthanded game he most assuredly will come out betting regardless of what the flop looks like  -- you might have to call all the way to the river even if you’re not holding anything stronger than a naked Ace.

With aggression the rule rather than the exception,  and blinds that come around twice as often as they do in full games,  position becomes more important because you will probably have to gamble a bit more.  After all,  you can be quite selective when the blinds come around only twice in every nine or 10 hands,  but that’s not a luxury you can afford when you are in the blind one-third of the time.

Since big cards increase in value when the game is shorthanded,  it stands to reason that the value of a pair increases even more.  After all,  your middling pair of sixes is probably a favorite against the blinds,  particularly if your raise causes at least one of them to fold.

One of the tough things to determine in a shorthanded game is whether to keep playing if you are called after you’ve raised with a mid-range pair and the flop contains an overcard or two.  Determining whether your opponent was helped by the flop,  or is merely bluffing,  can be difficult.  An ability to read your opponents is certainly important;  it always is.  It’s even more important now, because larceny is more prevalent in shorthanded games,  where the best hand generally has to be shown down to take the money.

This is another case of  "it depends,"  and deciding whether to keep playing depends on your position,  how well your opponents play,  the composition of the board,  the relative aggressiveness or passivity of your opponents,  and whether you can read them with any degree of accuracy.  If you can’t get a read on your opponents,  you’ll simply have to play your hand for its intrinsic value, and this smacks of gambling.  But in shorthanded games where the blinds are a major consideration because they come around so rapidly,  it’s just too costly to surrender them along with mucking every hand that is not helped by the flop  --  particularly when it’s the kind of flop that does not appear to have helped your opponents either.

In full games it is fairly easy to release hands like second pair or even a pair of Aces with a poor kicker.  But in shorthanded games these are playable hands. Moreover,  whenever you make a big hand,  consider check-raising.  It’s the perfect tactic to use against overly aggressive opponents.

If aggressiveness and the higher variance that’s a predictable consequence of more risk-taking are the bugaboos of shorthanded play,  there’s plenty of opportunity too.  When the game is short you’ll be able to take advantage of weak players more frequently.  By the same token,  if you are facing opponents whose skills are superior to yours,  the best tactical maneuver at your disposal is to pick up your chips and find a different game.

Although aggressive play is the hallmark of short-handed games,  sometimes just calling is an even better tactic,  especially when you have a big hand and your opponent is aggressive.  If that’s the case,  checking and calling with the intention of check-raising the turn will win a bigger pot than raising on the flop, unless your opponent is so maniacally aggressive that he will keep right on raising and reraising without regard to what you might have in your hand.  Any time you flop a set or better against a player like this,  you can really drag an enormous pot, and you can count on your opponent to help you out by betting and raising every round when it should be clear to him,  and anyone else within shouting distance,  that you have a very big hand.

Shorthanded games are difficult for many players and they do everything at their disposal to avoid them.  But shorthanded poker is neither a better nor worse game than a full game.  It’s just different;  that’s all.