Playing Shorthanded Online Poker Games

When you are playing an online poker shorthanded game refers to a game with less than the full amount of players at the table. In reality though, shorthanded games have fewer than six players. Playing shorthanded poker games is different than playing at a full table and your strategies should definitely be different. Very often at shorthanded online poker tables the normal poker play of raising with good hands and folding with nothing does not apply as much.

Players will raise with nothing and fold to re-raises when playing shorthanded. The reason for this type of play is that the game has become looser and that means that more hands are playable. There are some definite differences between shorthanded play and full table online poker play. Many people believe that shorthanded poker is more about playing your opponents than playing your cards.

The better players do well in a shorthanded game because less luck is involved. You also want to remember that if you choose to sit down at a shorthanded game there is a strong possibility that it was once a full table and now only the best players remain. That can be a real problem, so be aware of that fact. Keep in mind when playing shorthanded poker that you have to loosen up your play and your starting hand requirements. The reason for this is that the blinds come around much quicker and you can’t just sit back and wait. What can hurt you though, is if you loosen up too much.

You have to find some sort of happy medium when playing shorthanded. You don’t want to play every hand, but you don’t want to get blinded off either. The number of players also matters. If it is six-handed your starting hand requirements don’t have to loosen that much, but if it gets to three players you really need to make a few changes.

When you consider what starting hands to play shorthanded there are a few things to keep in mind. Those suited connectors don’t do nearly as well in a shorthanded game because you are not likely to have enough money in the pot to make them pay off. The other drawback with suited connectors is that you are starting with only an 8 or 9 high and that doesn’t win many hands unless it connects. The hands that do better shorthanded are big cards like KJ, A-10, Q-10, etc. Those are marginal hands at a full table, but at a shorthanded table they are very playable.