[Guide] Basic 6 Max

I've noticed a lack of beginner articles in the article section and a lack of knowledge from some of the low stakes players on the forum. Not sure if anyone is interested, but here is my general guide to 6-Max play at the lower limits. I'm by no means a pre-flop expert and I think a lot of people here will have different concepts than me that are probably better; however, I think this guide will provide a very straight forward look at 6-Max play and will hopefully help people get into poker, as well as possibly improve the game play of anyone just getting into 6-Max play.

This guide will mostly cover PRE-FLOP PLAY and I'll try to get into some basic concepts of flop play as well. Keep in mind that this is a very straight forward guide and that you're going to have to adapt your game based on your opponent and your table image, along with numerous other factors. This is however in my opinion a very hard to exploit and simple strategy that will be very successful at the lower and mid stakes.

Hopefully this helps someone out and I'm sorry if it's inappropriate or in the wrong forum.

+ Show Spoiler +

Pre-Flop Starting Hands and Raise Size:
The first concept we're going to look at is starting hand selection, as well as raise sizing pre-flop and what should affect your decisions. The general idea behind these concepts is that we're looking to steal the blinds as often as possible and at the same time trying to play stronger hands when we're going to be out of position post-flop and we'll also be willing to play more hands when we're in position. We're also looking at hands that have a lot of playability post flop for when players call our raises.

Raise Sizes
I think as a general rule of thumb your open raise sizes should be between 3-4 Big Blinds. The size of your raise should be independent of the strength of your cards; however you can vary the size of your raises based on position or opponents. If you're on the button(dealer position) and there's a short stack in the blinds, there's no reason for you to open for pot size(3.5 Big Blinds). You can accomplish the same thing with a 2.5 big blind raise and you'll be losing a lot less if he shoves over you and you'll be calling his shoves with the same hands you would be anyways. You can also raise a higher amount from earlier position and a smaller amount from late position although this is far from necessary. This will allow you to essentially play with "deeper stacks" when you're in position and will discourage players from calling your raises when you're going to be out of position post-flop.

Starting Hand Selection
Keep in mind that this chart is just a guideline and there are a lot of different ways to play; however, I think that this is a good starting point and sticking to it will be by no means a mistake in your approach to poker. If you want to tighten up your starting hands when you're first learning to play that's fine as well.

[o] = Off Suit; [s] = Suited; [+] = Any of the same hand but stronger

Any Position: Any pocket pair, Any two suited cards 10 or higher(suited broadway cards)

Under the Gun: AJo +, A7s +, KQo, 78s +

UTG+1: A10o +, A4s +, K9s +, 56s +, 810s +, and any Broadway Cards(J10o +)

Cut Off: A7o+, A2s +, K9o +, K7s +, Q8s +, J7s +,J9o +, 45s +, 68s +, 107s +

Button: Any Ace, K6o +, K2s +, Q8o +, J8 o+, Q5s +, J5s +, 106s +, 23s +, 47s +, 56o +

Small Blind: Anywhere between UTG+1 and the Button... really depends on who's in your big blind and how often they're going to be playing back at you, etc.. Keep in mind that when the Big Blind calls your raise, you're going to be out of position the rest of the hand.

Factors to Consider when Raising
There are a lot of factors to consider when you're deciding what hands to raise with pre-flop and I'll briefly go over some of the basic concepts and how they should affect your play.

Aggressive Players: When you're deciding what hands to open with you want to look at who's left to act behind you. If the players are 3 betting you a lot, you might want to tighten up your range.

Bad Players(Fish): You're always going to want to be playing pots with bad players, especially fish. If the players in the blinds are weak players, you can consider opening your starting hand range, as you're going to be a lot more comfortable playing with them especially in position. You'll be able to capitalize on their weaknesses and just be able to win a lot more hands in general.

Table Image: If you've been opening a lot then players are more likely to play back at you and it might be time to tighten up or if you've been playing really conservatively then you might want to look at opening up your range so that you can steal the blinds a lot more often.

Stack Sizes: Suited Connectors and low pocket pairs play a lot better when you and your opponent are deep-stacked; however, they're not very valuable when you're up against a short stacker.

Limpers: When someone open limps(calls the big blind), you can typically make the assumption that they're a weak player until you learn otherwise. When someone limps into the pot before you, you can now make a play called an isolation raise. Isolation raises are typically the size of your normal raise with the addition of another big blind for each limper. Hand selection for isolation raises should be based on your position as well as the range of hands your opponent is limping with.

Calling Raises
There are a few main factors that you should consider when deciding to call a raise: position, your opponent, your opponent's range, and how your hand is going to play against their range.

Their Range: Starting hand ranges depend a lot on the player; however, you can assume that most competent players are going to be opening a range of hands very similar to our starting hand chart. Unless you have an idea that your opponent is opening a different range of hands(wider or tighter) then you should assume he's opening similar hands to you from the same positions.

Gap Theory: A general concept that can be applied when deciding to call a range is the gap theory. In the simplest sense, you want your starting hand to be stronger than the range of hands that you're opponent is going to open. If someone raises UTG and you're on the button, his range is a lot stronger than your typical button opening range and in order to call his raise, you're going to want your hand to be at the top half of his UTG range.

Position: Being in position is very important and you should be a lot more careful when calling raises out of position than in position.

Stack Sizes: This is the same concept as before, small pocket pair and suited connectors just don't play well against opponents with short stacks.

Opponent: Another factor to consider when calling raises is your opponent. How often are they going to be making mistakes that you can profit from post-flop. Does your opponent have a hole in their game that you think you can exploit. Does your opponent have an image of you that you can use to your advantage against him. These are all important things to consider when you're deciding to call a raise or not.

Basics of 3 Betting
This is going to be a basic overview of the concept of 3 Betting and how you can apply it to your game. As a general rule, light 3 betting shouldn't be used at the low stakes game, and you should probably adjust your value 3 Betting range as well.

3 Bet: A 3 bet is when you reraise the raise of the initial raiser. It's called a 3 bet, because the blinds(first bet) have been raised by a player(second bet) and now you're reraising his initial raise(3 bet). There are two different types of 3 Bets: Value 3 Bets and Light 3 Bets.

Squeeze Play: When a player raises, a second calls and a third re-raises to squeeze the others out of the pot. Pressure is placed on the original raiser, because he either has to call or raise with 2 players left to act. If he folds, the second player either has to call or raise against the third player who showed a lot of strength.

4 Bet: I'm sure you can come to the conclusion that a 4 Bet is when someone raises your 3 Bet. This represents a very strong hand and shows that the player is willing to get all of his money in with the hand pre-flop.

3 Bet Raise Size: The raise size of your 3 Bet should be typically pot sized; however, you can make the raise slightly smaller in position as opposed to out of position.

Types of 3 Bets

Value 3 Betting: Value 3 betting is when you're looking to extract more money from your opponents pre-flop based on the strength of your hand. This is typically done with hands like AA, KK, QQ, and AK. You're going to look at value 3 Betting hands that you're willing to get all-in pre-flop. It's a big mistake to Value 3 Bet a hand when you're planning on folding to a 4 Bet. This range will also change based on your opponent and the general play style of the table. Your value 3 betting range should be a lot wider against short stacks for example.

Light 3 Betting: Light 3 Betting is done as a bluff, you're looking for your opponent to fold when you make this play. This should be done with hands that are too weak to just call and that you won't have any problem folding to a 4 Bet. Good hands to light 3 bet are small pocket pairs and suited connectors. You can also light 3 Bet hands that have blockers. KQ is a good example, because it has blockers to KK, QQ, and AK. Because you're already holding those cards in your hand, there are less combos available of the other hands, which means your opponent is less likely to have a hand to 4 Bet or call you with.

Hands not to 3 Bet: Hands that you're typically not willing to 3 Bet are hands like 99 - JJ, AQs, and other hands that have a lot of value that you're not necessarily willing to get all-in pre-flop. However, in certain game dynamics where players are 3 betting and 4 betting like crazy, then you can go ahead and value 3 bet these hands with the knowledge that you'll be able to get them all-in pre-flop.

3 Bet Percentages:
This section is for players that take advantage of programs like HEM and PT3. This is just a general guideline as to what to expect from different players that are 3 betting very little or too often.

< 3%: Only value 3 Bets
3% -6%: Light 3 Bets occasionally
6%-9%: Aggressive 3 Better
9% +: 3 Betting Monkey

There's a lot more complexities to pre-flop play; however, I feel like I've covered a lot of the basics and this should give new players a good guideline as to what to expect in today's games. I'm sure I'll probably add a few more things and if anyone has any questions or if there's an important concept that I've missed please let me know. Again I'm sorry if someone already wrote a similar article or if this was just unnecessary in general. Thanks.

pretty decent article. i like it cause i had trouble understanding terminology when i first started.

Didn't read it all, but the following is just plain wrong:


"Hands not to 3 Bet: Hands that you're typically not willing to 3 Bet are hands like 99 - JJ, AQs, and other hands that have a lot of value that you're not necessarily willing to get all-in pre-flop. However, in certain game dynamics where players are 3 betting and 4 betting like crazy, then you can go ahead and value 3 bet these hands with the knowledge that you'll be able to get them all-in pre-flop."

You can 3bet TT+ and AQ for value without any sort of crazy dynamic. They are just great hands, especially when you consider people often open 50%+ OTB. Additionally, just because you 3bet a hand for value, doesn't mean you want to get it all-in PF. There are plenty of people who will call a fair number of 3bets PF but only 4B their monsters, so you can safely 3B-F AQ since you are never getting bluffed off a better hand all the while forcing weaker hands to put more money in PF. And if you see the person's 4B rate go up, just adjust. Not 3betting AQ PF just because you are scared of 4B is poor logic. Note this does not mean that there aren't valid reasons to not 3B AQ PF. Just that yours isn't one of them.

EDIT: also, not 3betting JJ pre-flop as standard from blinds versus late-position open is just bad in so many way.

good article ..problem beginners dont feel comfortable open up with those range and not like to cont bet right flops and check on wrong flops. Its easier for beginners narrow more opening range...

sweet article

Was written more for beginners and not necessarily the optimal way to play at higher stakes or for better players. I don't think people just starting out are going to be able to pick the right spots to value 3 Bet with weaker holdings and I figured this would be the most straight-forward way to play and keep them out of tough spots.

I agree about probably having a tighter range pre-flop for beginning players; however, at the same time I wanted to present a more standard range for starting hands.

I'll probably look at adding a section on continuation betting later.

i think this is a very well written article, but unfortunately only covers preflop mechanics. there are 3 more streets afterwards, each being more important than the first

well-written, but the opening ranges in my opinion are slightly too loose for a beginner to start with, especially when an opener from CO with K9o is going to be greeted with a call from a button and the bigblind.

foldequity is something which is rare in micros(which is what the guide aims for I guess), so I'd advise against playing so wide especially since most people will not be that comfortable playing postflop after the "cbet any flop unwritten rule". Same goes for trash like a7s UTG. I think it´s just hands you do not want to play OOP multiway, even vs loose players.

basic "open loose when the table is nitty, open tight when the table is loose, especially if odds are you have to play the hand OOP" principle maybe?

Yeah, I think these ranges are a lot more applicable at 25/50NL when you have fold equity and you're not just playing your hand for value.

On October 23 2009 03:23 n0rthf4ce wrote: i think this is a very well written article, but unfortunately only covers preflop mechanics. there are 3 more streets afterwards, each being more important than the first

NORTHFACE APPROVES OF ARTICLE

I SHALL NOW READ IT

are you calling me a 3bet monkey?

i guess i am light 3 bettzooor.. but i wanna be 3bet monkey...tho i do squeeze play more

I didnt even rmmbr we had guides lol

lol @9% bein a 3bet monkey

I have a question; why raise hands so loose on the button such as Q8o? The BB hand range isnt so proportionally wide that just b/c everyone folded he's going to be calling with Q5 or anything. It seems like at this point, your hand range is irrelevant and you're either flat out stealing with any two b/c you expect him to fold, or you're keeping your range somewhat value oriented. There cant be any value in a hand like K6o or Q7, nothing worse is ever calling here that will give you value postflop.

.................

On October 23 2009 12:17 NewbSaibot wrote: I have a question; why raise hands so loose on the button such as Q8o? The BB hand range isnt so proportionally wide that just b/c everyone folded he's going to be calling with Q5 or anything. It seems like at this point, your hand range is irrelevant and you're either flat out stealing with any two b/c you expect him to fold, or you're keeping your range somewhat value oriented. There cant be any value in a hand like K6o or Q7, nothing worse is ever calling here that will give you value postflop.

Are...you serious?

On October 23 2009 12:17 NewbSaibot wrote: I have a question; why raise hands so loose on the button such as Q8o? The BB hand range isnt so proportionally wide that just b/c everyone folded he's going to be calling with Q5 or anything. It seems like at this point, your hand range is irrelevant and you're either flat out stealing with any two b/c you expect him to fold, or you're keeping your range somewhat value oriented. There cant be any value in a hand like K6o or Q7, nothing worse is ever calling here that will give you value postflop.

There's a lot of value in raising virtually any hand on the button because of your fold equity pre-flop, as well as post-flop where you'll be able to take down a vast majority of pots with position. Q8o is also ahead of a lot of the hands he'll be calling with, such as small suited connectors and such. I'd also suggest opening nearly every hand combination on the button until the blinds start playing back at you either pre or post flop, because you have such a significant edge. I do think that my hand range on the button/co should give beginners a good idea of how frequently they can be taking down pots on the button/co without forcing them to get out of line.

On October 23 2009 02:34 phexac wrote: Didn't read it all, but the following is just plain wrong: "Hands not to 3 Bet: Hands that you're typically not willing to 3 Bet are hands like 99 - JJ, AQs, and other hands that have a lot of value that you're not necessarily willing to get all-in pre-flop. However, in certain game dynamics where players are 3 betting and 4 betting like crazy, then you can go ahead and value 3 bet these hands with the knowledge that you'll be able to get them all-in pre-flop." You can 3bet TT+ and AQ for value without any sort of crazy dynamic. They are just great hands, especially when you consider people often open 50%+ OTB. Additionally, just because you 3bet a hand for value, doesn't mean you want to get it all-in PF. There are plenty of people who will call a fair number of 3bets PF but only 4B their monsters, so you can safely 3B-F AQ since you are never getting bluffed off a better hand all the while forcing weaker hands to put more money in PF. And if you see the person's 4B rate go up, just adjust. Not 3betting AQ PF just because you are scared of 4B is poor logic. Note this does not mean that there aren't valid reasons to not 3B AQ PF. Just that yours isn't one of them. EDIT: also, not 3betting JJ pre-flop as standard from blinds versus late-position open is just bad in so many way.

You are both correct, and incorrect to some degree. I believe OP was trying to simply keep the beginners, that are reading this guide, out of tough spots.

On October 23 2009 04:12 Augury wrote: Yeah, I think these ranges are a lot more applicable at 25/50NL when you have fold equity and you're not just playing your hand for value.

They are more applicable when you are at tables full of nits, doesnt matter what stakes.

You should not really have set preflop raise ranges, your range should fluctuate based on the dynamic/flow of the game

Stop teaching people ffs...

nice article,

I do disagree however with the gap concept, which is a limit concept imo and useless for no limit holdem, since you will not get to showdown less often in NL holdem than in limit holdem.

On October 23 2009 22:36 Edjon wrote: nice article, I do disagree however with the gap concept, which is a limit concept imo and useless for no limit holdem, since you will not get to showdown less often in NL holdem than in limit holdem.

i disagree with you disagreeing.
gap concept most definitely applies in a NL game see example:
utg shoves for 15bb in a MTT and is a good reg. if you call, you have to have a really strong hand.
if he shoved OTB and you are in the BB, you can call way lighter than vs an UTG shove.

I think A2-A5s is a little stronger than A7s for the UTG open because of the increased bluffing equity.

On October 24 2009 13:50 requiem wrote: I think A2-A5s is a little stronger than A7s for the UTG open because of the increased bluffing equity.

I actually open any suited ace from any position, but I felt like keeping things a little tighter.

opening suited aces from any position is not necessary +EV.

maybe at nl25 and below...

Lol it's kind of ironic that there's a thread asking if edges still exist and a thread decreasing edges right beside eachother.

this article is fine, obviously hes a pretty decent player but no where near the top tier 6max players

flop play is all player dependent ppl, wtf for asking how to play flops?

valuebet and play vs your opponents, preferably in position, duh.

gl girls
ryan

why flame him for writing a tutorial. if you don't like it, write one yourself.

On October 25 2009 04:06 NeillyJQ wrote: this article is fine, obviously hes a pretty decent player but no where near the top tier 6max players flop play is all player dependent ppl, wtf for asking how to play flops? valuebet and play vs your opponents, preferably in position, duh. gl girls ryan

like preflop play isnt player dependent in a lot of situations too..

nice article