Shorthanded Play

I have mixed feelings about shorthanded play. Is it more or less profitable than full ring? Is the higher variance worth it?

I don't know. When I was clearing the Poker Room bonus about a week and a half ago, I played mostly 2/4 5 max games. I got killed. Granted, I was experimenting a bit with the concept of balls-out aggression and seeing the showdown. Granted, I was sucked out on a lot. Granted, it was 2/4 and these things are to be expected. Despite that, I wonder if shorthanded games are even worth it.

Then again, while clearing the Poker Stars bonus today, I played 3/6 6 max games. I came out slightly ahead before receiving the bonus, and the play was atrocious.

Here are my problems with shorthanded play:

1) Because the range of playable hands is higher, you can't give your opponents as much credit for a strong hand as you can in full ring games. Therefore, you have to go to showdown more often with more marginal hands. That means that it's more difficult to push any advantage that you might have because you have less information to make a choice with.

2) Because you'll take more hands to showdown, turn and river play becomes less important (unless you have a strong hand). Many times, you have to simply call down.

3) Variance is higher because you have to see more hands to the end. I don't know if you gain any discernable edge in shorthanded play that would compensate for the increased variance.

4) Loose players gain significant preflop value. A player who sees the flop 50 percent of the time in a shorthanded game may be able to survive, but a player who only sees the flop 40 percent of the time in a full ring game will usually get busted eventually. Because it's correct to see the flop more frequently in a shorthanded game, loose preflop play isn't as big of a sin.

My gut feeling is that the expected value of shorthanded play is similar to full ring play. Unfortunately, shorthanded play tends to help fish out both preflop and with hands that they want to take to showdown. Fortunately, they're still fish and will pay you off rather than folding an obvious losing hand.

Now that these bonuses are clear, I get to go back to my home field: Eurobet! See you at the 5/10 full ring tables!