Six Tips for Six-Max Tournament Poker with Taylor Paur
Every year the World Series of Poker offers a wide range of variants and game types for poker players. Without question, one of the most popular choices is six-handed no-limit hold��em.
Many are familiar with full-ring NLHE, but the short-handed version brings significant changes to strategy, as WSOP bracelet holder and World Poker Tour champion Taylor Paur explained to us yesterday.
Paur has nearly $3 million in career live tournament earnings, the largest chunk coming from his victory in the most recent WPT Shooting Star in San Jose where he topped a 708-entry field to capture a $1,214,200 first prize. Paur won his WSOP bracelet in 2013, besting 2,071 players in a $1,000 no-limit hold��em event for $340,260.
The 26-year-old poker pro from El Dorado Hills, California also has experienced considerable short-handed success at the WSOP, twice making final tables in six-max events. Paur finished fifth in the $10,000 No-Limit Hold��em Six-Handed Championship in 2011, then took sixth in last year��s $1,500 No-Limit Hold��em Six-Handed event.
With a focus on players who are used to playing full-ring (nine- or ten-handed) NLHE multi-table tournaments, here are Paur��s six tips for those getting started with six-max tournament poker.
1. Overall Adjustments
��Just tighten up,�� Paur begins when addressing how to adjust from full-ring to short-handed play. ��Try to play solid. You��re better off not playing too many pots, and play the pots you enter to win.��
��That��s much better than trying to get involved in a lot of hands against good players,�� he continues. ��Just play the hands you play aggressively.��
2. Avoid Overplaying Hands
Many players new to six-max tournaments will overcompensate and feel they need to change their games dramatically from full-ring play. Paur warns inexperienced players against this, noting how in theory you don��t need to alter your game a lot.
��It is easy to overplay your hands, and a lot of people feel the need to change a lot of stuff when they play six-max,�� says Paur. ��In this format you just get into a lot more situations postflop where you need to be able to read hands with lesser strength hands, instead of just playing premiums.��
��Inexperienced players get themselves into very big pots they can��t find a way out of,�� he continues. ��That��s how you see many people bust in the early levels of a six-max tournament, especially the lesser experienced ones.��
3. Blind Play
Since the blinds come around more often, adjustments have to be made when you��re playing short-handed. Paur explains how you should be defending your blinds more often and three-bet more, too, because the opening range from every position is a little bit wider.
��It��s up to personal preference whether or not you like to put in more three-bets or calls, and there are lots of different views on that. A lot of these GTO (Game Theory Optimal) guys seem to say that calling everything out of the big blind is the best way to go. I don��t agree with that. I like to mix it up based on how my actions are being perceived by the person I��m up against, [and from that I will decide] whether or not I��m going to three-bet or flat or fold. And, of course, it matters what cards I have.��
Also worth noting is the fact that the small blind presents a completely different situation than does the big blind. As Paur explains, the small blind is his least favorite position, and probably one from which to be extra cautious.
��I don��t mess around in the small blind,�� says Paur. ��I don��t believe people who mess around from the small blind, and I don��t expect them to believe me. I��m scared of the small blind �� it��s like a pet peeve.��
4. Adjusting when Under the Gun
Things start to look up once you��re under the gun, but it��s still not a position from which to go crazy. One important point Paur makes is that those who are new to six-max need to start thinking of the positions at the table in a different way.
��I personally think of under the gun full ring as if it were 6-max, but it��s basically middle position when you��re full ring. My opening range is probably too wide, so I don��t take under the gun as serious as it sounds.��
5. Playing from the Cutoff
Things start to get fun when you��re in the cutoff, where open-raising almost feels mandatory if the right person is sitting to you left.
��A lot of your play in the cutoff depends on who is on the button,�� Paur explains. ��If it��s someone who��s not going to mess with you, you can treat it as if you are on the button. If it��s someone that��s willing to go to war, you might have to go to war.��
��On the other hand, you might have to tighten up a little bit, but that all depends on who your opponent is, and the flow at the table.��
6. Playing from the Button
The best position in poker �� and it really doesn��t matter what format you��re playing �� is the button. This is no different in six-max no-limit hold��em, and Paur closes out with some words of wisdom on playing six-handed tournaments from most fun position in poker.
��You can obviously play more hands from the button, just because you always have position and that is very important,�� he says. ��You have a wider opening range from the button, and you can play more hands.��
There you have it �� you no longer have to fear the short-handed action at the WSOP, at your local casino, in your home game, or online. Even when your cash game gets short-handed, you know the approach to take �� so don��t panic and start raising from the button!
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