Hands to play when in a short-handed situation?

I have a question regarding playing short handed. Personally I find this to be one of the weakest parts of my game right now. I think that most players add starting hands to their list of playable hands to start off with, but I'm wondering if anyone has a general strategy as to how they play when the table gets down to say four players, three players, and eventually heads up? I see a lot of "tight" players seemingly turn into "maniacs" once the game goes heads up or even down to three or four players, and do pretty well like this. Any advice would be appreciated.

I often loosen up quite a bit in shorthanded games, however there is an easy way to visualize this.

For example: In a 5-player game, imagine that it is a 10-player game but the first 5-players have folded. This allows you to play hands that you would usually only play in mid to late position.

Originally Posted by mgobluefb

I often loosen up quite a bit in shorthanded games, however there is an easy way to visualize this.

For example: In a 5-player game, imagine that it is a 10-player game but the first 5-players have folded. This allows you to play hands that you would usually only play in mid to late position.

It's different than this. Just because 5 people folded to you, doesn't mean you should raise with Ace-Low-off. But Ace-Low-off heads up is big.

Supposing it's 3-handed, you are ALWAYS on the button or in the blinds. You either have perfect position or money already invested. In a tournament situation, aggression is paying off. This is why Shooter says they turn into 'maniacs'. You absolutely cannot camp at the final table of a tournament.

There's not a specific list of cards you should or should not play that I know of. You should be raising based more on situation than your cards.

Heads up, you will win more by going aggro. Raise from the SB for a steal EVERY hand, regardless of your cards. This sounds insane, but is usually the best tactic against low-level players. Follow up with a continuation bet virtually every time too. You're opponent gets no 'free' flops, and if he misses, you can take his extra bet on the flop.

Shooter: Check out Rippy's Sticky Post in the Tournaments section. He gets into the dynamics of the last few players at a final table in great detail.

EasyT

Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I don't really use that strategy either. I just heard it somewhere and thought it might help some people learn how to play short-handed.

If we are speaking of tourney play here shorthanded, remember a quick fact.
The average hand in heads up play is jack high, thus id rasie it up with anything higher even something as bad as Q8 is such a big hand heads up or short handed.
Anything with a face card and an average kicker is worth raising with. Also, think about trapping in short handed play post flop. If you hit the top pair check it to the opps see if you can catch someone trying to buy the pot with second pair etc. Similarily make the flop expensive to see at all times. You only have to have them think one time you dont have that hand for them, to bust out most of their chips to you.
Aggrssion is the key here. If you have a moderate hand use the gap theory and make your opps think about calling your raise not the other way around.

The key to very short handed play (3 players or less) is hyper agression. Steal everyones blinds alot. Force them to fold the flop when they miss. You will slowly chop away at the other player's stacks this way. Make them fear getting into any hand with you. The real secret though, is with your reads. You have to know when to fold and let a hand go. Against weak players, this strategy will ruin their stack very quickly. And then at some point, most weak players get fed up of being pushed around and start pushing back with reraises and random all ins. This is when you know you have them. Just wait till they decide to push at the wrong time and their chips are yours.

Originally Posted by Miffed22001

...Also, think about trapping in short handed play post flop. If you hit the top pair check it to the opps see if you can catch someone trying to buy the pot with second pair etc...

Wow, not too often in life that someones advice pays dividends straight away, but last night, I was playing a heads up situation, and was dealt A5o in the BB. My opponent called, I raised pre-flop and was again called. Flop came out A84 rainbow. The old shooter would have come out firing on the flop and taken down the pot then and there. Instead, I checked, and sure enough my opponent raised big. Big enough to have me worried that he was holding the A as well, perhaps with a bigger kicker, but my gut told me otherwise, so I pushed him all in. He flipped over K8s, but was pot committed and therefore had to call. End of tournament. Miffed22001, the commission check is in the mail !

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the great advice on this thread. Needless to say, I've learned a lot from all of these posts.

When you get to heads up or even three or four handed, the winning hands become lower. Aces or any other top pair is a strong hand. In a couple of tournaments recently my final hands that held up were a pair of fives and a pair of sevens.

No problems glad to help.
IF your worried about your heads up play then try (if they have them at the site you play at) some of the cheap heads up games.
Thats where i learnt. You can try different plays in most situations and then apply them to short handed situations. It wont cost you too much in learning costs but the experience is very helpful in both mtt and sng play.
I only wished when i trapped a guy last nite heads up with pocket aces his AK hadnt sucked out a flush but there you go!

I would assume you refer to tournaments

You have to play much more hands then in a full table otherwise you will be eaten alive by the blinds.
I think a good rule of thumb to follow is to play 2x(# of players) hands per orbit as a general figure

Ax becomes a very strong hand when down to 3 players, and so do low-mid pairs.
Suited connectors and any other hand that plays well in multiway pot decreases in value

Originally Posted by Miffed22001

If we are speaking of tourney play here shorthanded, remember a quick fact.
The average hand in heads up play is jack high...

Interesting. How did you figure that Jack high is the average hand? I'm not doubting the statement, just curious on how calculated it.