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SHORTHANDED PLAY
================
Abdul Jalib

I don't really consider 7 players to be short handed.  (Then again,
I'm from 9-handed California games where 2 people are always off
lobbying.)  The character of the game dramatically changes at 4 or
fewer players, where everyone is either in late position or on a
blind.


PLAYING THE PLAYERS
===================

Short-handed tables tend to be heads up by the flop, and heads up play
is a tremendously psychological game.  Categorize your opponents and
exploit their weaknesses, radically adjusting your play for the opponent.
Against overaggressive players you should be passive-aggressive;
be tenacious and let the overaggressive player bluff into you,
shedding your passivity for aggressive counterattacks for value
late in the hand.  Against weak-tight players likely to fold, you should
be overaggressive, but just be sure that they are really weak-tight, not
passive-aggressive.  Against passive-tenacious-loose players (i.e.,
calling stations), bet for value and almost never bluff.

Do what you can to encourage them to continue to be predictable in
one extreme or the other; for example, against chronic bluffers,
don't embarrass them by forcing them to show their hand at the showdown.
Against weak-tight players, cow them into submission with your glorious
superiority (as long as you and they believe you are the superior player,
you will be!)

Those tight-aggressive players, well, they are a problem, especially
if they have loosened up appropriately for the short-handed game; you
have no choice but to be tight-aggressive against them, and much of
the below strategy emphasizes this approach.


PREFLOP
=======

Yes, you should see more flops when short-handed.  Don't get carried
away with this, however, as you'll need good hands to support the
semi-bluffing that you'll be doing later in the hand.  Short-handed
preflop play is nearly identical to late position play and play on
the blinds at full tables when everyone folds to the last four players.
(The only difference in theory is that there were not a bunch of people
folding before, so in short-handed play the card distributions are
uniform, whereas at a full table that has folded down to a few players
the last few hands are more likely to contain aces and other high cards.)
Review the late and blind position sections in Sklansky&Malmuth's
_Advanced Holdem_ book, and see also their comments on heads up play
and semi-bluffing and just about everything else.  See also the FAQ.

Attack the blinds by raising with any playable hand.  A naked ace,
which is a trouble hand at a full table, becomes a playable raising
hand when short-handed.  Kings with decent kickers are okay too.
I tend to dump hands such as 86s, however, as I really don't
want to get heads up with it, though if the blinds are likely to
fold I might go for it.  When short-handed, big unsuiteds are fine,
while small suited connectors are trouble.  When your blind is being
attacked, call with most playable hands and reraise with the better hands
(such as AQ, KQs, ATs, 88) to punish your opponent for raising
your blind with his 86s.


ON THE FLOP
===========

Heads up, an ace with a good kicker is often a value-betting/raising hand
on a flop that completely misses it (i.e., no pair), even if the kicker
is not an overcard, though proceed with caution if you get called (you
have to hope your opponent is on a draw and that your ace high will
hold up in the showdown or that you'll hit your ace or its big kicker
on the turn or river.)  When I say proceed with caution I don't really
mean to check... although sometimes you can, much of the time you
should be betting, betting, betting until your opponent shows you
the error of your ways by raising you, and then you should often fold,
not call.

Giving free cards is not so dangerous heads up as at a full table,
but showing weakness heads up can be a fatal mistake, so in addition
to betting real hands that you could later get pushed off if a scare
card hits, you should also usually bet your draws.

If your opponent is showing strength by betting or raising you but you
have an awesome hand that you are sure beats him or a weak but
nonvulnerable hand such as ace bad kicker with an ace on the flop,
then it's usually best to "rope-a-dope", that is, back off and just
check and call, letting him defeat himself with his own strength.
You can even do this with weaker hands such as middle pocket pairs,
especially against overaggressive opponents.  Although sometimes
when out of position you will give the dreaded free turn card in
this manner, this is really pretty rare, because your opponent
does not wish to show his weakness by checking.

Because betting is so important, you can nearly count on your opponent
to bet if you check, and so you can and often should check-raise on
the flop with as little as top pair or a good draw or less.
Because you are often check-raising, it's okay to check your really
crappy hands... you won't be giving your opponent a total license to
steal.  Generally bet your middle pairs heads up as if they were top pairs
at a full table (especially with an overcard kicker, double so an ace
kicker), generally check-raise the better hands such as a good top pair,
and check-fold the hopeless hands.


ON THE TURN
===========

If on the flop you bet and your opponent called, don't make the
mistake of showing weakness by checking the turn, especially if
you are going to fold if your opponent bets.  It bears repeating:
keep hammering until you are raised.  Don't let a scare card slow
you down.  Remember, since you have just one or two opponents,
it's much less likely that they are helped by a scare card than
at a full table, and they are probably just as scared of the card
as you are.  Look out for bluff raises when a low card on the board
pairs on the turn.

If the flop got checked through, then you should often bet on
the turn even if you don't have much.  When out of position,
it may appear to your opponent as if you attempted to check-raise
the flop but failed and so now you are betting the turn with a real
hand.  When in position, and your opponent checks again on the turn
despite your checking after him on the flop, well, it sure looks
like he is just begging you to take the pot.  However, if you have
a really bad hand with no hope of winning in a showdown, you might
want to save your cold bluff for the river, since you don't want
to run a cold bluff on both the turn and the river, and you don't
want to bluff on the turn and then concede on the river when you
have no chance of winning the showdown yet aren't sure your opponent
has a hand.

When out of position and rope-a-doping a powerful hand by checking
on the turn, you should almost always (check)raise if your opponent
bets, because you are probably going to want to bet the river
anyway, and so you might as well spring the trap now for that extra
bet.  Also, if you opponent is on a draw, he will pay that extra
bet on the turn but not on the river (unless he makes his draw.)
When out of position with a drawing hand and the turn
gets checked through, then you should often bet into your opponent
on the river regardless of whether or not you made your draw.
And with position on the river, you should often bet if your
opponent checks.  Again, see S&M.

If you check-raise on the flop, then bet on the turn and prepare to
reevaluate/dump if your opponent raises you on the turn.  However,
your opponent with position on the turn may make a powerful play by
raising you when he intends on calling on the river anyway, especially
if he has an okay hand with some draws, even if he strongly suspects
it is second best now.  One can even do this raise on the turn with just
a good draw or even as a pure bluff, though this would be risky if
the other player showed strength by check-raised on the flop.

Because when your opponent raises on the turn with position it may just
be a semi-bluff, don't always dump your no-where-near-the-nuts
hand... sometimes reraise!  This reraise can be done for value with
a hand as weak as top pair or it can even be done as a pure bluff
against the right opponent at the right time.  If you reraise on
the turn and your opponent calls, then be careful on the river, as
evidently he was not bluffing and either had a good hand or a good
draw or a mediocre hand *and* mediocre draw.


ON THE RIVER
============

If you reraised your opponent on the turn, you have a good but beatable
hand, and the river card is a flush or straight or pair scare card, then
it's perfectly reasonable to check into your opponent with the intention
of calling; you may induce a bluff from the poorer players here (your
opponent would have to be dumb to bluff on the river when you reraised
his ass on the turn, but you might as well give him the chance to
make this mistake), and you may save yourself a bet if your opponent
hit his draw.  On the other hand, heads up often that flush or
straight scare card will be just as scary to your opponent as to you,
so sometimes you can bluff or value bet without worrying about getting
hit with a raise unless you are beat.  If you have a no-where-near-the-nuts
hand that you want to showdown, then you can check, but if you opponent
is likely to fold some hands better than yours (and that's very plausible
given given your reraise on the turn) then you should often bet.

More generally, if on the river you have a hand that you would
agonize over calling if you check and your opponent bets, then
usually you should bet, especially since you can easily fold it
if you are raised.

And that points to the fact that you can occasionally succeed in
bluff-raising on the river with position.  Don't try this too often
though, but also remember that it has to work only a fraction of the
time to be worthwhile.  A bluff check-raise on the river can work too,
but it's so tricky to pull off that it's almost not worth mentioning.


SUMMARY
=======

Well that's off the top of my head.  Again, I refer you to S&M for
much more information than can be squeezed into a short article.
Short-handed hold'em is a glorious game, where the skill factor
really goes through the roof and your play should become much more
probabilisticly mixed up and aggressive, including much more bluffing
and semi-bluffing than at a full table.  If you are a good full table
player, you can help adjust your play to a short table by usually
betting instead of checking and usually folding or raising instead of
calling.  That's good advice for full tables too, but it goes double
for short-handed tables.

When I post stuff like this sometimes readers think I'm being 
condescending or arrogant.  Nothing could be further from the truth.
If I post more than a terse response, then it's because I'm not sure
of everything I'm saying, and I'm interested in learning more about
the subject.  I'm actually seeking feedback from you rec.gamblers,
not lecturing you guys, so take it as a compliment and please go ahead
and criticize what I said.