6 Handed Vs 9 Handed Sng's

[Visnovsky 0]

I was curious as to people's opinions and preference to 6 handed vs 9 hold'em SnG's. Do you approach the strategy of either considerably differently or avoid one version for a particular reason?

[ROACHBABY 0]

Haven't been playing much lately, but I always loved the 6-handed SNGs in comparison to 9-handed especially on FTP- slow blind structure. 6-handed you can play many more hands and they're very exploitable if you're aggressive and are good at marginal situations. I also think that the 6-handed SNGs are more profitable, cant remember why I think so, but I think my logic was both pay the top 1/3 (2nd/6 or 3rd/9), but the 2nd/6 pays roughly 2 buy-ins while the 3rd/9 only pays roughly 1.3-1.6 buy-ins. Dunno if this makes sense but its good enough for me.

[pokerinc 0]

Hmm....that's pretty good logic w/ the pay breakdown. I've always found 9 handeds more profitable, but that's just a feeling, I don't have hard data to back them up. I get a good amount of 1sts and 2nds not as many 3rds, so I guess that's why.

[Potsie P 0]

I find 6-handed much better in terms of strategic play as mentioned above, but also more profitable for me personally. Playing UB's $5 SNGs, you get $21 for beating 5 people, but only $25 for beating 9. Four extra villains for a buck apiece? Not worth it IMO.I just played four SNGs last night--3 six-handed and 1 ten-handed. Won all 3 of the six-handed for $46.50 profit. Finished 3rd in the ten-handed one for a measly $4.50 profit. I know, that's not even considered a tenth of 1 percent for a sample size, but it's a snapshot of my personal poker preferences at the moment, anyway.

[vbnautilus 48]

I wonder if anyone has any specific advice they can share on how to play 6 handed versus 9 handed. I have been interested in trying out some 6 handed play recently (it's really the MTTs that interest me) and I have very little experience with this. I mean I know logically it makes sense to play more aggressively, but if anyone can elaborate I would appreciate it.

[RISEorFall 0]

I just played four SNGs last night--3 six-handed and 1 ten-handed. Won all 3 of the six-handed for $46.50 profit. Finished 3rd in the ten-handed one for a measly $4.50 profit.

not that i disagree, but you're comparing 3 wins to one 3rd. of course the third is going to seem measly.

[jjgoldy5 0]

I love the 6-man turbo SNG's on Stars.I hate 9-man turbos.The reason is that a 6-man tournament you are seeing more hands / level, so it is not as much of a push fest.They take about 30-35 minutes which is reallllly nice if you don't have time to grind out a 9-man for 90 minutes.As for specific advice, play really tight early on. Pick out the players who think a turbo means they have to play every hand. Reraise to isolate them in position preflop with a fairly wide range.Worst comes to worst you are at the 75/150 level with about 1200-1400 and are probably 3-4 handed. Win a flip or steal a few blinds with shoves and you will be right in it.If you can manage to build a good stack (4-5k) do not be afraid to leverage your stack against the shorties 3-4 handed. Identify which players you can commit 1/4 or more of their stack with a standard preflop raise, and do it when they are in the blinds. It will be easy to tell who is playing to cash and who is playing for first - exploit this read to your full advantage.Also, if aggression is shown towards you, dont be afraid to call or reraise in position with a fairly wide range, and do some bullying post flop even if you whiff the flop. The short stacks will be trying to outlast eachother to slide into second. I can't tell you how many times I've gotten heads up with something like a 5-1 or better chip advantage because I kept the pressure on the two shorties.Make sure you have a good idea how to play short stack strategy (ie push/fold mode) and also how to play against this strategy (determining pot odds, and making calls or folding to shoves based on the range of hands you put them on)Here are a couple sample hand histories:http://www.flopturnriver.com/Online-Poker-...nament-816.htmlhttp://www.flopturnriver.com/Online-Poker-...nament-817.htmlEarly on in both tournies I made a couple really crazy read-based calls (Calling a huge overshove on river in 816 with midpair, and calling overshove preflop in 817 with AJ).As you can see, the play in these were pretty awful, and that is somewhat standard for the 36+3 turbos which pay 140.40 for first and 75.60 for second.

[Royal_Tour 0]

9 handed i pwn and cash often in top 3.6 handed i also pwn, and cash often, only problem is, 6 handed u need to be winning them more often than 2nd place to make it more +EV, but i find even though i outplay them HU, suck outs do happen. and thus, frustrate the hell out of me, which is why i like pwning cash games

[Exodustjs11 0]

9 handed vs 6 handed. 9 handed is way way better, The ammount of chips in play, the ammount of bad players in play It all can add up to a significant advantage if you are the better player of the lot. You get more time to make decisions. Less pressure to play certain hands and not to mention the pay out is 1 extra. In 6 handed there is always pressure on every hand because everyone is always very agressive in the 6 handeds and only 1 and 2 pays out.

[potatoman 0]

9 handed vs 6 handed. 9 handed is way way better, The ammount of chips in play, the ammount of bad players in play It all can add up to a significant advantage if you are the better player of the lot. You get more time to make decisions. Less pressure to play certain hands and not to mention the pay out is 1 extra. In 6 handed there is always pressure on every hand because everyone is always very agressive in the 6 handeds and only 1 and 2 pays out.

I kind of agree. If you're new to sngs, I would suggest the 9-man variety. I find it's very easy to get frustrated with the 6 handed games, when first place is extremely important. I also find the competition to be a bit better at the 6-handed tables.Actually, I think the best argument for the 6-man sngs, is that they take less time to play, which means, if you're very good at them, you can probably squeeze more money out of them per hour than 9-man sngs. But I would master 9-handed before I moved over to 6-handed.

[pocket3s 0]

I prefer 6 handed because you beat 5 players to win just slightly less money. In a 9 player game, you don't even make the money for beating 5 players.

[Biko 0]

After reading this thread a while back, I switched to playing 6max SNGs. It's definitely a potential goldmine. Just because it's six players, there are plenty of donks out there who massively over-value their hands. For example, the action might go: UTG raises, button calls and then they'll re-raise with junk like A7o from the blind.Sit tight early on is the optimal strategy. If you can get an early double up when the said donks pay off your KK with K10o, then it puts you in control. Pick your spots, selective aggression until 3-handed when the blinds start to squeeze a little. Then use your table image and stack to batter them. Job done.It's also good if you're getting bonus points based on entry fees (ie. Iron Man challenge at FTP), you can get through quite a few 6max tables and rack up the points.

[Jennings7 0]

I generally approach them the same way. Yes, I open up my range a little more in the 6 max SNG's for obvious reasons, but overall, they are fairly similar in my opinion. Stay fairly tight and pay attention to position in both and it will be profitable.

[breeze81 0]

After reading this thread a while back, I switched to playing 6max SNGs. It's definitely a potential goldmine. Just because it's six players, there are plenty of donks out there who massively over-value their hands. For example, the action might go: UTG raises, button calls and then they'll re-raise with junk like A7o from the blind.Sit tight early on is the optimal strategy. If you can get an early double up when the said donks pay off your KK with K10o, then it puts you in control. Pick your spots, selective aggression until 3-handed when the blinds start to squeeze a little. Then use your table image and stack to batter them. Job done.It's also good if you're getting bonus points based on entry fees (ie. Iron Man challenge at FTP), you can get through quite a few 6max tables and rack up the points.

I agree I love the 6 handed SNG's and this is just about how I play them too. I seem to win much more in the 6 handed then the 9 handed. It does seem easier.

[AKProdigy 0]

I love 6-handed SNG's just because I feel the biggest advantage I have over typical donks who play these things are post flop play. 6-handed gives me many more opportunities to exploit this. I also tend to notice that people tighten up a lot 3 or 4 handed and my aggressiveness tends to allow me to build a stack fairly quickly. Just perseonal preference though. Playing 9-handed is much more straight forward though in terms of decision-making, etc.

[Jujoki3 0]

one of the things i do like about 6 max is that i can at least make some moves early on, like attacking limpers, cbetting more often, etc. does anyone want to trade some HH for 6 max sngs? I just started getting into them and would love to talk about hands/general strategy with other people.