The purpose of this article is to familiarize you with Limit Texas Holdem strategy for shorthand games (games involving six or fewer players). This article is mainly geared towards beginners and contains valuable tips on how to easily win in low-limit shorthand Texas Holdem games. Understanding how to successfully play shorthand games is a very important step of becoming a winning Texas Holdem player. Besides of this, most critical shorthand concepts are very useful in postflop play in longhand games. This article is especially useful for online Texas Holdem players, because shorthand games are very popular in most online poker rooms. Moreover, almost all high-limit games are played shorthand.

What type of game should you choose?

One of the essential skills of a winning Texas Holdem player is the ability to choose the right game. Remember that there is no reason to play against professionals, except practice. The best way to feel and understand the type of the game is to watch how much betting and raising action occurs. If there is plenty of raising and folding, then this is a tight and aggressive battle of skilled pros, which you should better stay away from, but if players limp in a lot preflop and then simply call bets – this is the right place for you to stay. The reason to choose such tables is that selective aggression is the key to success in shorthand Texas Holdem games.

Good starting hands.

Just as in longhand Texas Holdem games, the major beginner mistake in shorthand games is playing too much hands. Beginners tend to play even poor hands and overvalue suited cards. Although there are several articles containing detailed description of this question on our site, I will briefly summarize what useful for shorthand games.

One important thing to realize is that hand values are very approximate and relative, which means that the same hand can be very good in one situation and simply worthless in another. For instance, if there was a lot of action like bet, raise, reraise, call and then a cap, I would definitely fold anything, except AA, KK , AK , QQ and JJ. This means that you should always think of your opponents’ cards and guess whether your starting hand is better or at least equal to other players’ cards before throwing your chips on the board.

Take a look at this list of good starting hands:

• You can raise with A and 10 (or higher), KQ, KJ and suited J10.
• You can call with AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ, A10 and suited QJ.

Hands worth reraising depend on a particular situation and the raiser. For instance loose players are worth re-raising with any pair, or even A and 9 (or higher), because you will probably hit the flop, because loose players frequently tend to raise even with something like A and 4. However, if your opponents are rather tight, consider reraising them only if you have AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK, AQ and maybe JJ. Calling and raising with AK and AQ is way more effective in multi-way pot, because there is a good chance of hitting a top pair and winning a share in that pot.

Note that suited connectors and smaller pairs are only worth playing under specific conditions. For example, if your opponents are not aggressive, it may be possible to limp with such cards playing multi-way pots. However, in shorthand games multi-way pots are rather rare, so suited connectors usually have very little value. Holding a small pair (anything smaller than JJ), you’d want to play heads-up pot, especially if the game is very shorthanded. You must also consider your position, when making a decision. Small pairs and especially suited connectors must be folded if you are in the early position, but if you are the dealer and most of your opponents folded, then you may consider raising with a small pair.

Basic flop tips.

When you have a strong hand, just bet it. If you hold a top pair, or even a stronger hand, then you should simply bet. In case if your opponent raises you, then you should consider responding with a reraise, because he might be trying to get a free card on the turn, or just have a weaker hand and tries to overvalue his cards in your eyes. Nevertheless, you’d better hold a top pair and a good kicker in order to bet, or reraise such opponents.

However, if you was hoping for a top pair, but got a low pair (for example you had A8 and the flop is 9,8 and 3), then you have a decision to make. This decision is highly situational, but I have some general tips that may help.

First of all, you must compare the strength of your hand relative to the flop. Say you have suited A8 and the board is 9 of clubs, 8 of spades and 3 of diamonds. It is unlikely that one of your opponents has a 9. In this case you should simply bet, if it is checked up to you and call, if someone bets at you.

Here is another example:

Say, you have suited J and 9 of hearts and the flop is A of clubs, K of spades and J of diamonds. It is obvious that your hand is extremely weak, so you should fold it on the flop. Generally, you should always compare your hands relative to other likely hands and make decisions proceeding from these considerations.

Drawing hands and pot odds.

You should always count your outs (the number of cards that can improve your hand), but don’t be too liberal. For example if you hold AQ and the board is J, Q and 10, then you shouldn’t count the Ace as a possible out, because someone else can easily hold AK, or a Jack.

Bluffing.

Bluffing is a very effective, but very dangerous tool. You should consider bluffing in serious games only if you successfully did it before. If other players see you bluffing several times in a row, then they will treat you as a bluffer even when you’ll hold a strong hand and will try to knock them out of the pot.

Common flop bluffs: If you had a good starting hand and raised preflop, then the flop is a very good time to bluff. For example you have QJ and the board is A, 8 and 3. Suppose you raised preflop and it is heads-up at the flop. If your opponent checks to you – just bet. Although you have nothing, your opponent’s probably has nothing too, so just go ahead and try to steal.

Semibluffing is another trick frequently used in shorthand Texas Holdem games. Semibluffing literally means betting, when you don’t have a strong set yet, but you are on a really strong draw. For example you have suited KQ of diamonds and the board is A of diamonds, 6 of diamonds and 4 of clubs, which means that you have a flush draw. Go on and bet, because you aren’t just having a significant chance of hitting a flush, you also might steal the pot right from the flop. Note that semibluffing is way more effective at higher limits, because loose players at low limits will rather call you to the river, even if they have just about nothing.

Besides of these, there are some useful bluffs that don’t work that well at fixed limit, but do work time to time. Say, the flop is checked and the turn brings a Queen. Go on and bet. It is more likely that your opponents will fold, unless they hit a draw. You should also realize that some loose players will likely call you down with an A high. If many of your opponents are loose, then you shouldn’t bluff much. Good strategy against such players is to value bet often and win a lot in the long run, by hitting the pot with strong hands.

Also recommended:

1. Advanced Limit Texas Holdem Strategy for Shorthand Games
2. Limit Texas Holdem Strategy for Longhand Games
3. Low Limit Omaha Strategy
4. Advanced No-Limit Texas Holdem Strategy
5. Introduction to No-Limit Texas Holdem