Play Against Many Opponents

When playing poker online you're free to choose between a variety of cash games, SnG tournaments and Multitable tournaments demanding each their different approach and different strategies.

But choosing a cash game or tournament isn't the only thing determining what kind of poker you'll be playing. The number of opponents at your table is highly important as well, as this will have a big impact on the style of play, you should be implementing.
Playing many opponents at once allows you to play more cautiously and tight, whereas playing only a few opponents forces you to be more loose and aggressive.

Poker is usually played on tables seating 2-10 players. If a poker table has room for 6 or fewer players it's called "shorthanded" while 7-10 players at the same table is called "longhanded" or "full game".
The difference between playing a shorthanded and a longhanded game of poker is in the number of players you risk being in the hand with you, when you bet, raise or call. More opponents means more potentially good hands out there. Or more importantly – better hands than yours.

Your style of play in a full ring game therefore needs to be more patient and your choice in starting hands tighter than it should be when playing a shorthanded table.
The more players at the table, the more careful you should be when deciding what and how to play, and you should generally only play strong starting hands.

The reason for this is, that with for instance nine opponents at a Texas hold'em table there's a significant risk, that someone will be holding a better starting hand than yours, if you chose to play semi-strong starting hands like Ace-Ten or mediocre hands like Jack-Nine.
On the other hand, if you play at a table with only a few opponents, the very same hands like Ace-Ten is most likely the far superior holding.

In short: You should almost always throw away Ace-Ten preflop in a full ring game, while in a shorthanded game you should almost always raise with this very same hand.

The aggression needed to play successfully at a shorthanded table takes some getting used to, and beginners normally need time to learn this discipline. It's not always that easy to force yourself to bet out big when holding close to nothing – something you'll often need to do at a shorthanded table.

A shorthanded table also requires you to have a much better understanding of playing your position at the table, the potential strength of the starting hands, and reading your opponents' style of play.

So if you are a beginner, you ought to start out playing mainly tables seating 9 or 10 players. Be patient and have the discipline to only play solid starting hands. But when you do pick up a solid starting hand, bet it with force and take advantage of the many fish at the table willing to call down your Aces or Kings with absolute junk.

If only two players are seated at a table, the game is referred to as heads-up, and at a table like that aggression is the absolute key to success. The risk of your opponent holding a big hand is very slim, and a lot of starting hands gain tremendously in value when playing heads-up. The earlier mentioned Ace-Ten for instance is a virtual monster in a heads-up match, and you should bet it accordingly.


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