Your Ultimate 6-Max Poker Strategy Cheat Sheet (2025)

6-Max poker has really taken off in popularity in recent years. Full ring games (9 or 10 players) used to be the norm, and actually still are if you play live, but 6-Max now dominates the world of online poker.

And therefore, you need to know the right strategy to beat these games.

The correct 6-max poker strategy is to play looser than you would in a full ring game (open 20% of hands) and make more bluffs and wider call downs. This means that in a 6-max game you should be playing a lot more speculative hands like suited connectors and suited aces as well. But the best 6-max poker strategy is still always dependent on what type of players are seated at your table.

Now of course this is a pretty simplistic answer and there is a lot more that you need to know in order to start crushing the 6-max games.

So this article will be my complete guide to 6max poker strategy.

I will be sharing with you my top tricks and tips that I have learned over the years from playing millions of hands of 6max online and crushing these games.

It's almost like a 6max poker cheat sheet to be honest.

And in case you were wondering, yes, the strategies that you are going to learn in this article will also work very well in all 6max Zoom games.

First things first, you are going to learn exactly what hands to play in 6max with charts below.

I also show you exactly what hands to play in 6max in my new video below: 9 PREFLOP Poker Tips For Beginners (Just Do This!)

Never miss my new poker videos, join 100,000+ who are already subscribed.

Alright with all that out of the way, let's get started!

1. The Best 6-Max Poker Starting Hands

The first big adjustment that you have to make if you are coming over from 9 or 10 handed games is to understand that at a 6-Max table you need to open up and play more hands. Let's start off by talking about some exact starting hand ranges.

At a full ring table I would typically suggest playing about the top 15% of all hands that are dealt to you. Here is a rough visual representation of what that might look like:

It is important not to get too wrapped up in the actual starting hands above. This is just an average selection. You should play less hands than this in the first few seats and more hands in the cutoff and button due to the incredible power of position in poker.

However at a 6-Max poker table, I would typically suggest playing about the top 20% of starting hands that are dealt to you. Once again here is a rough visual representation of what that might look like.

And again, please don't try to play these exact starting hands in every situation. This is just an example. You should be playing less hands that this in early position and more hands than this in late position.

The key takeaway here is that whatever hands you are currently playing at a full ring table, you need to add a few of the next worst hands if you decide to start playing 6-Max. 

For instance, by comparing the two charts above you can see that in full ring suited aces down to A5 are selected. However in the 6-Max chart, A4 suited, A3 suited and A2 suited are selected as well. This is what I mean by adding a few of the "next worst hands."

Here is Another Example:

In a full ring game let's say that you currently open raise on the button with KQ, KJ and KT. Well, if you start playing 6-Max it would be a good idea to start raising with K9 and maybe K8 in this spot as well. 

You should make this adjustment for literally all situations in a 6-Max game. This means expanding your blind versus blind opening range, your early position opening range, your 3Bet calling range etc. 

You should add a few of the next worst hands in every scenario when you play 6-Max.

For my entire starting hand selection in all poker games, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

Why Are 6 Max Opening Ranges Wider?

The reason why you need to play more hands in all situations in a 6-Max game is very simple. Less people at the table means there is less of a chance that anybody has anything good.

If you only take one thing from this entire article let it be this: Most of the time in a 6-Max game nobody actually has anything very good at all. 

Also, it is important to remember that the blinds come around a lot faster in a 6-Max game which means that you can't just sit around waiting for the nuts all day like you can in a full ring game. 

So therefore, it is necessary to get in there and start mixing it up with a few more hands in order to keep winning your fair share of the pots. In other words you need to widen your 6 max opening hand ranges.

I have seen far too many full ring guys at the lower stakes switch over to 6-Max and play the exact same range of hands that they do in a full ring game. And yet they wonder why they aren't winning!

This is one of the biggest reasons why people actually don't win at poker as I discuss in my latest YouTube video.

They are playing in games they don't know how to beat or can't beat yet!

Don't be that guy.

By the way, using a good quality poker HUD can also help greatly with your transition to 6max poker games.

Quick Bonus Tip:

There is actually an even easier way to think about this. When you play in a 6-Max game just pretend that you are playing at a full ring table and the first three seats have been removed (or the first 4 seats if you are used to 10 handed live poker games).

Because in reality, this is all that a 6-Max poker game really is. 

So if you are first to act preflop in a 6-Max game, just pretend that you are playing a 9 handed game and three people have already folded before you. 

Play the exact same range of hands that you would from middle position (MP) in a full ring game and so on and so forth from every other position at the table. This will quickly have you playing the right hands in 6-Max.

2. Bet More Often After the Flop in 6-Max

Postflop there are many adjustments to be made when you play 6-Max as well. One of the biggest ones is the necessity to bet more often on all streets after the flop.

And the biggest reason why is because strong hands are harder to come by in 6-Max. People will play more hands overall and therefore their ranges tend to be weaker on all postflop streets. 

So for instance, in 6-Max there is a better chance that your Ace high on the flop is actually still the best hand. Therefore, you don't even need to think of your CBet as a bluff. Since there is a good chance that you have the best hand, it is often actually for value.

In full ring things are a little bit different. This is a game where Nits can still turn a small profit sitting around waiting for AA and sets all day. You simply cannot get away with this in 6-Max and expect to win though. The blinds will eat you alive and the better regs will push you around all day. 

Here's What You Need to Do:

In 6-Max you should be betting the flop and firing additional barrels on the turn and/or river more often than in a full ring game. Your opponents just can't possibly have a hand often enough to call you down every time. 

"Red line" (or non-showdown winnings) are a lot more important in 6max than full ring. A larger share of the pots are won because somebody simply wanted it more, not because they showed down the best hand.

Check out my complete guide to increasing your red line winnings for more.

And furthermore, many players at the lower stakes still haven't made the adjustment in 6-Max to call wider versus aggressive players. They still operate with a full ring mentality where they want to wait for the nuts before putting any significant money in the pot. 

Let's look at an example to help illustrate this all better.

Example Hand

Hero raises to 3x from early position with A♢J♢

Nit Villain calls on the button

Flop:

3♢6♧6♡

Hero CBets

Villain calls

Turn:

2♡

Hero???

We raise preflop with a strong suited Ace in early position and get called by a nitty (tight) reg on the button. His range here has a lot of small and middle pairs that he is trying to set mine us with. He will also have a few big Aces and broadways that he was too afraid to 3Bet with.

Villain's Likely Range: (22, 33, 44, 55, 66, 77, 88, 99, TT, AK, AQ, AJ, KQ, KJ) 

We make a standard CBet on this extremely dry flop which should fold out all of his non-pair hands. More specifically a Nit will probably fold all his AK, AQ, AJ, KQ and KJ hands here.

Since this is a paired board the chances that he has a set are very low. But we expect him to hang on with some of his small pairs like 44 or 55 and all of his mid pairs (77, 88, 99, TT) as well.

Now in a full ring game when I get flatted on this flop by a Nit I would often just give up on this total brick turn card. In fact in my article last week I talked about exactly why this is generally a bad card to double barrel on.

But it is a lot closer in 6-Max. I know that it is harder for them to have something to call me with. I also know that this specific type of player is often looking for any excuse to fold. Make sure to check their Went to Showdown numbers (WTSD%) on your HUD for more evidence of this.

It is important to note that if I decide NOT to double barrel this turn, then I am going to bluff plenty of rivers in 6-Max for all of the same reasons. I will be betting any broadway card for instance (T, J, Q, K or A) and possibly some hearts as well.

Here is another excellent example of when to double barrel in a 6max game:

Bottom Line: Bet more often in 6-Max. It is simply harder for them to have a hand. Many of the weaker regs (Nits and TAGfish in particular) also still fold way too much at the lower stakes. 

Check out my full guide on player types at the lower limits for more on which regulars to target.

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3. Float More Often After the Flop in 6-Max

In addition to betting more often in a 6-Max game you should also be floating when they bet quite a bit more often as well.

A float in poker is simply the act of calling a continuation bet after the flop. And preferably in position most of the time because this makes it much easier to take the pot away from them on later streets.

In a full ring game you can often just lay down your Ace high or even bottom pair on the flop. However, it is much more necessary in a 6-Max game to continue with hands like these. 

The reason why? Because once again, most of the time nobody actually has anything!

There is a reason why nearly all advanced poker training material these days focuses heavily on widening your floating ranges. Because it simply works!

Also, floating is arguably the very best way to break the Nits (extremely tight players) in today's small stakes games. This is because Nits are notoriously scared to put a lot of money in the pot without a big hand.

So often these days you will encounter regs at the lower limits who have a gap between their Flop CBet% and Turn CBet% of 20 points, 30 points or even more. This is unbelievably exploitable.

Here is an example of a typical tight 6-Max reg at the micros these days.

On my HUD display which you can download and use for yourself for free right here.

• CBF = CBet Flop 
• CBT = CBet Turn

*Note the 35 point difference with this reg.

What this means is that he will often fire a continuation bet on the flop, but if he doesn't have much of a hand by the turn (which is the case most of the time), then he will just go into shutdown mode and give up on the pot for the most part.

This gives us tons of opportunities to win easy pots on the turn and/or river by just making a simple bet. Our actual hand becomes almost irrelevant. Red line goes through the roof. Easy game.

Now despite these very basic betting errors that many small stakes players still make we don't want to be floating with just any two cards. We still want to have some standards as I will explain below.

But if you are folding the flop more than about 60% of the time in a 6-Max game, I would say that you are leaving serious money on the table. 

I would shoot for closer to a 50% fold rate. If you are highly confident in your postflop game, then you can fold even less than this and show a profit at the lower stakes.

By the way, if you are curious about how I am able to keep track of all my opponents even while multi-tabling online poker, yes I do use several software aids and tools.

For the complete list of all the poker software tools I use as a pro, click here.

So What Hands Should We Float With in 6max?

You should of course be calling the flop (or raising) with all of your strong hands like overpairs, top pairs, flush draws, straight draws and two pair or better.

However, you should also be routinely floating the flop in 6-Max with many of your:

• Middle pairs
• Bottom pairs
• Gut shot straight draws
• Backdoor draws (straight or flush) with over(s)

And just to be clear I want to note that I am only talking about 100 big blind effective stacks and heads up pots here. Versus short stacks or multiple opponents the strategy can change significantly.

But hopefully the point is clear. In a 6-Max game you need to be continuing with a lot more hands after the flop. You can't just sit around waiting for the nuts all day and expect to win. Let's look at an example.

Example Hand

Nit Villain raises to 3x in early position

Hero calls on the button with A♢J♢

Flop:

3♢6♧6♡

Villain CBets

Hero???

You might notice that this is actually the exact same hand that I discussed before. I just switched the seats and the preflop action around. We are the preflop caller this time and we have position as well.

This nitty regular is almost certainly going to CBet on this dry board. We have two nice overcards and the backdoor nut flush draw. So I am never folding when he bets here. From time to time I will even mix in a raise as well.

The reason why is because I think that a weaker reg like this will give up a lot versus either line. He will fail to make a CBet on the turn a lot of the time or just give up on the flop versus a raise sometimes. 

Even if he gives us action there are tons of turn cards that we can bet or bluff on with plenty of equity.

These are cards like:

• Any broadway (T, J, Q, K or A)
• Any diamond

This amounts to half of the deck when you count them all. Also, since we have position we will be able to dictate the pace of the action the rest of the way. 

We can just check behind on some turns that aren't good for us and bluff some rivers as well.

Basically, there are tons of ways for us to win here. You have to get involved in 6-Max and fight for more pots. 

In position against the weaker regs is a good place to start mixing it up more. You can make a small fortune at the micros by floating these guys and outplaying them on later streets.

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4. Raise More Often After the Flop in 6-Max

Something else that you need to be doing more often in 6-Max compared to full ring is raising after the flop.

I have done a lot of research in Pokertracker 4 about postflop raising ranges for regs at the lower stakes online. Most are only raising around 10% of the time on the flop and this is the street where people are most likely to raise.

This is pretty crazy because if you are only raising the flop 10% of the time this means that you pretty much always have a set or a monster draw. This is almost trivial to exploit. 

I would recommend raising the flop a lot more often than this (as much as double) and more often on the later streets as well.

You should definitely still keep raising with your sets and monster draws most of the time. But you should also be raising frequently with regular draws (flush and straight) and even sometimes with just two overs and a backdoor draw like we saw in the previous hand.

Adding these types of hands to your postflop raising range will make you infinitely more difficult to play against because your opponents won't be able to put you on a monster every time and make the easy fold.

Raising more after the flop is also highly effective in 6-Max because they won't have a strong hand to call you with very often. And even if they get stubborn with some sort of pair, a followup bet on the turn and/or river is often enough to turn them into a believer.

Let's look at an example to help illustrate this better.

Example Hand

Nit Villain raises to 2.5x from the button

Hero calls in the big blind with J♡T♡

Flop:

3♧9♡A♡

Hero checks

Villain CBets

Hero???

A nitty regular raises from the button in this hand. Since he is in a steal position we know that he will be opening with a wide range here, perhaps as much as 30% or even more hands.

It is important to also note the 2.5x the big blind open which is pretty standard these days even at the lower stakes especially from a steal seat (button or cutoff).

Five years ago most people would make it 3x or even more sometimes in this spot which gave you much worse odds to call out of position. Therefore the play was often to either 3Bet or fold. 

But with the smaller open raise sizes in today's games (2x or 2.5x) flatting with a hand like this is certainly an acceptable option as well. 

On the flop there are also multiple lines that we could take with this hand. You could throw in some leads here once in awhile just to mix things up and keep them guessing. I prefer to just check it to the preflop raiser most of the time though and that is what we do here.

After the reg makes his CBet we could just call out of position here. But it doesn't really put us in a great spot on the turn since we will miss our flush 80% of the time and be out of position still with just a draw.

Check/Raise!

So I think it is a good idea to mix in some check/raises in a spot like this more often. We don't need to fear the Ace too much (remember this guy is opening with 30% of hands from the button here). 

And by raising we also give ourselves a chance to take down the pot unimproved right now or with a followup lead on the turn. 

This is something that Phil Ivey discusses at length in his new poker training program. 

Understanding situations where a raise is very likely to either take down the pot now or with a followup bet later on in the hand.

People often complain these days about not getting any action with their big hands like AA or sets. A big part of the reason why is because everybody and their dog knows that they have the nuts when they raise!

If you can show up with hands like this (regular flush draw), or even worse hands on occasion, not only will you get a lot more action when you actually want it, but you will start taking away more pots from the regulars and ultimately winning more.

Bottom Line: In a 6-Max game you have to find more ways to get active postflop because so often nobody really has anything good. Raising more often with decent equity hands like a flush draw is a good way to go about that.

5. Isolate the Recreational Players More Often in 6-Max

The final adjustment that you need to make for 6-Max is to zero in on the fish even more than ever. By this I mean that you should be isolating the recreational players like crazy at the lower stakes. 

As I discuss at length in both of my books, playing against the fish is by far the #1 way to increase your poker winnings.

There is no strategy on earth that you will ever learn in any guide, video, book or from any coach that can even come close.

Bad players = $.

And the great thing about the lower stakes games (online or live) is that most of the regs won't fight with you to get in hands with the fish like they will at higher limits. This means that when the recreational player limps into the pot you can often raise it up and get the pot heads up against them pretty easily. 

Even if you are out of position this is still a great opportunity. Recreational players are where the bulk of your profits will come from in this game because they make massive fundamental mistakes all the time. They also tilt like crazy.

So you can and should be taking control of the pot preflop with an even wider range of hands than normal if a fish limps in. 

If I am in position, especially on the button, then I will be raising with nearly half the deck when they limp in. The reason why is that my edge in this spot is simply too big to pass over.

I expect to be able to turn a profit with hands as weak as:

Q♢7♢

or 

K♤T♡

The other great thing about 6-Max is that since there are less players at the table, you get to play hands against the recreational players way more often. 

You should always be focusing heavily on your poker table selection and playing on easy poker sites in today's games. But I would say that it is even more important in 6-Max. 

If you always have at least one bad player at the table, then it is literally impossible not to win big even if you just play like a complete nit. And at 6-Max, you get to bust them even faster.

6max Poker Tournament Strategy

So far I have mostly been talking about cash games. What about if you play tournaments though? What is a good 6-Max poker tournament strategy?

Well, in the early going of a 6 Max poker tournament you need to realize that it is mostly the same as a cash game. The stacks are often similar, around 100 big blinds deep.

Therefore, all of the 6-max poker strategies that I outlined above such as playing more hands, fighting for more pots after the flop and focusing heavily on isolating the recreational players still applies.

However, as the tournament progresses and you get to the middle and late stages where the stacks are often between 10 big blinds and 40 big blinds, the strategy does indeed change.

You can't open as many hands when you are on a short stack in a 6 max poker tournament. Likewise, you can't float the flop and fight for pots with light holdings.

You have to be much more cognizant of preserving your stack but also looking for that all important double up!

And this is why your strategy in the middle to late stages of a 6-max poker tournament will involve far more all-ins and highly aggressive plays both preflop and on the flop. You also need to make sure that you are stealing the blinds any time you get a chance.

So the bottom line is that the best 6 Max poker tournament strategy is to keep playing your slightly loose aggressive game in the early going in a 6-max poker tournament. Mix it up, play lot's of hands in position, isolate the fish and so on.

But as the blinds increase you need to tighten up and play more of that shove or fold style of poker that so often characterizes the late stages of a tournament.

Is 6max More Profitable Than Full Ring?

Something that a lot of people also ask me is if 6max is more profitable than full ring (9 or 10 players).

And the answer to this question is that yes, in theory it is.

The reason why is that whenever there are less players at the table, then you have more opportunities to get involved with the bad players, and therefore make more money.

This is why heads up poker (2 players), is actually the most profitable form of poker in terms of your pure winrate. You get to play every single hand against a bad player!

By the way, when I talk about your poker "winrate" I am referring to your BB/100 which basically means how many big blinds you win for every 100 hands you play.

This is typically how we measure your poker earnings in online cash games.

However, the important thing to remember at the micro stakes though is that there are a lot of recreational players and they play 6max, full ring, basically anything.

So while 6max might be slightly more profitable than full ring in theory, from my years and years of playing both 6max and full ring, I haven't been able to notice much of a difference in terms of my winrate.

It is similar in both.

Therefore, the key takeaway here is that you shouldn't play 6max instead of full ring because you think it will be more profitable. The truth is that there is plenty of money to be made in both games.

You should play 6max instead of full ring because you enjoy it more.

What is the Best 6max Zoom Poker Strategy?

I also often get asked what the best strategy for 6max Zoom is. And quite honestly, you don't really need to change your strategy that much.

All of the 6max poker strategy that I covered in this article will work just fine in fast fold games like Zoom as well.

With that said though, there are a few key adjustments that I would recommend when playing 6max Zoom.

And that is to bluff the regulars a little bit more often especially in the early going when they don't really know you that well.

The reason why this works so well is that Zoom tends to attract a lot of tight multi-tabling nits. And they will very often just back from you without a strong hand.

This is especially the case in Zoom where it is really difficult to build up any kind of HUD stats or reads on someone very quickly.

This is something that I call the "information gap" in Zoom poker. You are often playing blind against your opponents especially at the micros (very few reads).

So for example:

I have T♥8♥ on the button preflop in a 6max Zoom game and a tight regular has already raised from middle position.

This is a spot where I will very frequently re-raise (3-bet) preflop with a speculative hand like this especially when I don't have very much history with this player (we haven't played many hands together).

And this is because I know I can make him fold preflop a lot here. Or if he calls, then I will often take it down on the flop with just a simple CBet.

These are a few of the 6max Zoom poker strategies that I use to maximize my profit in these games. 

If you want to know my complete Zoom 6max poker strategy, I have already written a massive guide for crushing Zoom games which you can find right here.

Final Thoughts

6-Max poker strategy is not really that complicated. It really just involves expanding your range a little bit in nearly all facets of the game. 

This is something that I discuss at length especially in the opening chapters of The Micro Stakes Playbook. You need to adjust your ranges especially depending on who is seated at the table.

But it is important not to go too crazy. A 6-Max poker game is still way closer in theory to full ring than to heads up for instance. 

But if you really want to start crushing the lower stakes 6-Max games, then it will be necessary to start shedding a few of your nitty ways. And believe me, as a former massive multi-tabling full ring nit grinder I know all about this!

You need to start playing a few more hands from all positions preflop as well as betting and barreling more postflop. You should be floating and raising more often as well especially against the weaker regs.

In time you will start to think with more of a 6-Max mentality. There are tons of easy pots up for grabs that nobody really wants to fight for. And you don't need to have the nuts in order to start winning more of them!

The other great thing about 6-Max is that you get to play hands more often against the fish. Make sure you are getting involved with them as often as possible and getting their stack before the other regs do.

Lastly, if you want to know the complete strategy I use to consistently make $1000+ per month in 6max games as a 10 year pro, make sure you grab a copy of my free poker cheat sheet.

Let me know in the comments below what 6max poker strategies you use.