Kristy Gazes

My first poker experiences were in the low-limit 7-Stud games at Commerce Casino in Los Angeles. From the start, poker was an important part of my income. It had to be. I couldn’t afford to go broke. I needed to avoid the fate that hit many of the good players around me. They experienced massive swings in fortune — one day they’re playing in the big games, the next they’re on the rail, trying to scrape together enough money for a buy-in.

Early in my poker career I set a simple rule for myself: I would never move to a higher limit until I won three consecutive sessions. If I lost three consecutive sessions at a given limit, I would move down to a lower limit.

It took discipline to stick to my rule. For a very long time – years, in fact – I never made it beyond the low-limit tables. I couldn’t put together three consecutive wins. It was frustrating, but it was a great learning experience. By the time I made it to higher limits, I was a seasoned, experienced player who could deal with the intense competition I encountered.

Another nice thing about using such a patient approach was that I always had comfortable padding in my bankroll. In those early years, I may have had a hard time winning three sessions in a row, but I was beating the games regularly. I could pay my rent and add to my bank. When I moved to higher limits, I had plenty of money to sustain myself through any bad runs. In any case, if a lousy run of cards lasted three sessions, I’d back down to a limit where I was risking less.

I know a lot of players who have a hard time using an approach like mine. Most can’t step back because they feel a lower-limit game is beneath them. Their egos tie up their heads and they try to prove themselves against better players. They end up playing higher than they can afford, in games that are tough to beat, and they wind up broke. As a professional, I don’t play for ego. I play for money. As Paul Wolfe recently pointed out, often a smaller game offers a better opportunity for profit.

Think about incorporating something like my three-win, three-loss rule in your own play. Stepping down a level when things go bad will not only preserve your bankroll, it will sharpen your skills and build your confidence. When you step up, you’ve got the momentum of a winning streak behind you. You’ll be playing your best – ready for higher stakes and sharper players.

Chris Ferguson

In Limit Hold ‘em, it is not uncommon to see pots that are contested by four, five, or even six players. This happens with some frequency at lower limits, especially when playing with those who haven’t learned the virtues of a tight-aggressive style of play.

In multi-way pots, draws become especially powerful, and playing big draws aggressively against multiple opponents can create very profitable situations. For example, say that you’re dealt As-8s on the button. Three players limp before the action gets to you, and you decide to limp as well. Both blinds call, so a total of six players see the flop of 4s-7s-Jc. You have no hand at the moment, but you do have the nut flush draw.

On the flop, the small blind bets and three players call. What’s your best action? Clearly, folding would be wrong. With two cards to come and nine outs, you’ll make the nut flush roughly 35 percent of the time, making you only a 2:1 dog. With six small bets going in the pot pre-flop and four going in on the flop, you’re getting pot odds of 10:1.

You might be tempted to just call and see what the turn brings but, in fact, raising in this situation gives you better value. The pot is getting large and it’s likely that all your opponents are going to call. Even those who have nothing more than second pair or a gutshot straight draw may feel that their pot odds are favorable enough to justify calling the second bet. If your raise gets called by four people, you’ll be getting great value. You’d be getting 4:1 on your money when you’re only a 2:1 underdog – a clear win for you.

The raise might also work well for you on the turn and river. By acting after the flop, there’s a chance that the other players will check to you on the turn. This gives you the option of checking and taking a free card if you don’t make your flush.

The level of aggression that you show with a draw will largely depend on your position. To show how your play might change with position, imagine you’re in a hand with the same hole cards (As-8s), the same number of players (six), and the same flop (4s-7s-Jc). This time, however, you’re not on the button but are in the big blind instead when the small blind bets out. Here, you want to encourage the other players in the hand to put as much money in the pot as possible. If you raise, you’re probably going to force players with second pair or a gutshot to fold, so your best option is to call. Give your opponents every opportunity to throw money in the pot.

Finally, let’s look at how you might play the same cards when you’re the first to act. If you have a nut flush draw in the small blind and there are six players in the pot, go ahead and bet. It’s a favorable situation for you, so you want to make sure that some money goes in the pot. When out of position, I’ll usually follow-up my flop bet with another bet on the turn no matter what card hits. Then, if I miss again on the river, I can decide whether or not I want to bluff at the pot. If I’m against only one or two players on the river, I’ll usually bluff. If there are five players left in the hand, I won’t bother. It’s too likely that someone will call.

You can make a lot of money playing draws in low-limit Hold ‘em. Just remember that you want as many people contributing to the pot as is possible, which means that in different positions, you’ll need to do different things to get the most out of your draws.

Paul Wolfe

In the 18 months that I’ve been playing poker at Full Tilt Poker, the one question I am asked most often is a variation on the following:

“Hey Paul? What are you doing in this 10-20 No-Limit game? Ivey, J-dags, and Matusow are at the 25-50 No-Limit table, and E-dog is playing in the 50-100 Limit game. Why don’t you join them?”

The first thing I do when I walk into a poker room is put my name on the lists of games I’m interested in; the next thing I do is have a good look at the particular games I’ve just signed up for. More often than not, I’ll sit at the first available table when my name is called, but I immediately take stock of the game and behave accordingly. Often times, everything is just fine, but sometimes I’ll ask to be added to the table change list. Other times, a seat change button is enough to make the game palatable. On rare occasions, I simply leave the table.

As I play, I take note of the loose players and tight players, and then use that information to decide which seat will be most profitable. Likewise, I keep a casual eye on the other games. If I get called for a table change, I make sure the new game is the more lucrative one; if it’s not, I’ll stay put and ask to be put at the bottom of the transfer list. And while I have seen unbeatable 3-6 games and very soft 10-20 games running side by side, it’s safe to assume that higher limits mean tougher games.

If you’re playing to learn, nothing will challenge your poker skills like being at a table with Howard Lederer and Phil Gordon. If you’re playing poker for entertainment and making money isn’t your goal, by all means choose your tables according to where you’ll have the most fun. But if your only goal is to make money, forget about everything except picking the weakest game at a limit you can afford, even if it’s the 1-2 game when you’re itching to play 2-4. In ring game poker, it is better to play smaller at the table you’re likely to beat than it is to play bigger at a tougher table. You also need to take your time about moving up a level. I have seen many 1-2 players sustain steady win rates at those stakes for a month, then disappear for weeks after taking a shot at the 2-4 game.

Knowing where to play is as important as knowing how to play. If you pay close attention to your game selection, you’ll grow the kind of bankroll that will allow you to have more games to choose from.

Jennifer Harman

Stud-8 or Better is a great game. The rules are nearly identical to regular 7-Card Stud, but there’s one key difference. At showdown, the pot is split; half is given to the player with the best high, and half to the player with the best low. In order to take a portion of the pot, a low hand must have no card higher than an 8. If there is no qualifying low, the high hand takes the entire pot.

With players aiming for both high and low hands, Stud-8 invites a lot of action. But beginning players, even those with some 7-Card Stud experience, often come to a Stud-8 table with a poor understanding of what hands do well in this split-pot game.

To understand what types of hands you should play in Stud-8, you must grasp this key concept: In Stud-8, you’re looking to scoop pots. By scoop, I mean that you want to take both the high and the low halves of the pot. That’s where you’re going to make your real profit.

The starting hands that are most likely to make you the sole winner of a big pot contain three low suited connectors. For example, As-2s-3s and 4h-5h-6h have great potential. They’ll often make unbeatable lows and have a flush or a straight to go along with them. So, if you see a hand that starts with three low suited cards, look to play it aggressively.

You should play hands with three low cards, especially those that include an Ace. A starting hand like Ac-2d-7c may not have potential to make a flush, but there is a good chance that you’ll create a solid low. And the Ace gives you a shot at a decent high, with something like Aces-up. Even a hand like 4-5-7 has enough of an opportunity to make both straights and lows to make it playable.

The major mistake that new Stud-8 players make is that they play aggressively with hands that might serve them well in a regular game of 7-Card Stud. For instance, a hand like T-J-Q plays well when you only need to be concerned about creating a high hand. But in Stud-8, this is a hand that should be mucked. With no chance of making a low, a player could find himself chasing a draw that would only net half the pot. Those sorts of situations will often lead to dreadful results.

Big pairs, like Jacks, Queens and Kings, are also difficult to play in Stud-8. A quick example will illustrate the problem big pairs present. Say you’re dealt a Queen and a 7 in the hole, and another Queen as your up-card, giving you a pair. After the betting on third street, two other players remain, one showing a 5, the other a 3. This appears to be a good situation for you, as the other two seem to be looking for lows. But then, on fourth street, the player who had a 3 catches an Ace and you find a 9. Now you’re in a very difficult spot. The Ace might have helped your opponent’s low draw and perhaps added a straight draw to his hand. Or it might have paired an Ace he had in the hole. It would be difficult to know where you stand. Even if you were ahead, you need to be concerned that your opponent will pair the Ace or hit a straight before the end of the hand.

If you’re going to play big pairs in Stud-8, proceed with caution. Be ready to dump the hand if one or more of your opponents develop a scary board.

The later streets in Stud-8 can be lot of fun as players try to figure out how their opponents’ hands are developing. It takes practice and experience to become a good Stud-8 player. But if you follow the suggestions for starting hands I discussed here, you should be on your way to playing Stud-8 profitably.

Steve Brecher

Most players know that pre-flop position is important in hold ‘em. The earlier your position, the more players there are behind you and, unless you hold pocket Aces, the bigger the chance that one of them will have a hand better than yours.

There is another aspect to position: It’s better to act after your opponent(s) rather than before. But for this tip, I’m going to investigate the chances that a player behind you will have a better hand.

There is no universal definition of what “better” means when comparing hold ‘em starting hands. For this article, I needed some reasonable, quantifiable criterion. So in the following, I’m assuming that one hand is “better” than another if its showdown equity is greater. A hand’s showdown equity against another hand is the average portion of the pot it will win across all possible combinations of board cards. This is similar to the percentages that TV poker programs display next to player hands when the players are all-in. If you’re interested in investigating this for yourself, there are several free computer programs and websites which calculate the showdown equities of user-specified competing hands.

For example, Ah 2d all-in pre-flop against Kc Qc will, over all possible boards, win an average of 53.9% of the pot. So the A-2 is the “better” hand against K-Q suited by our definition. Obviously, it is not better for all purposes; at a full table I’d usually open-raise in early position with K-Q suited, but toss A-2 offsuit.

Given some specific hand category – such as K-Q suited – we’ll need to know the chance that a random hand dealt from the remaining 50 cards will be “better.” This requires that we have a showdown equity calculation for each of the 1,225 possible opposing hands and tabulate against how many of them the K-Q suited has the worse (less than 50%) equity. It turns out that 238 of the 1,225 possible opponent hands are “better” in this sense. So we say that the chance of a random hand being better than K-Q suited is 238/1,225 or 19.4%; conversely, the chance that a random hand will not be better is 80.6%. This tabulation would be too tedious to do by hand. For the example results below, I developed some simple software to do the calculations.

Suppose that you are considering an opening bet pre-flop. There are players yet to act behind you. I’ll denote the number of hands to play behind you as N. For example, if you’re on the button, then there are two hands – the blinds – behind you, and N would be equal to 2. What is the probability that none of some number of random hands will be better than yours? It is the chance that one random hand will not be better than yours multiplied by itself N-1 times, which is the same as saying it’s that probability raised to the Nth power. For example, if there’s a 40% chance that a random hand won’t be better (i.e., a 60% chance it will be better), then the chance that none of three random hands will be better is 40% x 40% x 40%, or 0.4 to the 3rd power, which equals 0.064. Hence, the chance that at least one of the three hands will be better is 1.0 – 0.064 or 0.936 or 94%.

I think the most interesting thing about these numbers is the difference between earlier and later positions. This is something to consider when you’re thinking of open-raising in early position.

Big Slick: A Slippery Hand

Rafe Furst

I often tell people that short-term results are not a reason to change how they play, but I likewise encourage them to use any excuse to study and analyze their game.

Recently, a player on Full Tilt Poker lamented that he’d gone broke with A-K in his last several tourneys, and he suspected that he was doing something wrong. A few questions revealed that he was getting knocked out fairly early in these tournaments when he put his A-K up against pocket pairs for all his chips. It’s a familiar lament.

Many people fall in love with A-K pre-flop in No-Limit Hold ‘em because they know that they can rarely be much worse than 50-50 to win the hand if they get all of their money in heads up. While this is true, the reverse is also true: Rarely will you be much better than 50-50 to win an all-in showdown.

So why is A-K considered such a great starting hand? Folding equity. Under the right conditions, you can increase your pot equity to well over 50% by getting your opponents to fold in situations where they shouldn’t. Here’s a scenario: Blinds are $200-$400 and Jen Harman (who has $12,000 in front of her) raises to $1,200 from middle position with pocket tens. You re-raise all-in for $6,000 with A-K from the button. It is difficult for Jen to call here because, even though she suspects you might have A-K, she knows you could also make that play with A-A, K-K, Q-Q or J-J.

Does she want to play for half of her stack on what figures to be, at best, a 57% favorite? You, on the other hand, are confident that unless she has one of two hands (AA or KK), you are no worse than 43% to win, even if she calls. Unless Jen picks up on a tell, she is forced to fold a hand that is actually better than your A-K by a slight margin. Not only that, but you’ve also made her give up all the extra chips in the pot (mostly hers) that were giving her great odds to make a call. Variants of this scenario come up all the time in No-Limit Hold ‘em.

By putting your opponents in a bind where they must first call you and then have to beat you in a race, you can turn a hand that is 50% to win with all the money in pre-flop and turn it into a hand that is a 75% favorite or better.

The mistake many inexperienced players make is not giving their opponents a chance to fold. They look down to find A-K and can’t wait to get all their money in the middle and race. But as we can see from the example above, the power of A-K pre-flop really comes from the “folding equity” you gain when you can make your opponent lay down a hand they would not lay down if they could see your hole cards.

Here are three keys to getting the most out of A-K pre-flop:

1) Jam with A-K, but don’t call all-in with it.

2) Raise enough when you have A-K to give your opponents a chance to fold.

3) Don’t raise so much that the only hands that are willing to call you are the hands that have you dominated (A-A and K-K).

To execute these plays properly, it is important to keep in mind the size of the blinds relative to your opponents’ stacks and your own stack. A-K loses much of its value when your opponents are short-stacked or pot committed — and therefore unlikely to lay down a hand — or when the blinds are very small relative to everyone’s stacks. These principles apply to both ring game and tournament play. Getting back to my friend who kept busting early in tourneys with A-K…

In the early stages of a tournament, the blinds are very small relative to everyone’s stack size. This contributed to his breaking of each of the three rules:

(1) He was calling his opponents’ all-in raises when they had their expected pocket pairs.

(2) He was jamming only after his opponents were pot-committed.

(3) After getting gun shy from having his A-K cracked a few times, he made his raises way too big to “protect” his hand, but then was only getting called once he was beat.

This is one of those instances where looking at short-term results can lead to long-term improvements.

Bad Cards or Bad Plays?

Team Full Tilt

Losing is part of poker and all serious players, including the world’s best, can recount losing streaks that lasted for months. Often, the downswing starts with a particularly unlucky run of cards. A series of bad beats or impossibly tough hands eat away at the bankroll. As the bad run continues, and money continues to disappear, players are forced to confront one of the toughest questions in poker: Am I a victim of lousy luck or am I playing poorly?

John D’Agostino knows how difficult it is to find the correct answer. “Any time I lose a few sessions in a row, I start questioning myself,” D’Agostino says. “But I know that some days, even if I play perfectly, I’m going to lose.”

Erik Seidel notes that in tournament poker, months-long dry spells are to be expected. In the midst of such a run it’s hard to know if you’re a victim of expected fluctuations or if there’s something wrong with your game. “It’s really hard to determine,” says Seidel, “but I think most of us tend to fool ourselves and tend to think we’re playing better than we are.”

Then there’s the inevitable interplay between bad cards and poor play. The pros report that in the midst of a bad run, bad luck can lead to bad decisions. Jennifer Harman notes that when things are going poorly, she has a tendency to push hands. “Let’s say I have Ace-King and I don’t flop a pair,” says Harman. “I’ll be in there raising. But there’s no point. My table image is bad and nobody thinks I can flop a hand, so I can’t bluff. I might as well wait till I flop a pair. At that point, my opponents are going to call me down and pay me off anyway.”

For D’Agostino, a bad run can lead to more timid play. ‘I definitely made some bad days a lot worse than they needed to be. Sometimes, I started playing more passively. In the middle of a hand I’d be asking myself, ‘How is this going to go wrong?’ But if I played the hand the way I usually would, I’d have won the pot earlier on.” D’Agostino says that when he has that sort of mindset, he’s likely to miss bluffing opportunities.

Such a streak can destroy a promising player. Harman says, “There are a lot of players who have gone on losing streaks and can’t recover. They start playing bad and thinking that they’re doomed forever. And all of a sudden, they’re on the rail.”

How do the pros get a handle on their play and determine what’s causing the downswing? Harman recommends sharing hands. “I’d ask people to watch me play or I’d jot down hands and ask friends ‘Did I play this right?’ If they said I was playing it wrong, I’d have to reevaluate my play because I was letting the losing streak affect my play.”

“Just book a win,” says D’Agostino. He notes that confidence is critical at the poker table. So, in the midst of losing streak, leaving a session with a win – even if it’s a small one – can help a player regain that mental edge. “Once you can feel confident about yourself, things will start to roll,” he says.

Finally, a winning player needs to develop an honest, self-critical nature. Seidel notes that he rarely talks poker, but when he and John Junada chat about a play, the conversation usually begins, “Listen to how badly I played this hand.…”

When playing online, there’s every opportunity to assess your play. Save your hand histories. When a session is over and your head is clear, review your actions and see if you can spot problems in your play.

I appreciate the reception that my article on when not to play poker has received. One of my points was never to play when you are in a slump. Actually, as some of you have said, it’s impossible to avoid slumps if you play a lot of poker. So, as a follow-up I thought that instead of avoiding playing poker when in a slump, that it would be better to list some techniques for surviving the inevitable poker slumps.

It’s critically important to understand the reasons you are continually losing. Such things as your mood, or not having much fun, may have resulted in you being complacent‒a condition that eventually leads to losing. Whether you are among the best poker players or new to the game, you will eventually experience a slump. It’s a part of poker and life and surviving such events are more possible if you are not surprised. When you’re playing poker you can’t expect to win every hand and you can’t expect good cards every time. Similarly, you can’t expect… Continue reading Slump Survival

Strategies for Short-Handed Limit Hold’em

John D’Agostino

In last week’s tip, I shared some strategies for playing short-handed no-limit cash games. This week, I’m following up with some more short-handed advice, this time concentrating on Limit Hold ‘em.

If you read last week’s tip, you’ll know that hand values change in short-handed play and that it’s proper to play a greater percentage of hands than would be wise at a full ring game. In these games, I play a lot of hands. So many, in fact, I’ve gotten the reputation of being something of a maniac. But there is a method to my madness. By the end of this article, I think you’ll agree.

Button Play

In a three- or four-handed Limit Hold ‘em cash game, I will raise about two of every three times I have the button. The quality of my hand is essentially irrelevant. The position raise puts me in control of the hand and, even if I’m holding total trash, the pressure puts the blinds in a spot where they need to catch a piece of the flop.

For example, say I raise on the button and the big blind calls with a modest but playable hand, maybe Qc-Td. Now, if the flop comes with any Ace or King, the blind is going to have a very difficult time continuing with the hand if he checks and I bet the flop. In fact, the blind is going to have a very difficult time continuing on any board that doesn’t contain a Queen or Ten.

If I follow up my raise and bet the flop with, say, 7-high, and get called or check-raised, it’s very easy to lay down the hand. I know this is going to happen at times, but I pick up the pot often enough to make the constant button aggression profitable.
Small Blind Play

When playing against opponents who raise frequently in position, I’m sure to respond with aggression in the small blind. If I’m holding a hand that’s likely best at a three-handed table – something as modest as A-9 might qualify – and I’m facing a button raise, I take control of the hand and three-bet. That puts additional pressure on the big blind. If I only call the button raise, the big blind will be getting great odds (5:1) to call the additional bet. And I’d far prefer to play the hand heads-up.

After three-betting from the small blind, I follow up with a bet on the flop almost 100 percent of the time. Since I represented a big hand pre-flop, I want to put my opponent to a decision immediately. Once I see how my opponent reacts, I can decide how I should proceed with the hand. I’ll have to give it up sometimes, but the pressure will force a lot of folds.

Big Blind Play

The big blind is the only place where I’m content to call bets pre-flop. In fact, a call is my usual reaction to a button raise. If I start with a moderate hand, I can see the flop and decide how to proceed. If I start with a strong hand, like pocket Aces or Kings, I’ll still call and look to check-raise the flop. I don’t like to three-bet from the big blind because it tends to announce my hand. My opponents know that I’m starting with a very big hand.

Overall Goal

As you can probably tell by now, I believe that aggression is key to success in short-handed Limit Hold ‘em. I think the constant bets and raises create two dynamics that can be exploited for profit. First, by being the aggressor, I have the opportunity to pick up a number of pots where both my opponent and I miss the flop.

Second, the aggression has the tendency to lead opponents to make some very bad decisions. After some time, opponents may call bets on every street with nothing more than Ace- or King-high. When they start doing that, I can tighten up and only bet hands that are likely to be winners at showdown.

At times my style may look maniacal. But in short-handed limit play, it works.

Taking on a Short-Handed No-Limit Game

John D’Agostino

Let’s face it; nobody takes up poker because they love the idea of sitting idly at a table while folding for hours on end. But, in a full ring game with eight or nine other players holding cards, it’s proper to spend most of your time folding because there’s too great a chance that one of your opponents holds a powerful hand.

But, in short-handed play when only three or four people have cards, you’re forced to open up. With the blinds coming around so frequently, you need to be playing and winning a number of pots just to stay even. And, with only a couple of opponents, you can be less concerned about running into a big starting hand. On most deals, everyone’s holding trash.

Here’s some advice for altering your strategy for short-handed no-limit cash games. Keep in mind that all the advice here is geared toward short-handed play while players have deep stacks. The advice given here won’t work especially well in a tournament, or against players who come in with less than 100 times the big blind.

My love of short-handed play is one of the reasons I play online so much. It’s rare to find a three- or four-handed table in a casino, but online, I can find short-handed games any time I want.

Pre-Flop Strategy

Three- or four-handed games are usually very aggressive, and I will never limp in. I open-raise or I fold. In a typical short-handed game, I’m raising one in every three or four hands when I’m not in the blinds. I recommend raising with every hand you’d raise with in a full ring game (big pair, AK, AQ). In addition, I raise with any pocket pair, including twos and threes. I’ll also raise with suited-connectors, such as 4s-5s.

What might be something of a surprise is that I’m extremely wary of hands that seem to hold some promise. Hands like A-J, A-T and K-J, are hands that most know to treat cautiously in a full ring game, but I will often fold these in a short-handed game as well. Why? Well, these are hands that are likely to get me in a lot of trouble. For example, if I were to raise with K-J, and the flop came K-T-3, I’m either going to win a small pot, after betting my top pair and seeing my opponents fold, or I’m going to lose a much larger pot as my decent hand goes down in flames against two-pair, a set, or an out-kicked top-pair.

It’s also important to note that A-J, A-T are just about useless against re-raises and must be mucked against most opponents. With a hand like 4s-5s, however, I can call a re-raise with hopes of catching a big flop (two-pair, trips) or a big draw, and then taking my opponents entire stack when I hit. If I miss a flop with a suited connector or manage to hit only bottom pair, I can easily fold to a flop bet. But if I call a re-raise with A-T and then catch top pair on a Ten-high flop, I may get in real trouble against a bigger pair. Or if I flop an Ace, I could be out-kicked.
Post-Flop Strategy

If a pre-flop raise from the cutoff or button has been called by one of the blinds, it’s important to make the most of your positional advantage. Keep in mind that in a short-handed game, your opponent isn’t likely to hold much of a hand and that even if he held something decent, chances are he missed the flop. (In hold ‘em, unpaired hole cards will fail to make a pair on the flop about two-thirds of the time.)

So, if I missed the flop completely while holding something like 6-high, I’ll almost always bet the flop. If I get called or check-raised, I’ll happily shut down. But, I pick the pot up often enough to make the bet in this situation worthwhile.

If, however, I’m holding a decent Ace and miss the flop, I’ll usually check. In a short-handed game, Ace-high can win at showdown, and taking a free card gives me a chance to hit my hand on the turn.

I’ll also bet most of my draws on the flop. Often, I’ll win the pot with a bet. Even if I’m called, I’ve got the added benefit of building a large pot. If I happened to hit my draw on the turn or the river, there’s a good chance I’m going to take my opponent’s stack.

Psychological Strategy

Short-handed play takes some getting used to. The pace is furious, forcing a lot of tough decisions in very short periods of time. The swings are far more dramatic than in a full ring game but, I think that after adjusting to the pace of the action, most players will come to love the excitement that accompanies short-handed play.