One of the best pieces of advice I believe that you can give any beginner poker player on Sky Poker (or indeed, any other poker site) is that when they are first starting out on the site is to play on the Double Your Money (DYM) tables a lot of the time.
The reason for this is because half the players at the table earn a payout, so the chances of you cashing out are far increased to playing in a MTT or similar. In addition, DYM games can see players actually win money by playing very tight and very cautiously, as you can let the more aggressive players take each other on and knock each other out while you sit on your chips and watch how the games developing.
So for beginners, Double Your Money games are a great way to start playing for real cash, but as your skills develop and you play for increasing stakes, it can become somewhat tiresome playing the same game each time.
In addition, if you are a player taking all the risks to knock out other players, while others try to fold their way into the last three at the table, it can be a little annoying to finish the game with 6000 chips while other players have less than 1000 each. But, you all earn the same amount of money.
So if you are winning on the DYM games more frequently and want to play a game that offers a bit more challenge on Sky Poker, where should you head to next?
The answer is to the Six-Max tables. We’ll explain why – but first, a great way to start off without having to put up a great deal of your own cash is by getting a Sky Poker welcome bonus, which is available to all new account holders with no deposit required.
What are Six-Max tournaments?
Six-Max tables are, as the name suggests, tables where there are a maximum of six players seated around it.
In Sky Poker you can play Texas Hold’em, Omaha and Omaha Hi Lo Six-Max games, though I would recommend you stick to playing the version of poker you are most comfortable with (which is likely to be Texas Hold’em).
In a typical Six-Max Texas Hold’em Sit & Go tournament on Sky Poker each player starts with around 1,500 chips with the blinds increasing every seven minutes or so. Each player pays the same entry fee (which for beginners should be lower stakes from £1.10 to £5.50) and the game follows exactly the same rules as the Double Your Money game.
However, in a Six-Max tournament, the game does not automatically finish when half the competitors are eliminated and the remaining players share the pot. In a Six-Max game, you play the tournament to a finish and only the top two players will win a prize, with the winner taking home the largest share of the prize pool.
For example, for a £1.10 Six-Max Tournament on Sky Poker, the prize pool will be £6 in total and the player who wins the event will take home £3.90, while the player who finishes 2nd will take home £2.10.
However, play in a £5.50 Six-Max and the prizes increase in proportion, so the winner of a £5.50 Six-Max event will take home £19.50, with the runner up earning £10.50.
Why are Six-Max tournaments the ideal next step for beginners after DYM?
One of the biggest mistakes beginner players make when starting to play poker is trying to run before they can even walk.
Many will log onto a site, play at stakes far in excess of what they should be playing with their bankroll and find that within a few hours, they have busted out and are now looking at making another deposit to carry on playing.
When you play DYM events, you give yourself a greater chance of avoiding this as there is a far better chance of you winning some cash in each one you play, compared to a MTT where your chances of cashing out are much smaller.
While you play DYM games, you’ll be honing your skills and when you are confident in your DYM play, the next stage is to play through the tournament until it is complete. This replicates the tournament structure that you will play in the vast majority of poker tournaments, but in a Six-Max, the odds are much more in your favour of a win or cashing out as one of the top two players.
A Six-Max allows you to take the next step in your poker development, where you play through an event from start to finish with a clear winner defined and prizes for only one third of players taking part. This may sound like small odds, but in some bigger MTTs, your chances of cashing out in statistical terms alone, can be around 1 in 9 or 10.
In essence, a Six-Max is a single table tournament, which gives you far better odds of cashing than MTTs and, crucially, which utilises and improves upon the same set of skills you have been learning at the DYM tables. It helps bridge the gap between playing in a Sit & Go event and competing in larger MTT events.
What additional skills will I learn playing Six-Max games?
Whereas Double Your Money games are about finishing in the top three for an equal share of the prize money, Six-Max games are about winning, or finishing in the top two. This means that in addition to the strategies you use on Double Your Money games, you’ll gain more experience in:
- Strategising when to take on an opponent to eliminate them, and when not to.
- Playing heads up and three-handed poker against a small number of players.
- The importance of maintaining and building your stack.
- Playing to win, not simply to cash.
Sky do offer variations of Six-Max games including Head Hunter version where there is no prize pool and players only earn money by eliminating players from the competition. This version of the game is suited to players who like to take risks and eliminate other players.
Once you have mastered finishing in the cash positions in Six-Max events on Sky Poker, then through playing these games you’ll have enough experience to try the Heads Up Sit & Go games too. In addition, you’ll be better equipped to play and hopefully cash out in any of the smaller to medium sized MTT events that the site runs on a weekly basis.
Best time to play
The Six-Max tables on Sky Poker can be a little quiet during the off-peak hours, so if you are going to give these tables a try, then it is advisable to play when traffic on the site is at its peak during the evening and at weekends.
Looking for more ways to develop your Sky Poker game? Read our guide to making the most of Sky Poker strategy videos.
