To play a session of high ante short handed holdem you have to be sure of some poker essential qualities like: playing the others hand, understanding position and being aggressive when you should be.

Lets say you are playing a session of no limit Texas holdem and the table must be short handed this simply means there are free sits at the table that no one has occupied yet. The ideal table for this is the table with 4 or maybe as high as 5 opponents. Now, ante means that you bet pre flop, at the same time the blinds are placed. You decide to ante on the pre flop and your ante bet is equal to the small bet. Lets consider the table you are playing on is a $2/$4 table, this means your ante has been of $2.

The antes, as forced bets for everyone have as a purpose to make people put money in the pot and to stimulate activity at the poker table. To prove the point of this article we will have to consider you are playing every hand, no matter what are the raises on the pre flop (unless they are way too big since that is possible this being no limit poker). This forces you to stop worrying about the pre flop value of hands and gets you right to the flop and post flop stages, the parts that actually make the whole game. You will also have to be aggressive because the bets will be high and the players are just some.

You have in this situation you are in to try and play your opponents. You have to make them to draw for a hand to beat you. At all times dont check only call or bet. Playing the others means actually to try and play their hands. If you can correctly evaluate their hands then yours doesnt matter so much because you already know what you are against and you can beat them.

Try to do this sometimes and you will see that overall in that session, if you played right, you will register a winning. Just think of it as an exercise that has to be done because there is the possibility that without bring forced you will never try and play aggressive and reckless, playing the players instead of playing your own hands. This helps you develop your aggressiveness and improves your way of seeing the opponents.