Position in short-handed games

I play homegames regularly with the same 5-6 players and I was wondering if it would be profitable to raise more preflop when I got position over my opponents and what factors should be considered. These players are fairly tight but not too good...not too fishy either.

Should I raise more often preflop when I'm on the button, even with garbage hands, when everyone folded and it's me against the blinds? Of course, folding to a big reraise in the case where I have garbage hands.

Do I have to keep a tight table image in order for my continuation bets to be effective when I miss the flop?

Should I bluff pots more often on coordinated/uncoordinated (which is best to bluff) boards when everyone checked and I'm last to act?

I've learned recently (mostly by browsing this site ) that being the pussy who only waits for big hands won't win consistently in short-handed games (especially if you run into bad cards most of the night). I think learning to use position could be a good start to boost my winnings.

Any help/advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Much depends upon who you are playing against.
Personally i raise any Ax where x>7 and try to take control at the table This is simply becasue there arent many hands out there and your marginal ace high is likely to be ahead preflop.
Similarily i'd call raises but not big ones with things like k/q with good kicker. If the flop hits you with no ace you are probably in front.
Raising pps preflop is also another i try to use.
A couple of my opps are poor but two are very good competition and play a similar loser style preflop.
My thoughts are that with fewer hands out there it is more likely that marginal hands are in front more often than is normal imo
always raise into the blinds heads up. But do it with either all cards or at random. It will get noticed if you only raise to steal and only call with ace high for example.
Position is difficult. If you have respect for being tight, i'm not really so i dont get the respect of a position raise, then go ahead. But if your being looser then i dont recommend it simply because i'd keep calling with all sorts of rags and betting right at you regardless.

The tighter your opponents, the more loose and aggressive you can be. Be loose aggressive until they start looking you up, and then get tight aggressive. If you manage to show down a few great hands, then you can revert back to loose aggressive as they might back off from looking you up for a while. That's when you bluff out a few pots.

Go against the grain of the table image. On a loose passive weak table (newbies), I play loose to the limp-tight to the raise preflop and very tight postflop. In other words I only raise or call raises with super premium hands preflop, but will limp 56 unsuited because the passive nature of the table will allow me to draw cheap after the flop. I then become super aggressive with a strong flop making them pay dearly for a draw. Playing loose aggressive on this table would slaughter me. Call down city.

Of course if you're playing against a more experienced table, then you would have to shift between all styles against individual players as they try to stay one step ahead of you doing the same thing.

I skimmed through the post and read "homegame" and "bluff" then stopped.

You're probably better off not bluffing them, only when you sense *a lot* of weakness. In most homegames i've played in, bluffing has -EV

In the homegames I played with my roommates bluffing was very very EV+ since they played tighter than *insert something tight*

Keep coming up with these advices, they're useful

I skimmed through the post and read "homegame" and "bluff" then stopped.

You're probably better off not bluffing them, only when you sense *a lot* of weakness. In most homegames i've played in, bluffing has -EV

Like iopq said, since the table is more tight then loose, I'm sure learning to bluff at the right moment would be +EV.

I think Rondavu said it, there's no point of playing tight against tight since you're basically playing the way they want you to play (correct?). If I let the tight player draw for free on situation I actually pretty much know he has nothing then isn't that -EV since I give him a chance to make a hand and will have to fold to any aggression on turn/river and lose the chance to win the pot right then?

So I think, the point to remember is switching style depending on my image and the table texture.

it depends on the playing style of the other players (as mentioned above by other people).

Also, I think it depends alot on your postflop playing and reading skills. If you can outplaypostflop them a large enough % of the time to make raising garbage like A7 profitable even when you dont hit your cards, then do it. If not, then you may want to hold back and camp out a bit more.

i play in a similar home game. i tried that for a while, and everyone picked up on it.

they don't play terribly tight, but with a decent looking hand (any Ax, picture cards, suited connecters) they call.

then they hit something/anything on the flop, and draw out, when they have no business in the hand anyway.

so i've started limping more, and outplaying them after the flop. try to pump the pot with smaller callable bets.

Yeah i mean if they aint complete newbs 5/6 players go ahead raise some hands like pp over 8's and a/qs above but i still play super tight...