Home Game Short Handed

I started playing a regular tounament-style home game which I'd like some advice on.

The tournament is set up at 2 or 3 tables of 6 persons apiece. BuyIn is $50, for $50 chips. Blinds start at $1/$2.
After two people are knocked out at your table, the remaining for continue with $1.50/$3 blinds.
When two more are eliminated, they collect at the final table of 4 or 6 persons. Blinds are $2/$4 and adjust the blinds "as players see fit" beyond that.

So here's my question. I've been playing full tables of 10 online mostly, and play Tight/Aggressive with reasonable success (I lost consistently for awhile, but have made some adjustments in my play with FTR help, and am back to moving my bankroll in the right direction). But at the tournament, I did not have as much success, especially when 3 of 6 players were eliminated. Because the whole tournament is less than 10 handed, and is 3-4 handed half the time or more, I would like some advice on playing short handed games. Particularly about what starting hands are worth playing. 3 handed, you're always in the BB, SB or Button.

I was short stacked and the big stack almost always raised when he played, which was often: maybe 50% of the time. I tightened up and waited for group 1-3 hands and was put all in by the big stack almost every time I went into a pot. I won two all ins, but lost the third and was out--one seat from ITM.

Anyway, I fould myself looking at every hand as if it were an all-in proposition, and folded QT, A6, etc, which would have won some decent pots. Being short stacked was probably the problem, but can someone give me a rundown of how 6-5 seaters and 4-3 seaters are best played?

Tough when they put you all-in every time and you have marginal at best hands. Depending on how low you got, you could have gone all-in preflop with the A6. If he folds, you get the blinds. If he calls, with a short table, he probably doesn't have an Ace. That's a desperation move but the less people on the table and in the hand the better chance an Ax will hold up. Not much you can do except pray for good cards. If you don't get those, an Ace is something you have to play.

One of my all-ins was A9s. The big stack turned up 77. At least I had two overs. But I hit an ace on the river to stay alive.

My other all in was after the flop with KTs. The flop was KJK, and I checked it to him. I knew I could count on him to put me all in, whereas he folded once before that when I pushed all my chips in ahead of him. 8-)

I finally was knocked out when I went all in with AQo, and he had K9s. Nobody paired, but he made his flush on the river. :cry:

The direction of my question should be: What starting hands are good enough to play, and which are good enough to raise with in a 3 handed game. Do i just play groups 1-3 as if they were 1s (re-raise)? And play groups 4-5 as if they were 3s (call reasonable rasise and/or raise myself)? Or is it more complicated than that. Can any pair be rasied from the button? Can Ax be raised safely from the button?

Hi

My experience from home tourneys I play are:

1. As the number of players decrease it is much more a matter of stack size and reading the players then your actual cards
2. As the number of player decreases you need to become more and more aggresive
3. When you are short stacked you have to gamble, you cannot let the blinds eat you alive - push all in with any decent hand and hope the cards fall your way
4. Pocket pairs go up in value when you play short handed - 22 for example is a favorite heads up to any non paired hand, Ax and Kx are worth playing, low suited connectors are less valuable then at a full table