Last time, I promised to talk about playing short-handed on the Internet. A promise made is a debt unpaid, so here we go. Given that it's much easier to change cybertables than real ones, you wouldn't expect people to stay and play in a short-handed game, yet they do. There are a couple of reasons for this. In cyberspace, however, that old thing of attention deficit disorder kicks in.
People get very bored very quickly while waiting for an Internet hand to conclude.
This they like. They like this quite a lot. A second factor that favors short-handed play on the web is the fact some players fear collusion. The fewer your opponents, the lower the risk of secret sharing and the greater chance collusive behavior will expose itself. Heads-up play, of course, negates the possibility of collusion altogether.