Minimum password length

[rsberzerker]

Yes, a mask will work for a brute force attack to select only certain length passwords, but it doesn't work for a hybrid attack. For example, my [fake, example only] dictionary contains two words: password
the

I'm using a mask of ?d?d, but don't want to try anything below 8 characters. The first word works, even without the mask, but the second, even with the mask, is only 6 characters.