Short Deck Poker Rules and Strategy

The 50a charts helped me smoothly transition from 100a to 50a Short Deck Poker. I recommend them to anyone who wants to jump into these games as they will give you a good foundation for a winning strategy. The rules of Short Deck Poker or 6+ Hold’em are quite similar to that of the traditional Texas Hold’em game, with a few variations. Once you get the hang of these rules, you will find yourself at a much advantageous position and can play your hand with more confidence.

There are several pokervariations developing recently, and today it’s time to talk about Short Deck Poker and why to play itonline. As the name suggests, this game has less cards. All the 2s, 3s, 4s and5s are removed, so the deck is left with just 36 cards. This creates a moreinteresting and action packed game.

The game gained a lot ofpopularity lately, and there are plenty of major tournaments all over the worldthat attract plenty of players, including some of the pros. There are also moreand more casinos that are integrating Short Deck Poker into their offer ofgames.

Among the popular proplayers that are playing this game (also known as Six Plus Poker) we can findNick Schulman, Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey.

Now let’s have a look at thedifferences between Texas Hold’em and Short Deck Poker. As mentioned before,the first and most important difference lies in the cards found in the deck(there are no 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s). The game then takes place just as usual, with2 cards given to each player and bets placed on the flop, the turn and theriver.

But another major differencelies in the rankings of the hands. With those small cards missing, the math ofthe game changes a lot and some hands are now more difficult to make, whileothers are easier.

The ranking of the hands inTexas hold’em is: Royal Flush – Straight Flush – Four of a kind – Full House –Flush – Straight – Three of a kind – Two pairs – Pair – High Card

But in Short Deck poker, theranking is slightly different: Royal Flush – Straight Flush – Four of a kind –Flush – Full House – Three of a kind – Straight – Two pairs – Pair – High Card

So as you can see, now“three of a kind” is better than a “straight”, and a “flush” beats a “fullhouse”. With so many high cards in the game, you have more chances of creatingstrong hands, there is more action, but also more gambling according to somepeople.

Since the odds of the gameare now different, so should be your strategy. In Six Plus poker it’s mucheasier to hit a draw, and the chances of improving your hand increase both inthe flop and the river, compared to Texas hold’em.

As mentioned before, a flushis now a stronger hand because it’s more difficult to make. There are now 6cards of each suit, compared to 13 in Texas hold’em. So in case you have adraw, you have 30 % chances to make the flush by the river and 15 % after theturn (compared to 36 % and 18 % in Texas hold’em).

Straight draws are morecommon in Short Deck Poker and so are the chances to make that straight. Younow have 8 outs on the flop to complete the straight out of 31 cards left inthe deck (compared to 47 in Texas hold’em). So straight draws are good handsand worth to be played more aggressively compared to flush draws for example.

Another thing to keep inmind when doing your Short Deck strategyis that if you have a top pair and a top kick you have just as many chances of winningas someone with a straight draw. This is because top pairs are not as strongbecause of the straight draws that can occur more often.

Since there are few cards inthe deck, you have more chances of seeing high cards pre-flop. In this game youwill get pocket aces once every 100 hands, as opposed to Texas hold’em whereyou can have 2 aces right from the start only once every 221 hands.

In the Six Plus poker game,odds are 8.6 % that you get a pocket pair, compared to just 5.9 % in TexasHold’em. Here you also have 12.7 % chances to hit trips by the river and 33 %chances to receive premier hands such as A-K.

Don’t get too excited thatyou have high cards, as your opponents have just the same odds as you. They arealso likely to have high cards, straight draws and other good hands. So youmust be very careful when deciding to call or to raise. In this game you haveto be willing to fold great hands more often than in Texas hold’em.

Several players tried thegame and felt that it’s a really unique and interesting experience, quitedifferent than a classic game of poker. According to poker player Parker“Tonkaaaap” Talbot, heconsiders Short Deck Poker variant bringing more fun to the game andbeing much more different than other poker games, but he is skeptical it canoverpass popular variants like Texas Holdem or Omaha on the long run.

It is a quick, fun anddynamic game where more players get involve in the pot. It’s fairly new to themarket and it caters to a certain type of player. While not everyone will liketo play Short Deck Poker, there arestill many who will love this game and maybe will switch to it completely.

While some players aresolely focused on Pot Limit Omaha or Razz, we might see players who areworld-class experts in Short Deck. Others are skeptical, saying that this gamerelies more on good luck than on skills, but they might be wrong. If majorprofessional poker players like Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey are playing it, youshould definitely consider giving it a try as well.

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Table Of Contents

What is Short Deck Poker?

Short-deck poker (also known as six-plus hold'em) is a new variation of traditional Texas hold'em that mostly follows the same rules albeit with a significant difference.

Short-deck poker uses a smaller 36-card deck rather than the full 52-card deck.

Most first heard of short-deck poker after it was introduced among the mix in the high-stakes cash games in Macau.

Play Short-Deck Poker Online

6+ Short-deck poker is available online on the following websites:

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Short-Deck Poker Rules

Before we discover how to play short-deck poker, let's see how to get to the 36-card deck needed to play a game of 6+ hold'em.

The 36-card deck in use in poker short deck is created by removing the 2xs, 3xs, 4xs, and 5xs from the deck (16 cards).

That leaves the 6xs up through the Kxs as well as the Axs.

What about the Aces?

As in regular hold'em, in short-deck poker the aces still count as high or low when making straights.

The lowest possible straight in a game of short-deck poker is Ax9x8x7x6x (think of the ace as essentially replacing the missing 5x).

Poker short-deck is played similarly to regular hold'em.

Each player receive two hole cards and use them in combination with five community cards to create the best possible hand.

A game of short-deck poker features four streets of betting:

1. Pre-flop
2. Flop
3. Turn
4. River

However, there are some differences in the poker short-deck poker that you should know about before playing.

Short-Deck Poker Hand Rankings

Short-deck poker can be played according to the exact same rules as regular Texas Hold'em.

The betting can be fixed-limit or no-limit (although most often the game is played no-limit), and the same hand rankings can be used as follows:

Hand Ranking	Hand Name	Poker Hand
Lowest	High card	Kx6x9x8xQx
One pair	K♦K♠5x8xQx
Two pair	K♦K♠6♥6♦Qx
Three-of-a-kind	K♦K♠K♥6♦Qx
Straight	A♠6♣7♥8♥9♦
Flush	K♦J♦10♦6♦9x
Full house	K♦K♠K♥6♦6♠
Four-of-a-kind	K♦K♠K♥K♦6x
Straight flush	6♦7♦8♦9♦
Highest	Royal flush	10♦J♦Q♦K♦A♦

For more info about the hand rankings in poker and which hand wins, visit our guide to poker hands.

Alternative Short-Deck Hand Rankings

Short-deck poker is played often employing a different hand ranking system. Here are the alternate hand rankings for short-deck poker (note the differences in bold):

Hand Ranking	Hand Name	Poker Hand
Lowest	High card	Kx6x9x8xQx
One pair	K♦K♠5x8xQx
Two pair	K♦K♠6♥6♦Qx
Straight	A♠6♣7♥8♥9♦
Three of a kind	K♦K♠K♥6♦Qx
Full house	K♦K♠K♥6♦6♠
Flush	K♦J♦10♦6♦9x
Four of a kind	K♦K♠K♥K♦6x
Straight flush	6♦7♦8♦9♦
Highest	Royal flush	10♦J♦Q♦K♦A♦

As you can see, following these alternate poker short deck hand rankings a three-of-a-kind beats a straight (instead of vice-versa), and a flush beats a full house (instead of vice-versa).

Why a Different Hand Rankings?

These changes were introduced the because the removal of cards from the standard deck alter the probabilities of making certain hands.

For example, with only nine suited cards (instead of 13), a flush is harder to make in shord-deck poker than in regular hold'em.

Six-Plus Hold'em Variation — The Deal (Fifth Street)

One other popular variation often introduced in six-plus hold'em has to do with the way the river is dealt.

The game can be played according to the same procedure followed in regular hold'em, with the community cards coming in the same way — flop (three cards), turn (one card), and river (one card) — and betting rounds after each street.

More often, though, instead of a river card being dealt to complete a five-card board, players are each dealt a third hole card instead.

Players then make their five-cardpoker hands by using exactly two of their three hole cards and three of the four community cards.

The building of hands resembles the procedure followed in Omaha poker where players must use two of their four hole cards plus three board cards to make a five-card poker hand.

Short-Deck Poker Basic Strategy

As you might imagine, the removal of low cards and use of the 36-card deck makes it more likely to make higher value hands, a change that tends to introduce more action.

You should adjust your thinking about relative hand values from what they are used to in regular hold'em.

The smaller deck makes it easier to make two-pair hands, which means a hand like top pair-top kicker is no longer as strong in six-plus hold'em as it is in regular hold'em.

Straights and full houses are also easier to make in six-plus hold'em than in the regular version of the game (a reason for the alternate hand rankings).

The odds of hitting certain draws change, too, in short-deck pokr.

Just to highlight one example, filling an open-ended straight draw becomes more likely in poker short-deck.

While you're still looking for the same eight outs there are fewer total cards in the deck, thus increasing the percentage you'll make your straight.

Gg Poker Short Deck Rules

The smaller deck also affects the likelihood of being dealt certain hands. [∫]You're more than twice as likely to get pocket aces[/B] in short-deck poker than you are in regular hold'em!

Finally, players being dealt a third hole card instead of there being a fifth community card obviously affects hand values as well, making it even more likely that players improve their hands — yet another factor that has to be taken into account when calculating odds and considering your final-round betting strategy.

Conclusion

Short-deck poker / 6+ hold'em introduces several exciting twists to traditional Texas hold'em, creating an action-filled alternative that many players are finding especially enjoyable to play.

The changes from regular hold'em aren't terribly complicated, making it easy to new players to learn and play right away.

Short-Deck Poker FAQ

How do you play Short-Deck Poker?

A game of short-deck poker follows the same rules and gameplay as Texas hold'em poker.

The players receive two hole cards and they need to combine them with five community cards to create the best possible five-card hand.

Short-deck poker, however:

• Uses a 36-card deck rather than the full 52-card deck
• Ranks the hands differently compared to Texas hold'em

All the details to know before playing a game of short-deck poker are in this article.

Why is short-deck poker so popular?

The game of short-deck poker, os six-plus hold'em became famous at the high-stakes games in Macau. Due to the smaller deck, the game makes it more probably for players to hit high-value combinations.

Where is short-deck poker played?

You can play short-deck poker live at most poker festivals. If you are looking for games of short-deck poker online, check out the pokes sites listed on this page.

What's the best short-deck poker strategy?

The removal of some low-value cards from the deck changes the game's basic strategy and the value of different poker hands.

To understand ranges and odds in short-deck poker, have a look at this article.

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