Short-Deck Poker: How to Play 6+ Hold'em (Official Rules)
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.
Here we go over the poker rules for Short Deck Poker.
How to 🫰 Play Poker for Beginners Check out the rules and basic strategy to all the popular poker formats Click Here
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:
Pre-flop Flop Turn 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 A♦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 A♦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.
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.
Must Have Rooms
Home to the biggest tournaments online, these rooms also have the largest player base, 🫰 great bonuses, tons of action and the best software. If you don't have accounts here, you are missing out on 🫰 the best that online poker has to offer.
