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.
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