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• ★★★★★ Six-plus hold 'em (also known as short-deck hold 'em) is a community card poker game variant of Texas hold 'em, where the 2 through 5 cards are removed from the deck. Each player is dealt two cards face down and seeks to make the best five card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards (five community cards and their own two hole cards). AMAZING FEATURES.

Often called Six Plus Hold’em as well, this new variation owes its popularity to the highest stakes games played by top pros that are available on YouTube. Similar to full deck poker in many aspects, yet more fast-paced and action-packed, Shot Deck Hold’em poker is booming lately.

Poker is incredibly versatile, and after its conception in the 18th century, it has evolved quite a lot. From world-famous tournaments and countless variants, every type of gambler will enjoy at least some type of poker card game.

There are many forms of this game, including draw, stud, Chinese poker, mixed games, community games, and others.

And in all these variants, hold’em games, in some cases, are certainly among the most amusing. They feature a rather fast pace and include some deviations from the standard rules. While some versions like Texas Hold’em as well as Royal are popular, you may not have known about Six-Plus Hold’em. It became known in Macau where many traveling gamblers and locals played it for high stakes. Short-Deck poker is another name for it.

So check out this short guide to see how to play Six-Plus Hold’em!

Six-Plus Hold’em

This variant revolves around community cards and unlike typical poker, Six-Plus will utilize only 36 cards. Playing cards 2–5 will not be in play. This means that there are fewer winning hands but also fewer players. The cards available are Sixes to Kings, and Aces are included. In comparison, while the Texas variant has over 1,300 starting hands, Six-Plus only has 630.

The premise is quite straightforward. Namely, every player receives only two cards. These cards will be face-down. However, during the rounds, the dealer will reveal the shared cards. The goal is to form a hand of five cards that has the highest combination. In order to do that, the players must utilize their two cards along with the shared cards.

Moreover, the betting structure is quite unique, and if you have ever tried Texas Hold’em, you’ll find that it’s very similar.

Betting Structure

There are four betting “streets” or rounds in this game, and the rules are similar to No-Limit games.

To start, every player will obtain two cards (face-down). In the first three rounds, the community cards will be revealed. These are called the flop, turn, and the river. A betting round comes after each.

Additionally, participants can bet any amount from their chip stack.

This game utilizes the “button blind,” which means that a player seated on the “dealer button” will need to add a blind bet while each participant will need to put up an ante bet.

Usually, the size of the blind is around 3/4 of the ante bet. In case participants wish to call during the pre-flop round, they will need to match the blind with their ante. Moreover, only one blind bet needs to be placed for a hand.

Overall, this is very different from the classic big/small blind bet structure. What’s more, due to the fact that cards 2–5 are not in play, the hand ranking changes a bit for this poker game.

Hierarchy and Details

Primarily, the three-of-a-kind combination beats a straight. This is because it will appear more often in this game. The weakest straight in this game will be A–9 and not A–5. What’s more, a flush beats a full house. The reason for this is the same — a flush is much rarer. Additionally, the strongest combination is the royal flush.

The interesting thing about Six-Plus Hold’em is also the fact that the odds play a huge part. They are completely changed in this game, and even if there are fewer starting hands, more of them are playable. For example, hitting a set of pocket pairs or pocket aces is incredibly common. Since more complicated hands such as 9 to 2 are not in play, the game is also faster. The chances of scoring a straight also increase by roughly 10%.

Additionally, compared to other forms of hold’em, the Short-Deck variant does not change the minimum bet before the showdown round.

Tips

The fact that there are more stronger hands in this game introduces more entertainment and actions. However, you must learn the hand values since they are different compared to draw and typical hold’em. For example, due to the smaller deck, a two pair is incredibly easy to get, yet it is not as strong compared to its rank in regular poker. It’s also much easier to get full house combinations and straights in Six-Plus.

Before starting the game though, you should examine the rules carefully since some games could include not 2 but 3 hole cards. This is called the river rule, and the third hole card will swap out the 5th shared card. It can freshen up the gameplay quite a lot. Additionally, some games may change the rankings.

The best thing to do to prepare for the game is to get a starting hand chart and look through the odds carefully. It’s easy to find one online, and it will speed up the learning process greatly.

Six-Plus Hold’em Summary

Short-Deck Hold’em is among the most thrilling cash games you can find. The poker hands gain entirely new odds due to the smaller number of cards in the deck!

This action-packed variant introduces some changes in the hand hierarchy that will definitely spice up the game! Plus many online poker rooms offer it, and you’ll find it in most casinos. So now that you know the rules, you can test your luck at Six-Plus Hold’em!

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.

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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