Short Deck Poker Online
This comprehensive course is for poker players who want a huge edge in Short Deck Hold'em games. Your new coach, Kane Kalas, shows you step-by-step how to conquer this exciting new game type. Tap into big potential win-rates as Kane reveals cutting-edge strategies for this relatively unsolved and misunderstood game. In Six Plus Hold’em, also known as “Short Deck”, the amount of cards in the game is reduced and the hand ranking adjusted. The cards 2 to 5 are removed making it a 36-card deck, that leads to a whole new dynamic with more action guaranteed.
Some starting hand tips for Short Deck Hold’em
Low connectors such as 7♣ 8♠ are going to have less value, as even if we flop a straight say on a 9♠ 10♠ J♣ board then someone could easily have Q♣ K♠ and we are going to be drawing almost dead.
Drawing hands on flush boards
Will prove less lucrative than in Hold’em for example, we have 8♠ 8♣ and the flop comes down 8♥ 10♥ K♥ in regular hold’em we still have 35% equity on this board even if our opponent has been lucky enough to flop a flush, as we can win with the board pairing or the case 8 rolling off. In Short Deck where flushes out rank full houses our equity is reduced greatly to below 7% as we will need to hit the case 8♦ and making 4 of a kind to bag the win. With other hands such as Q♠ J♠ we have zero equity against a flopped flush, so it is a good idea to keep the pot small with these types of holdings as flushes are so strong players are likely to slow play these types of boards in the hopes of opponents like us hitting our straight draws and then putting in large bets on the river.
Don’t be fooled by big pocket pairs hand strength
Hands like K♠ K♣ are still the second highest ranking hand however the equities run so close in this game that even against a hand such as A♦ K♦we will only drag the pot 55% of the time, compared to the 66% equity we would have with a 52 card deck.
Another eye opener for a new Short Deck hold’em player will be how much equity J♣ 10♣ has even against the strongest of holdings, such as A♦ A♠ we will win this around 40% of the time, around double our chances of that in regular hold’em where we would have 21.5%
Weak Ace High hands have poor playability in Short Deck
In regular No limit Hold’em an offsuit Ace high hand such as A♠ 8♣ would make us a favorite over a suited hand such asQ♦ K♦ in Short Deck hold’em the opposite is true, holding the suited connector would make us a 57% favorite over the Ace high hand. In general, we want to be playing the low offsuit combinations of Ace high rarely and if at all not in bloated pots, as there is never really a great outcome for playing a hand such as A♠ 8♣
For example, if the flop comes A♣ 8♦ J♦this can be deceiving for a modest player as a good flop, we have two pair! Great, Right?! Hmm, not really, these are dicey waters in Short Deck poker, say at worst our opponent is going to continue with a hand like A♥ Q♥ even against this hand we only have a small edge with 53% in equity. The dangerous part about continuing with a board like this in Short Deck is that there aren’t many good turns or river cards for our hand, any next card makes straights or better two pairs possible, any diamond makes a flush possible, if the Jack on the board pairs we will have our two pair counterfeited.
Pick good bluff candidates
Middle and bottom pairs are great semi-bluffing hands in Short Deck Hold’em because these pairs have less showdown value and so you are less incentivized to try to check down with them. When called you are more likely to improve your hand as there are fewer cards in the deck.
Have a mixed limping strategy
Limping into pots with a balanced range of strong, medium and weak holdings can not only allow you to see cheap flops with hands that play well on certain boards like suited connectors and pocket pairs trying to connect, but you can also balance this strategy by including hands like A♠K♣, K♣ K♠ and Q♠ Q♣ in your limping range, along with weak holdings such as 6♣ 7♣ and hands of this nature will serve two purposes.
Allows us to limp, 3bet for value VS any aggressive players that are raising hands such as A♣ J♠ and pairs such as 10♠ 10♣ profitably and play bigger pots with a strong range advantage or just pick up the pot pre-flop with even more dead money after the raise and any calls that followed.
The second part of this strategy that can be very lucrative for us, is playing a Pot with a deceptively strong hand after the flop, for example if we include Q♠ Q♣ into our limping range and the flop comes A♠ Q♦ 8♦ and our opponent has a hand like A♠ 8♣ then we are well disguised and set to win some bets from our opponent.
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Table Of Contents
What is Short Deck Poker?
Short Deck Cash Game
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 Online6+ Short-deck poker is available online on the following websites:
'>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 | 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
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.
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.
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.
Short Deck Tournament
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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