Watch Tom Dwan explain short-deck poker, aka 6-Plus Hold’em, the game played by some of the biggest cash game players in the world. 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).
What Is Short Deck Poker?
Short Deck poker, also known as 6+ Hold’Em, is an increasingly popular version of poker. It’s a fairly new poker game and has only been around a few years. It has gained noticeable popularity with the televised high stakes cash games in China, notably the Triton Poker Series.
Short Deck used to be unavailable to play both live and online. However, due to the increasing popularity, more live venues and online sites are now offering short deck poker.
Rules of Short Deck Poker
Short Deck Poker Online
There are some major differences between Short Deck Hold’Em and traditional No-Limit Hold’Em. For starters, all the deuces through fives are removed from the deck.
Because of this, the probability to make certain hands changes. It is now much more difficult to hit a flush, but easier to hit straights and 3 of a kind.
A flush beats a full house.
This is due to less cards of any suit being available with all the deuces through fives being removed. This makes it statistically less probable to hit a Flush.
Even though it is easier to make 3 of a kind than in normal Texas Hold’Em, it is also much easier to hit a straight. The ace makes a straight with A6789 for the Short Deck wheel. It doesn’t loop around, just like traditional Texas Hold’Em. JQKA6 does not make a straight!
3 of a kind beats a straight in some versions of Short Deck, but in other versions, a straight still beats 3 of a kind.
Short Deck Hold’Em is generally played with 6 players. However, there are enough cards for up to 10 handed play. Short Deck Poker was invented to be an action-packed Texas Hold’Em game to move away from the nitty full ring style of play.
There is also a difference in pre-flop action with the blinds. While some Short Deck games will have antes and some games won’t, the big blind rule will stay the same. The button is the only player to pay any blinds. Because the Button is paying the blinds, the button will act last both before and after the flop.
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Not all Short Deck games will have the exact same rules. So, it’s always a good idea to check them out first, just in case they have any slight variations.
Strategy for Short Deck Poker
Because of the different hand rankings, it’s important not to overvalue certain hands. Most noteworthy are straights.
Your strategy with playing straights and straight draws will be very different depending on which Short Deck rules you are playing with.
If straights beat 3 of a kind, then you are much happier to chase straight draws and get the money in.
If you are playing with the Short Deck rules where this is not the case, straights are not the best hand to stack off with. Even chasing straight draws becomes undesirable, as you are drawing dead if your opponent already has 3 of a kind.
You are almost twice as likely to get dealt pocket pairs pre-flop, including QQ-AA. So, stacking off a bit on the tighter end pre-flop will not be a bad idea.
Playing aggressively is going to be key in these games. Almost all Short Deck poker games have antes. Taking down as many of these antes as possible is going to be optimal. You will bleed less money from losing your own ante and take other people’s antes in the process.
To Wrap It Up
Short Deck poker is becoming increasingly popular every day. Some say it may even replace traditional Texas Hold’Em! However, those same people have been saying the same about Pot-Limit Omaha. While Pot-Limit Omaha keeps getting more popular, it hasn’t replaced old fashioned Texas Hold’Em and it’s not even close.
Short Deck is running on PKC and the games are very soft! There are low to high stakes games most hours of the day and the traffic is better than most other sites offering Short Deck. If you want a change from Texas Hold’Em and want a game with a lot of action, come check out the games on PKC today!
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PokerStars appears to be bringing the popular new poker variant, Six Plus Hold’em or Short Deck Poker, to its platform soon, according to a report at PokerFuse.
In recent months, the game has gained some traction in cash games and on the tournament scene in southeast Asia among high rollers. Some of the most well-known players in the world have gotten in on the Six Plus (Short Deck) bandwagon, including Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey, who began playing the game in 2015 in Macau.
It appears PokerStars is now bringing the game to the masses and began utilizing a Six Plus graphic recently to promote the new offering.
What is Six-Plus Hold’em?
For the uninitiated, Six Plus is quite a bit different than traditional Texas Hold’em. Deuces through fives are taken out of the deck and then the game follows the traditional hold’em format. The removal of those low cards makes for only a 36-card deck, and even changes the math of the game.
In fact, the deck’s alteration also changes the ranking of hands, with straights now ranked higher than flushes in Short Deck. With so many higher cards now, players’ odds to make much stronger hands increase – creating more action and some say a bit more gamble than traditional hold’em. Ivey said as much to PaulPhuapoker.com last year.
“There’s a lot of gambling involved,” he said. “The equities run pretty close, so it’s pretty easy to get your money in the middle and be 50/50 or somewhere near that. It suits a more gambling style of player.”
Will the short deck action attract a following on PokerStars? Time will tell, but the site has been looking to expand its offerings in recent months, trying to offer more variants to entice more players to the tables with fresh games.
The site recently launched three new games: Unfold, Split Hold’em, and Showtime Hold’em. Here’s a look at the theory behind those three games:
- Unfold Hold’em – PokerStars’ newest offering for cash game players, Unfold gives players another chance to win – even players who have folded their hands.Before the hand, each player pays an Unfold ante to form a side pot. All players who folded pre-flop are given the chance to “Unfold” when the flop is dealt, but must pay the Unfold bet – the sum of the side pot with no further betting. The winning “folded” hand after the river wins the side pot.
- Split Hold’em– Also available in cash games, this form of hold’em calls for two flops, two turns, and two rivers. Players must make the best hand on both boards to win the whole pot, thus the “split.”
- Showtime Hold’em – This game is also played like traditional Texas Hold’em except when a player folds a hand, it’s showtime – those are revealed for everyone at the table. Folded hands remain face up and visible throughout the rest of the hand. The revelations could alter strategy and information available on other players at the table.
Six-Plus becomes just the latest in the ever-expanding stable of PokerStars hold’em games. However, no timetable has been offered yet on when Six Plus will make its debut on the site.