Here are some of the first strategies you need to master to become a winning short deck player. The Rule of 3 and 6 This is short deck’s version of the rule of 2 and 4, an easy way for us to figure out equity based on how many outs we have. 9 Short Deck Starting Hand Strategy Considerations To “Heighten” Your Short Deck Game Regardless of your playing style, success in Short Deck No Limit Hold’em depends largely on the starting hands you choose to play.

1. Triton Short Deck Poker
2. Short Deck Strategy For Project Management
3. Short Deck Hold'em
4. Short Deck Holdem Strategy

Six Plus Hold’em (6+), also called Short Deck Poker, is a community card poker game based on Texas Hold’em. While most of the rules are the same, there are three main differences between the two. In 6+ Hold’em, the cards from deuces through fives are removed to make the total deck just 36 cards instead of the usual 52.

Another difference is that because there are fewer cards in the deck, the hand ranking change: a Flush beats a Full House, and in most variants of Short Deck, a Set (or Three-of-a-Kind) is ranked higher than a Straight. Aces are played as both high and low, they can be used as a five to make a low-end Straight A6789 or above a King to make a Straight of AKQJ10.

This makes the game a lot more action-packed as the cards are higher, and there are more playable hands. Equities run very close to each other so the luck factor increases, and naturally this attracts a lot of recreational players.

Why You Should Learn Six Plus Hold’em

Over the past few months, the game has grown exponentially with both online and land-based operators offering this variant. It is available online on the iPoker Network which was one of the first international online poker networks to offer this variant. The network comprises of several rooms including bet365, William Hill, Titan Poker, Betfair, and several other rooms. Games are available at stakes starting from as low as 0.02/0.04 to all the way up to 0.50/1.

Americas Cardroom also recently added this game to its offering. In fact, it is the only site that is known to spread Short Deck online poker tournaments.

PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site, is soon expected to launch Six Plus Hold’em as well.

As far as strategy is concerned, not many resources are available, and the perfect strategy is still being developed.

In our last article, we talked about hand rankings and explained briefly why a Flush is ranked higher than a Full House and why Straights happen more frequently. We also talked about the odds and probabilities and compared the odds of some of the hands between Short Deck and traditional Hold’em.

In this article, we’ll be talking about what hands you should be playing and some of the tips about Six Plus Hold’em that you must know.

Selecting Your Starting Hands

Before we talk about the strategy, it is important to understand how the hand strengths of Six Plus Hold’em compare to regular Hold’em. Since the low cards are taken out, the likelihood of getting dealt premium hands increases not just for you but also for your opponents.

As mentioned in our previous article, the odds of getting dealt Aces is almost double in Six Plus Hold’em than it is in regular Hold’em. Also, hands like other pocket pairs and premium hands like AK will be dealt more often. Playing pocket pairs like Queens or Jacks can become a little tricky as you are more likely to run into Aces or Kings.

On the other hand, the value of pocket pairs increases a lot if you are playing on a site where sets are ranked higher than Straights. Unless the board is paired or there are three cards of the same suit, Sets are the nuts and they play very well as there is no way for your opponent to know if you have hit a Set, unlike a Straight which can be easily spotted on the board.

Suited hands are a lot stronger than non-suited hands as they are basically the nuts in this game, since Flushes beat Full Houses. In fact, any Ace-high suited hand is playable from most of the positions, as if you do hit a Flush, the majority of the times it will be the best hand. Hands like suited QJ, JT, T9 or even 87 do very well in this game. In fact, JT suited is a slight favorite versus AK offsuit and almost a coin flip versus suited AK.

However, hands like AQ, AJ, AT offsuit, which are considered strong in regular Hold’em, are not so strong in this game.

So basically the type of hands you would want to play are premium pocket pairs and those which can make Sets, Full Houses or Flushes.

Tips for Beginners

Triton Short Deck Poker

Now that you know what hands to play, here are a few basic tips that you must remember while playing 6+ Hold’em:

Know the rules

Needless to say, if you’re switching to 6+ from Texas Hold’em, you must know the hand rankings. Unlike Texas Hold’em, where Full Houses beat Flushes, in 6+ Hold’em Flushes are almost the nuts (unless your opponent hits Four-of-a-Kind or better). Also, in many Short Deck variants that are offered online, Trips (a.k.a Three-of-a-Kind) beat Straights.

Also, you must remember that Aces can also play as fives when making a low-end Straight. Lots of players playing Short Deck for the first time make a mistake by folding a Straight because they do not realize that they have hit a Straight.

Straights are very common

The reason why Straights are ranked lower than Trips is because Straights are easier to make. And the reason why Straights are easier to make is that there are fewer cards in the deck, which increases the probability of hitting a Straight.

In 6+ hold’em, the probability of hitting an open-ended Straight by the River is close to 48% (almost a 16% higher probability than in Texas Hold’em).

However, you must remember that if you are playing on a site where Sets beat Straights, then you are basically drawing dead if your opponent has a Set or Trips. If there are more players in the hand, folding a Straight is not a bad play as there is a good chance that at least one of your opponents may have hit a Set. So Straights need to be carefully played.

Play pocket pairs aggressively

Since a Set is stronger than a Straight in this variant, you should play pocket pairs more aggressively and not be afraid to call 3-bets with any pocket pair. The probability of hitting a set once a Flop is dealt is 18% compared to 12% in regular Hold’em. Once you hit a Set, try to maximize your profit by overbetting since your opponents won’t know that you have hit a Set. You need to only worry about paired boards (that can give your opponent a higher Full House or Quads) and suited boards (which can give your opponent a Flush). Even keeping this in mind, Sets will often get you paid off most of the time.

However, you must also keep in mind that your opponent has a higher chance of hitting Sets too, so try to avoid Set over a Set.

Flushes are hard to hit

Flushes might rank higher than Full Houses but that is because they are harder to hit. Unlike Texas hold’em, where you still have 9 outs to hit a Flush, in Six Plus Hold’em you only have 5 outs (which is close to 32% by the River).

However, that does not mean you should not be playing suited cards at all. In fact, the value of suited cards in Short Deck Hold’em is a lot higher. Any suited Ace is playable from most positions and once you hit a Flush, you are likely to get paid as you almost always have the nuts.

Don’t overplay big pairs

Although we advocated for playing big pairs aggressively preflop, in Six Plus Hold’em, top pair (or even an overpair) with top kicker does not have the same value as it has in regular Hold’em. Even if you are ahead on the Flop, it is very likely your opponent may improve his/her hand by the River. Hence it is advisable to not overplay one pair hands after the Flop. Going all-in on the Flop with a pocket pair should be avoided as should betting for value on the River with most one pair hands.

Table Of Contents

Short Deck, or 6+ Hold’em as it’s sometimes known, is the game of choice for the high stakes cash games and tournament specialists around the world. Check out the GGPoker lobby and you’ll see daily tournaments with $10,000 buy-ins that are frequented by the game’s superstars.

Playing a new poker variant can be daunting, but if you’ve ever played Texas Hold’em, you’re already more than halfway there to being proficient at Short-Deck.

The game takes its name from the fact you play with a stripped, or short, deck. The 6+ Hold’em moniker was given because all cards from deuces through fives are removed from a standard 52-card deck. Only sixes through aces remain. This leaves you playing with a 36-card deck, which alters some of the hand rankings, more on that a little later.

Just as in a traditional Hold’em game, aces can be high or low when it comes to making a straight. The lowest possible straight you can make is , think of the ace as the missing five!

Short Deck Strategy For Project Management

The Difference in Hand Rankings

Check the hand ranking rules the online poker site you’re playing Shot Deck is using. There are slight variations and you don’t want to be left with egg on your face when you think you’ve won a big pot only to see it slide to one of your foes.

You can see the different poker hand rankings in the table below. You’ll see the three weakest and three strongest hands are exactly the same regardless of the most common rules. It’s in the middle of the pack where the rankings alter, with straights sometimes losing to three of a kind, and flushes beating full houses.

This is because of the stripped deck, meaning the math behind each hand is altered.

What's This? No Blinds?

Be aware there are no small or big blinds in Short-Deck because the game uses an ante-only structure. This can take some getting used to because it’s completely different to what you’re used to, but it is what drives the action.

Everyone at the table pays an ante and the button pays a double ante. The order of action is clockwise from the player to the immediate left of the button. This ante-only format creates more action for two reasons. First, there is more money in the pot compared to a traditional hold’em game. Second, more players stick around for the flop because they’re often priced in to do so.

For example, in a standard $0.50/$1 hold’em cash game there is $1.50 in the pot before the preflop betting round: the $1 big blind and the $0.50 small blind. The same game but in Short-Deck format has $7 in the middle before the hands are dealt. This is made up of five $1 antes and a $2 double ante.

It doesn’t take a genius to see why pots grow larger faster in Short Deck games.

Being Adaptable Is The Key

Short Deck experts excel in adapting to these new rules and conditions, but those new to the game often approach Short Deck in the same way as a traditional hold’em game.

They forget suited hands lose value because flushes are harder to make. Looking down at in normal hold’em results in your considering entering the pot and hoping to flop a monster. In Short Deck, this hand is the equivalent of however.

There’s also a lot more limping preflop compared to a traditional game. This makes note-taking very important because some players have a loose limping range with others playing far more tightly.

Short Deck Hold'em

The best way to improve at Short-Deck is the same way for any other poker variant and format: practice. Nothing makes up for racking up experience by playing the game, so go do that.

If you want arming with some more Short Deck info, why not give a click to the links below as they’ll whisk you away to several different Short Deck strategy articles.

Short Deck Holdem Strategy

More Short Deck Reading