Short Deck Overview

Short Deck (or Strip Deck/6+) Hold'em follows the rules of No Limit Hold'em, but increases the number of hands - and the action - by removing all 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s from the deck. The 36-card game changes the ranking of poker hands so that the flush outranks the full house.
In Short Deck hold’em, a flush beats a full house.
Aces still play high and low for straights (except for the highest card), so the low straight they complete is the one that goes from the ace to the nine (A-6-7-8-9),
Now that you know these important differences from regular Hold'em, learning short deck poker is easy. For an introduction to Hold'em, check out our complete beginner's guide to Texas Hold'em.

Short Deck Hold’em Rules

Just like in regular Hold'em, there are four rounds of betting in Short Deck and each player forms his best five-card hand from any combination of his two hole cards and five community cards.

First Betting Round (Preflop):

Instead of small and big blinds, each player puts up an ante and the button puts up another larger (live) ante. With the clock hands turning clockwise from the button, each player has the option to call, raise (increase the bet) or fold (discard the hole cards and wait for the next round to start).

Once all players have acted (if more than one is active), the flop is dealt - three community cards face up.

Second Betting Round

Bets start with the first active player to the left of the button and the players in turn check (discard a bet and pass the action), bet, raise a previous bet or pass. The remaining players now proceed to the turn, the fourth community card. If all players check, the turn card is dealt for free.

Third Betting Round

The remaining players bet again in turn. If more than one player remains after the third round of betting, the river card is dealt.

Fourth Betting Round

After all five community cards are dealt, a final round of betting takes place. If there is more than one player in the game at the end, the face-up cards are revealed (showdown) and the player with the best hand wins the pot.

Hand Rankings

The hand rankings for Short Deck Hold’em (highest to lowest):

Short Deck Hold’em Odds

Removing the sixteen low cards (2 to 5) changes the odds of different starting hands in the small deck. The total number of possible starting combinations is halved (there are now only 630 different starting hands if suits are taken into account and 81 without them). Four possible sets that make up the pocket pairs are no longer available, so there are now nine possible pairs, of which you will get a specific one about 1% of the time, including aces. This is about twice as often as in full-card Texas Hold'em.

With fewer cards in the deck, it is easier to get a straight and harder to get a flush. With connected cards, you are more likely to hit a straight, and an open straight has eight outs out of 31 (remaining cards in the deck) to hit, as opposed to eight out of 47. This makes the old "rule of two and four" inaccurate for estimating the likelihood of hitting a straight in this variation; it's more like multiplying your outs by three to hit on the turn, and by six to hit on the turn and river. This means that an open flop player has a 48% chance (eight outs x 6) of making a straight on the river.

Although the chances of getting Aces increase in a small deck, the chance of winning with any hand decreases. The probability of winning against a sub-pair also decreases; the lowest pair, sixes, all-in against preflop aces, wins almost a quarter of the time in a short deck. Similarly, overcards against pocket pairs and hands like ace-king against ten-king are almost a coinflip.

Short Deck Hold’em Strategy for Beginners

Aside from the basics (that the flush beats the full house and that the lowest straight goes from the ace to the nine), the small deck requires you to redefine the strength of your hole cards and your draw cards. The best pocket pairs are still strong, although the pairs that would be considered very strong in regular hold'em (jacks, tens) lose their edge. Weaker pairs can cause problems; overcards are hit more often, as are straights. Pairs turn into sets more often, and the chance of hitting a hit is almost one in five (in regular hold'em it's one in eight).

As with the transition from Hold'em to Omaha, it is generally considered advisable to follow a "Tight is Right" strategy at the beginning, even if you have stronger hands on average. The likelihood of costly encounters with nuts or draws in nuts is higher. However, the mechanics of the game remain the same, and a good understanding of positional strength and how to make the most of value hands will help you along the way. Playing a wider range on the button, defending the big blind (most short decks are played short-handed) and avoiding passive play are tips you can carry over from regular Hold'em.

Mid-connection hands, such as 9-T or T-J, are much stronger than in the traditional game (these hands bring an open straight on the flop almost one in five times). Top pair on the flop (or having only top pair on the showdown) is less powerful in the short deck, and if you find yourself on the river without having improved, especially against multiple opponents, there is a high chance you will be beaten.

After all, there are fewer cards of each suit in the deck that you can hit, even if the flushes are now more important. If you make a flush on the flop, you will only hit it on the river 30% of the time. Therefore, it is more profitable to play higher, connected, one-color cards that have the potential to make more flushes than unconnected, low one-color cards. Other players will push the action themselves with flop sets and strong draws, and generally hand strength will be greater at showdown than when playing a full deck.

Where to Play Short Deck Texas Hold’em

Short deck poker initially took over high-stakes tournaments, as the smaller number of cards led to larger hands and a fast and exciting game. It quickly spread to cash games and festivals around the world. In 2019, a $10,000 Short Deck Hold'em bracelet was added to the schedule for the first time at the WSOP, and now 6+ Hold'em can be found both online and live in ring games and tournaments.

WPT Global offers Short Deck Texas Hold'em tables for all levels of play, from microstakes and up. This allows you to quickly and easily practice this action-packed format and get used to how the game theory works in practice with a more compact deck of cards.