Texas Holdem Short Deck
The world’s leading online poker site, PokerStars has finally launched its own version of the exciting new variant 6+ Hold’em (also known as Short Deck Poker)—a game that has taken the poker industry by storm.
6+ is the operator’s fifth new cash game variant since 2018 and the first this year. It follows PokerStars Fusion, an innovative variant that blended the elements of Texas Hold’em and Omaha into a single variant. Fusion was recently withdrawn from the client after running for more than two months.
PokerStars’ 6+ Hold’em rolled out in Denmark, Estonia and in the play-money client (on the dot-net site) on January 15. It launched in the UK, Sweden, and on the global dot-com and dot-EU player pools on January 16.
How is PokerStars 6+ Holdem Played?
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. See full list on paulphuapoker.com. 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. Also known as, Triton Hold’em, Short-Deck has its roots in Asia, where successful businessmen, and poker lovers, Paul Phua and Richard Yong, experimented by removing a few cards from the standard 52-card deck, increasing the likelihood of strong pre-flop hands. Out went the 2s. Short Deck follows a similar format to Texas Hold’em, but with a few crucial differences! Most notably, cards below a 6 are removed, leaving a 36-card deck. Our guide will quickly get you up to speed, and you’ll soon discover why the game is so popular with modern high-stakes pros! How does a Short Deck hand play out?
6+ is quite easy to learn as the game is played quite similarly to traditional Texas Hold’em except with a stripped down deck. All the cards lower than Six are removed from the deck to make it a 36-card deck instead of the usual 52. Because the low cards are removed, players are more likely to get dealt premium hands and hence this makes the game more of an action-oriented game.
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Rules of 6+ Hold’em
In PokerStars’ version of Six Plus Hold’em, instead of the traditional “small blind” and “big blind”, the game uses a “button blind” structure meaning every player on the table pays an ante while the player on the Button not only pays the ante but also pays a blind equivalent to the size of the ante. The same structure is also followed in the high stakes Triton Poker Series.
As in Hold’em, the action starts with the player seated to the left of the button. Each round then plays out according to standard Texas Hold’em rules, with pre-flop, flop, turn and river betting rounds.
Aces are played both low and high just like in traditional Hold’em, but in 6+ Aces can also play as Fives when making a straight. The lowest straight is A6789 and the highest straight is TJQKA.
Hand Rankings
What makes the game more interesting is the differences in the hand rankings compared with the Traditional Hold’em. Since the game is played with a deck of 36 cards, Flushes are harder to hit because there are only 9 cards of each suit instead of 13. As a result, Flushes are ranked higher than Full Houses—which in this game is easier to hit than a Flush.
Mathematically speaking, it is also easier to hit Straights than Sets or Trips in Six Plus Hold’em. However, in the PokerStars version, Straights are still ranked higher than Three-of-a-Kind.
To conclude:
- Flushes rank higher than Full Houses.
- Straights are ranked higher than Trips or Three-of-a-Kind
- A6789 is a low Straight while TJQKA is a high Straight.
- The game is played with an ante. All the players post an ante while the Button posts an additional ante that acts as the only blind.
- The player to the left of the Button is the first to act.
Is the Game Available in Tournaments or Other Format?
At launch, 6+ Hold’em is available only as cash game format. There has been no official announcement by the operator whether the game would be available in Sit & Go or tournament formats.
What are the Minimum and Maximum Buy-ins or Table Stakes Available?
The game is currently offered with buy-ins starting from $3-$4 with Button and Ante at $0.02 to a table with buy-ins as high as $30,000-$40,000 with Button and Ante at $200.
What is the Rake Structure of 6+ Hold’em?
Rake is charged at 3.50% at the lowest buy-in ($3-$4), 5% on Mid-stakes, and 4.50% on Higher-Stakes.
Caps on the rake depend on the table stakes and buy-ins which is shown below.
PokerStars 6+ Hold’em Rake Info
| Buy-in | Ante | % Rake | 2 Player Cap | 3-4 Player Cap | 5+ Player Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2 -$3 | $0.02 | 3.50% | $0.30 | $0.30 | $0.30 |
| $5-$7.50 | $0.05 | 4.15% | $0.50 | $0.50 | $1.00 |
| $10-$15 | $0.10 | 4.50% | $0.50 | $1.00 | $1.50 |
| $25-$37.50 | $0.25 | 5.00% | $0.50 | $1.00 | $2.00 |
| $50-$75 | $0.50 | 5.00% | $1.00 | $1.00 | $2.50 |
| $100-$150 | $1.00 | 5.00% | $1.25 | $1.25 | $2.75 |
| $200-$300 | $2.00 | 5.00% | $1.50 | $1.50 | $3.5 |
| $500-$750 | $5.00 | 5.00% | $2.00 | $2.00 | $4.50 |
| $1,000-$1,500 | $10.00 | 4.50% | $2.50 | $2.50 | $4.50 |
| $2,000-$3,000 | $20.00 | 4.50% | $3.00 | $3.00 | $5.00 |
| $5,000-$7,500 | $50.00 | 4.50% | $3.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| $10,000-$15,000 | $100.00 | 4.50% | $3.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 |
| $20,000-$30,000 | $200.00 | 4.50% | $3.00 | $5.00 | $5.00 |
Can Players Choose Their Own Table or Seat in 6+ Hold’em?
No. Just like in the previous cash game novelties, 6+ Hold’em too has adopted “Seat Me” (also called blind-lobby functionality). Under this system, players choose the game and stake and the software automatically finds a seat for the players. If no seat is immediately available, players join a waiting list.
Is the Game Available in My Region?
6+ Hold’em is available for real money in global dot-com, European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK), Sweden (SE) client, Denmark (DK) client and the Estonian (EE) client. The game is not yet available in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, European shared network (France, Portugal, and Spain), Greece, India, Italy, and New Jersey.
However, players from all these regions (including the United States) can play the game for play-money in NET client.
Are there any strategies on 6+ Hold’em available?
Yes, we have written two strategy articles on this game.
1) Six Plus Hold’em/Short Deck Poker Odds and Probabilities
2) Beginners Strategy/Five Tips about Six Plus Hold’em
Will it be a Temporary Offering or Permanent?
There is no mention by PokerStars whether 6+ Hold’em will be available indefinitely or if it will be available for a limited time offering. However, if history is of any indicator, it seems that 6+ will also be a temporary offering like the previous cash game novelties.
But given the fact that the game has turned out to be very popular across both live and online field, 6+ could well be made available permanently, much like Fast Fold format (aka Zoom) or Jackpot based Sit & Go’s (aka Spin & Gos).
Latest News on Six Plus Hold'em:
PokerStars Launches 6+ Hold’em Spin & Gos
Games are spread at five buy-ins from $1 to $100.
GG Network Will “Probably” Launch Short Deck Poker in 2019
The stripped deck version of Texas Hold’em continues to surge in popularity as GGNetwork is set to add this action-packed variant to its game offering.
6+ Hold’em MTTs to Debut on PokerStars as SCOOP Side Events
Starting May 17, Short Deck tournaments will become available at PokerStars in both tournaments and Sit & Go formats.
PokerStars and partypoker Continue to Emphasize the Importance of Twitch
The competition between the two online poker giants intensifies as both look to expand their reach via the popular live-streaming platform with new signings.
Exclusive: 6+ Hold’em, Showtime and Fusion to Return to PokerStars in Tournament Format
Both Hold’em and Omaha versions of Showtime are among the games that will soon make their debut as MTTs.
Seating Scripts Now Completely Banned on PokerStars
Unexpected consequences of previous restrictions caused increased difficulties for players looking to get a seat.
Partypoker Launches Short Deck Hold’em
Two months after PokerStars launched Six Plus Hold’em, partypoker has joined the short deck craze with its own stripped deck cash game.
PokerStars Rolls Out 6+ Hold’em in Italy, 6+ Tournaments Set to Debut
The Short Deck variant will be the first new novelty poker game by PokerStars to be offered in a tournament format.
Exclusive: PokerStars Readies Split Omaha
In its continued attempt to keep poker fresh, PokerStars is planning to launch yet another new novelty variant based on the game Double Board Omaha.
6+ Hold’em to Debut in Italy and it Could be Permanent
6+ will be the only variant in the recent wave of new games from PokerStars to go live in a segregated market.
Read more on Six Plus Hold'em »Recently I’ve been hearing about a new game called short deck. It’s played just like normal Texas hold’em, except it’s played with a short deck—all the cards deuce through five are removed from the deck. Aces play as the low end of a nine-high straight. Some variants reorder the hand rankings, most notably changing it so that flushes beat a full house.
When I first heard about it, it sounded to me like the new math would break a lot of players’ intuition they’ve built playing regular no-limit hold’em. So the first thing I wanted to do was go through how some of the math changes.
Let’s say you get dealt 10h 9h. Let’s go through the math of how often you flop straight and/or flush draws both for normal hold’em and then for short deck.
Full Deck Draws
Once you have your two cards, 50 cards remain in the deck. Three of these will appear on the flop, so there are 50 choose 3 total possible flops. (You can type 50 choose 3 into Google and it will give you the answer.) In this case, that’s 19,600 possible flops.
To flop a flush draw, you need two of the 11 remaining hearts on the flop, as well as an unrelated third card. So that’s 11 choose 2 times 39 (the number of non-hearts remaining in the deck). Since 11 choose 2 is 55, the total number of flush draw flops is 2,145. Divide that by the total number of flops, and you get about 11 percent, which is how often you will flop a flush draw.
To flop an open-ended straight draw you need either Q-J, J-8, or 8-7 on the flop—in each case also with an unrelated card. There are 16 ways to have Q-J (four queens times four jacks), and 16 ways each for the other two for 48 total ways.
If we specify that the unrelated card can’t be one that completes the straight, there are 40 possible unrelated cards for each of the 48 total ways to flop a straight draw. That makes 1,920 total straight draw flops. Divide that by the total number of flops, and you get about 10 percent, which is how often you will flop a straight draw.
Short Deck Draws
In short deck, there are 34 remaining cards after you get your two, so 34 choose 3 or 5,984 possible flops.
There are only 7 remaining hearts, so to flop a flush draw you have 7 choose 2 times 27 possible flops. That’s 567 flops or about 9.5 percent of flops. The full deck chance was 11 percent so flush draws are somewhat less common in short deck.
To flop a straight draw you still have your 48 ways to get Q-J, J-8, or 8-7 on the flop, but now there are only 24 unrelated third cards. That’s 1,152 total straight draw flops or about 19 percent. The chance of flopping a straight draw in short deck is much higher than it is with a full deck.
Making The Draw
Everyone knows the chance to make flush and straight draws in normal hold’em are nine and eight outs respectively. You can use the rule of two and four to estimate the chance of making the draws. But the exact way to figure it out is to do something similar to what we did on the flop. The only twist is you calculate the chance of missing the draw and then subtract that from one.
There are 47 choose 2 possible turn and river cards. That’s 1,081. If you have a flush draw (nine outs) then there are 38 cards that brick your draw, so you have 38 choose 2 ways to miss. That’s 703 total misses out of 1,081, or 65 percent. That leaves a 35 percent chance you hit your flush draw.
Straights work the same, except you have 39 cards that brick your draw. That’s 741 total misses, or 68.5 percent. That leaves a 31.5 percent chance of hitting the draw.
In short deck, there are 31 choose 2 possible turn and river cards. That’s 465. A flush draw has only five outs in this game. So there are 26 cards that brick your draw, and you have 26 choose 2 ways to miss, or 325. That’s about a 70 percent chance to miss, so it’s about a 30 percent chance to make a flush.
Open-ended straights still have 8 outs though. So there are only 23 cards that brick your draw, giving you 23 choose 2 ways to miss, or 253. That’s about a 54.5 percent miss percentage, so you hit your straight about 45.5 percent of the time.
That’s pretty close to 50-50! And you flop a straight draw to your connector nearly 20 percent of the time. Flushes are a bit harder to make in this game, but straights are much easier.
Flopping A Set
The odds of flopping a set change also in short deck. You can figure it out the same way as the chance of making draws—count the flops where you miss the set and subtract from one. With a full deck, there are 48 choose 3 ways to miss your set, or 17,296. That’s about 88 percent of flops, leaving about a 12 percent chance to flop a set.
In short deck, there are 32 choose 3 ways to miss your set, or 4,960 flops. Divide that by the 5,984 total possible short deck flops, and there’s about an 83 percent chance to miss, leaving a 17 percent chance to flop a set.
Final Thoughts
I don’t know how many of us will be playing short deck soon. The game is popular in only a small number of places, mostly in ultra high-stakes cash games. I think one reason it’s become popular in those games is because it turns your ingrained intuitions against you.
When you’ve played hold’em long enough, you begin to internalize the probabilities to make certain hands. You end up getting to the correct answer in many situations through intuition honed over zillions of hands.
Short deck wrecks a lot of those intuitions. The probabilities to make the basic hands are just plain different. Therefore hand values are different. The hands to semi-bluff with and bluff catch with and so on are also different. Blockers mean more in some contexts.
The basic concepts of poker are all the same. But the details of how to resolve conflicts between competing concerns is turned on its head.
Shaking things up in this way always tends to reward the best poker players. The ones who can adjust more quickly than anyone else. The ones who can figure things out rather than rely solely on learned intuition.
Doing the math in this article is the beginning of this process. ♠
Texas Hold'em Short Deck Poker
Texas Hold'em Short Deck Poker
Ed’s newest book, The Course: Serious Hold ‘Em Strategy For Smart Players is available now at his website edmillerpoker.com. You can also find original articles and instructional videos by Ed at the training site redchippoker.com.