The first thing you need to understand and remember is that hand equities run much, much closer in Short Deck. What is different, though, is how you approach your selection of hands. Knowing how to choose your starting hands correctly will go a long way towards making you a winning player. Like every other game of this format, 6+ Hold’em begins with preflop poker hands selection. Many players trying the game out won’t be aware of this, which is why I believe this is the right time to learn and make money with it. This may seem true on the surface, but Short Deck poker requires a completely different strategic approach. Just looking at the rules of the game, it seems it isn’t all that different from standard Texas Hold’em. Short Deck Hold’em Poker Strategy: Preflop Play Just remember that flushes are stronger than full houses, and you’re good to go. So, you don’t have to learn a whole new rankings table to play. Straight flushes still beat quads, quads beat flushes, etc. So, for this guide, I’ll focus on typical Six Plus Hold’em where straights beat three of a kind.Įverything else stays the same in terms of hand rankings.

These days, especially online, you won’t find many tables where this applies. This rule was used more in earlier versions of the game. In some variations, three of a kind (trips) beat straights. The biggest difference is that flushes beat full houses, which makes suited cards, especially suited aces, much more powerful. There aren’t many differences between Short Deck Hold’em hand rankings and the ones found in the full deck format. The player on the button gets to act last on all streets.

This is true before the flop and after the flop alike, so there are no changing dynamics. The action begins with the first player to the left of the button and continues clockwise. Once all antes are in, every player is dealt two cards, face down, so nothing changes here.

The player on the button post additional ante (two antes in total).

In classic Hold’em, you’d have two players post a small and big blind, before the hand starts. While No-Limit Hold’em is played with blinds, Six Plus is mostly played using antes.

The biggest difference between most full deck games and Short Deck ones is in the betting structure.

No limit hold em odds