Short deck poker (also called 6+ Hold’em) removes every 2, 3, 4 and 5 from the deck, leaving 36 cards. With fewer cards, the odds of making each hand change — and that is why the hand rankings themselves are different from standard Texas Hold’em. The rules are not complicated, but playing on standard Hold’em instincts will get you in trouble in exactly one place: flushes and full houses.
- ✓A 36-card deck: every 2, 3, 4 and 5 is removed, so the lowest card is a 6.
- ✓A flush beats a full house, because each suit is four cards shorter and flushes get harder to make.
- ✓Three of a kind beats a straight, because the tighter deck makes straights easier to complete.
- ✓The ace plays both high and as a 5, making A-6-7-8-9 the lowest straight.
- ✓The exact ranking varies by operator — check the table rules before you sit down.
The deck: why 36 cards
Standard Hold’em uses 52 cards. Short deck removes the 2, 3, 4 and 5 from every suit — 16 cards gone, 36 remaining. Each suit keeps nine cards: 6, 7, 8, 9, T, J, Q, K, A.
The objective is unchanged: make the best five-card hand from your two hole cards and the five community cards. What changes is the maths — strong hands turn up more often, and the game runs faster.
How short deck hand rankings differ from standard Hold’em
This is where the mistakes happen. The mainstream short deck order, strongest to weakest. For a full side-by-side comparison, see the differences between short deck and Texas Hold’em:
| Short deck (36 cards) | Standard Holdʼem (52 cards) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Flush | Royal Flush |
| 2 | Straight Flush | Straight Flush |
| 3 | Four of a Kind | Four of a Kind |
| 4 | Flush▲ higher than standard | Full House |
| 5 | Full House▼ lower than standard | Flush |
| 6 | Three of a Kind▲ higher than standard | Straight |
| 7 | Straight▼ lower than standard | Three of a Kind |
| 8 | Two Pair | Two Pair |
| 9 | One Pair | One Pair |
| 10 | High Card | High Card |
Why a flush beats a full house
Each suit drops from 13 cards to 9, which makes collecting five of the same suit distinctly harder. Full houses, on the other hand, need pairs — and pairs did not become any rarer. The difficulty flips, so the value flips with it.
Why three of a kind beats a straight
With the 2 through 5 gone, the remaining ranks sit closer together, so there are relatively more ways to complete a straight. Trips did not get any easier to make, which is why they now rank above straights.
Careful: not every operator uses the same order
There is no single global short deck standard. Most modern tables use the order above, but some rule sets keep the full house above the flush, or treat straights differently. Read the rules for the specific table before you sit — that matters more than memorising any one ordering.
How a hand plays out
The flow is identical to standard Hold’em; only the deck and the rankings differ:
Dealing and betting: everyone receives two hole cards and there is a preflop betting round, then the flop (three cards), the turn (one) and the river (one), each followed by a betting round. If two or more players remain, the hand goes to showdown.
Showdown: pick the best five cards out of seven — your two plus the five on the board. That part works exactly as it does in standard Hold’em; you just compare them using the short deck order.
The ace does two jobs in short deck
The ace still plays high, making T♠J♠Q♠K♠A♠ the biggest straight flush available.
But with the 2 through 5 removed, the ace also fills the role of the 5: A♠6♦7♣8♥9♠ is the lowest straight in the game. So whenever you hold an ace, it is both a high card and a potential end of a straight — a flexibility unique to short deck.
Three traps beginners fall into
How to fix it: For your first few sessions, keep the ranking order written down next to you until getting it right takes no thought at all.
How to fix it: Do not chase short deck flush draws on standard Hold’em odds instincts; remember your outs are roughly halved.
How to fix it: Favour connected cards that can make straights and straight flushes, plus big pairs — and weight position even more heavily than you would normally.
