Short Deck, also called 6+ Holdʼem, removes every 2, 3, 4 and 5, taking the deck from 52 cards down to 36. Most rule explanations stop there. But what decides who wins is not the missing 16 cards in themselves — it is that removing them rewrites the probability of making every hand.
Why a flush outranks a full house, why chasing a straight is worth more than chasing a flush, and why folding too much is the most expensive leak in the game — all three answers come out of the same set of numbers. This page starts with the rule differences side by side, then works through the adjustments. For the full hand rankings and dealing sequence, see the Short Deck Holdʼem rules.
- ✓Short Deck has 36 cards, and every suit drops from 13 cards to 9. That is the source of every other difference.
- ✓Flushes get harder and straights get easier, so most rooms rank a flush above a full house.
- ✓An open-ended straight draw goes from 31.5% to 45.6% by the river, while a flush draw falls from 35.0% to 30.1%.
- ✓A pocket pair flops a set 17.1% of the time instead of 11.8%, so the whole standard for a strong hand moves up.
- ✓Most Short Deck tables replace blinds with an ante structure, so the pot is already large preflop and calling prices improve.
Rule differences at a glance
| Item | Texas Holdʼem | Short Deck |
|---|---|---|
| Deck | 52 cards, 2 to A | 36 cards, 6 to A |
| Cards per suit | 13 | 9 |
| Hand rankings | Full house beats flush | Flush beats full house (most rooms) |
| Lowest straight | A2345 | A6789, with the ace playing low |
| Forced bets | Small blind and big blind | One ante each, plus an extra from the button |
| Dealt a pocket pair | 5.9% | 8.6% |
| Pocket pair flops a set | 11.8% | 17.1% |
| Open-ended draw by the river | 31.5% | 45.6% |
| Flush draw by the river | 35.0% | 30.1% |
One more thing to check: some rooms also rank three of a kind above a straight, though this is far less universal than flush-over-full-house. Read the table rules before you sit down. Not knowing the hand rankings is the fastest way to lose money at Short Deck.
Sixteen fewer cards means every probability changes
The two rows worth the most attention in that table are the last two. The gap is not just a change in numbers — the ranking of the two draw types swaps completely.
Straight draws get stronger, flush draws get weaker
After the flop there are 47 unseen cards in Holdʼem and only 31 in Short Deck. A smaller denominator makes every out count for more.
Open-ended straight draw: eight outs in either game.
- Holdʼem: 8/47 = 17.0% on the turn, 31.5% by the river
- Short Deck: 8/31 = 25.8% on the turn, 45.6% by the river
Flush draw: here even the number of outs changes. In Holdʼem each suit has 13 cards, and with two in your hand and two on the board, nine remain. In Short Deck each suit has only 9, so after the same four, just five are left.
- Holdʼem: 9/47 = 19.1% on the turn, 35.0% by the river
- Short Deck: 5/31 = 16.1% on the turn, 30.1% by the river
In Holdʼem a flush draw is slightly better than an open-ender. In Short Deck the open-ender hits half again as often as the flush draw. That is exactly why a flush outranks a full house — it became the rarer hand. When you use pot odds to judge a call, these two figures need to be swapped; carrying Holdʼem instincts across gets both of them wrong.
Pocket pairs arrive more often, and hit more often
With only nine ranks in the deck, the four cards of any rank sit in a much smaller pool:
- Being dealt a pocket pair rises from 5.9% to 8.6%
- A pocket pair flopping a set rises from 11.8% to 17.1%
That sounds like good news until you remember it applies to everyone. Your 9♠9♥ flops a set nearly 50% more often, but bigger sets, straights and flushes appear on that same board more often too. A set in Short Deck is not a guarantee. It is a starting point.
You will also see far more aces: the chance of holding at least one goes from 14.9% to 21.3%. “I have an ace, so I raise” will have you playing more hands than you can handle.
One hand that shows the difference: a fold in Holdʼem, a call in Short Deck
Six-handed Short Deck with antes. You are on the button with 8♥7♥, the flop comes 9♠6♦K♣, and the big blind shoves their last 30.
You do not even have a pair, but you have an open-ended straight draw — and the cards you need are different in each game:
- Short Deck: an ace (making A6789) or a ten (making 6789T). The ace plays as the low card here, which is an out that does not exist in Holdʼem.
- Holdʼem: a five (making 56789) or a ten (making 6789T).
Eight outs in both cases — identical. The only difference is the size of the deck:
| Item | Texas Holdʼem | Short Deck |
|---|---|---|
| Outs | 5, T | A, T |
| Unseen cards after the flop | 47 | 31 |
| Hit rate by the river | 31.5% | 45.6% |
Your opponent is already all in, so the turn and river will both be dealt and you can use the two-card figure directly. You are calling 30 to win 90 (the 30 pot, their 30 and your 30), which needs 33.3% equity.
- Short Deck: 45.6% is comfortably above 33.3% → call, and a clearly profitable one
- Holdʼem: 31.5% is below 33.3% → fold
Same hand, same board, same bet — opposite correct answers. This is why importing Holdʼem folding habits into Short Deck bleeds chips: the hands you fold are the ones you were supposed to profit from.
The ante structure: a big pot from the first hand
Most Short Deck tables drop blinds entirely and use one ante per player, plus an extra from the button. Nine-handed, the pot starts at 10 ante units, against 1.5 big blinds in Holdʼem.
That has two direct consequences.
First, the price of an opening raise changes completely. With 10 units already there, taking it down costs you 2 or 3 units, so a successful steal pays far better than in Holdʼem. Preflop raising frequency should be naturally higher.
Second, the bar for calling drops. Facing a raise to 3, the pot already holds 13 units, so 3 more buys you a flop. That price turns plenty of Holdʼem folds into Short Deck calls.
At most ante tables, preflop action begins to the left of the button, and the button acts last on every street. Structures vary between rooms, and some Short Deck tables keep a big blind, so confirm once before sitting down.
Six adjustments for Short Deck
1. Widen your starting range — but not in every direction
Bigger pots and better prices genuinely do make more hands playable. What increases is the number of hands that can make something big — suited connectors, suited aces, pocket pairs — not high cards that run in separate directions. A♠K♥ is still a good hand, but the way it wins shifts from “top pair, top kicker” to “it has to improve”. The framework in preflop basics still applies; Short Deck simply moves the threshold down a notch.
2. Over-folding is the most expensive leak
Equities run much closer together in Short Deck. The deck is small, boards connect often, and “I have no chance” comes up less — while the pot is bigger. Put those together and folding a hand you should have called costs more than calling too often. It is the single most common error among Holdʼem converts: applying a 52-card folding frequency to a 36-card game.
3. Downgrade top pair and overpairs
Flopping top pair is often worth three streets in Holdʼem. In Short Deck your opponent flops a set 50% more often and makes straights more often still. Top pair here is a medium-strength hand — good for one or two value bets, with almost no room to fight back against a big raise. The names in the hand rankings chart are unchanged; their practical position is not.
4. Chase straights, not flushes
45.6% against 30.1%. At the same pot odds, an open-ender is worth calling at a far wider price than a flush draw. Conversely, be more careful with flush draws, especially on boards where an opponent may already hold a full house.
5. Blockers matter more
In a 36-card deck, every card in your hand represents a larger share of what is left. Holding the T♥ blocks the key card for both 6789T and TJQKA, and removes one heart from any flush. In Holdʼem that effect is marginal. In Short Deck it is enough to change a bluff or a call.
6. Plan for the variance before you sit
Big pots and close equities mean far more all-in confrontations and much bigger short-term swings. For the same bankroll, the stake you can safely play in Short Deck is one level below your Holdʼem stake. If you want to try it, start at half the stake you normally play.
