Short Deck Hold'em

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order and hand ranking
3. Betting in short
4. Setup
5. A deal, step by step
6. All-in and side pots
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Short Deck Hold'em (also 6+ Hold'em) is Texas Hold'em played without the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s. Each player gets two secret cards, and five cards are laid face up in the middle for everyone to use. Over four betting rounds players put chips into a shared pot – or give up. The pot goes to the last player left in, or to whoever makes the best five-card poker hand at the end. With only 36 cards, strong hands come up far more often, and two rankings change: a flush beats a full house, and the Ace makes the lowest straight with 9-8-7-6. It is usually played no-limit: you may bet all your chips at any time.

• Players: 2–8, each for themselves; best with 6 or fewer.
• You need: a standard 52-card deck with all 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s (and jokers) taken out – 36 cards – and chips (or counters, matches, buttons), the same amount for everyone at the start, e.g. 100 each. You play for chips, not money.

Card order and hand ranking

Cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6; the Ace can also be low in the straight 9-8-7-6-A. Suits are all equal.

At the end you make the best hand of exactly five cards out of seven. From best to worst:

Note the two differences from normal poker: the flush ranks above the full house (with fewer cards per suit, flushes are rarer), and the lowest straight is 9-8-7-6-A.

Any hand of a higher kind beats any hand of a lower kind. Between hands of the same kind, the higher cards win: first compare the most important cards (the four, the three, the higher pair …), then the remaining cards one after another from the top. A straight is ranked by its top card, so 9-8-7-6-A is the lowest. If all five cards are equal in rank, the hands tie and share the pot – suits never break ties.

Betting in short

All chips bet go into the pot in the middle. When it is your turn in a betting round, you can:

• Check – bet nothing, if nobody has bet yet in this round.
• Bet – put in chips (at least the minimum bet, see below).
• Call – put in just enough to match the highest bet so far.
• Raise – match the highest bet and add more. A raise must be at least as big as the previous bet or raise in this round; the maximum is all your chips.
• Fold – give up: put your cards away face down. You lose what you have already put in and take no further part in this deal.

A betting round ends when everyone still in has put in the same amount (or is all-in) and has had a chance to act.

Setup

1. Everyone gets the same number of chips. Agree on the ante – a small fixed stake everyone puts in before each deal – and the minimum bet. A good start: ante 1, minimum bet 2.
2. Pick a first dealer (e.g. highest card cut). The dealer's position is marked with a button (any small object); it moves one place to the left after each deal.
3. Everyone puts in 1 ante; the player on the button puts in a double ante (2).
4. The dealer shuffles the 36 cards and deals everyone two cards face down, one at a time, starting on the left. These are your hole cards – look at them, but show them to no one.

A deal, step by step

1. Preflop: the first betting round. The player to the left of the button starts; play goes clockwise. The button's extra ante counts as a bet, so to stay in you must at least call it (put in 1 more). The smallest raise is the minimum bet: call the 1 and add 2 – 3 chips on top of your ante. The button acts last and may still raise.

2. Flop: the dealer "burns" one card (puts it aside face down, unseen) and turns three cards face up in the middle. These community cards (the board) belong to everyone. Second betting round – from now on, the first player still in to the left of the button starts, and players may check.

3. Turn: burn one card, turn up a fourth community card. Third betting round.

4. River: burn one card, turn up the fifth community card. Fourth and last betting round.

5. Showdown: if two or more players are still in, they turn their hole cards face up – the player who made the last bet or raise shows first; if everyone checked, the first player still in to the dealer's left shows first. Each makes the best five-card hand from their two hole cards plus the five on the board, using both, one or none of their own cards. The best hand wins the pot; equal hands share it.

If at any time all but one player fold, the remaining player wins the pot at once without showing any cards.

Example: The board is K♥ K♣ 8♥ 7♥ A♠. Anna holds 8♠ 8♦: 8 8 8 K K, a full house. Ben holds Q♥ 6♥: K♥ Q♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥, a flush – in Short Deck he wins. Had the board been A♣ 9♦ 8♠ 7♣ K♥, Carla with 6♥ 6♠ would have the straight 9-8-7-6-A.

All-in and side pots

If you want to call but don't have enough chips, or want to bet everything, you go all-in: you put all your remaining chips in. You stay in until the showdown without betting further, but you can only win as much from each opponent as you put in yourself. Whatever the others bet beyond your amount goes into a separate side pot, which only they can win. At the showdown the side pot is settled first, then the main pot among everyone still in, including you. If everyone still in is all-in (or only one player still has chips), nobody can bet any more: the rest of the board is turned up at once and the showdown follows. Anyone who has no chips left is out of the game.

Winning the game

Play until only one player has chips left, or stop at an agreed time – then the player with the most chips wins.

Tips for beginners

• Hands are much closer in strength than in normal Hold'em – a single pair rarely wins a big pot.
• Straights come up often: with only 36 cards, many boards make one possible.
• Flushes are rare, which is why they beat a full house. Don't overvalue two cards of the same suit.
• Always check the board for the best possible hand – and remember the 9-8-7-6-A straight.
• Don't call just because you have already put chips in. Chips in the pot are no longer yours.

Variants

All optional – agree beforehand.

• Three of a kind beats a straight: some rule sets swap these two hands as well, because straights are easier to make in the short deck.
• Blinds instead of antes: played exactly like Texas Hold'em, with a small blind and a big blind left of the button.
• Fixed or pot limit: instead of no-limit, bets may be fixed amounts or at most the size of the pot.