Short Deck Hold'em, also called Six Plus Hold'em, is Texas Hold'em with the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s taken out. That leaves 36 cards. The smaller deck means more action, stronger hands, and a couple of changes to the hand rankings that catch out Hold'em players.
The deck
Remove every 2, 3, 4 and 5 from a normal deck. The lowest card is now a 6, and there are 9 cards in each suit instead of 13.
How a hand plays
Exactly like no-limit Texas Hold'em:
- Small and big blind.
- Two cards each, then a round of betting.
- The flop, the turn and the river, with betting after each.
- Showdown: best five from your two and the five on the board.
The hand ranking changes
With fewer cards of each suit, flushes get harder to make. With fewer ranks, straights get easier. So on Bink, two hands swap places:
- Royal flush
- Straight flush
- Four of a kind
- Flush (now beats a full house)
- Full house
- Three of a kind (now beats a straight)
- Straight
- Two pair
- One pair
- High card
The ace still plays both high and low in a straight. With no 2 to 5, the lowest straight is A 6 7 8 9, with the ace standing in for the 5.
Some casinos keep the straight above three of a kind. If you play at home with friends, agree which version you're using before you start.
An example hand
You hold K♥ K♣. The board comes K♦ 9♥ 9♠ 7♥ 6♥. You have a full house, kings full of nines.
- An opponent with A♣ 8♣ has A 6 7 8 9, the lowest straight. Your full house wins.
- An opponent with A♥ 10♥ has an ace high flush: A♥ 10♥ 9♥ 7♥ 6♥. In normal Hold'em your full house would win. In Short Deck, their flush beats it.
Tips
- Flush draws are weaker than they look. With 9 cards in a suit, a flush draw has only 5 cards left that complete it.
- Straight draws are stronger. An open-ended draw still has 8 cards that finish it, and in a 36 card deck those 8 are a much bigger share of what's left.
- Big pairs are less dominant. Everyone's cards are closer together in rank, so preflop hands run closer in value.
Play it
Play Short Deck Hold'em on Bink with friends in your browser, for chips. The table ranks flushes above full houses for you, so nobody argues at showdown.