Play Short Deck Poker Online

For a guide to beating short stack poker players, check out the 'Crushing Shortstackers' concept video.

Short Deck Poker is a game which revolves around straights. With 36% of all boards offering the possibility of at least one straight on the flop, and 72% of all boards offering that same possibility by the turn, straights are a consistent presence in Triton Holdem. Speaking of Aces, they play the same role in short deck poker rules, just like in Texas Hold’em. You can either use it as the lowest value or the highest value. To give a simple example, the lowest possible straight you can have according to short deck poker rules is that of Ace, 6, 7, 8 and 9, where Ace pretty much works as a regular 5. Aware of the growing popularity of the new variant, PokerStars has begun rolling out their version of online short deck poker games with 6+ tables now live in the client. Short Deck Hold'em. Short Deck Hold’em (also known as 6+) is a poker variant very similar to Texas Hold’em, where everyone is dealt two cards and there are five community cards on the table. Like Texas Hold'em, players have to make the best hand to win. Also known as Six Plus Hold’em, the stripped deck game is shaping up to be the next big hit for online poker. Short Deck Hold’em, also known as Six Plus Hold’em, is similar to traditional Texas Hold’em.

There are always going to be times in your poker career where you will find yourself as the short stack at the table and probably having a smaller stack than the rest of your opponents.

It may be because you are in the middle of a tournament and had a bad run of cards, or because you simply enjoy to buy in to cash games with a short stack.

But for whatever reason you are playing with a relatively small amount of chips, it is good to be able to understand and employ a good short stack strategy.

What is a short stack in no limit Texas Hold'em?

The typical short stack in any cash game or tournament will have 40 Big Blinds or less.

However, there are varying degrees of short stack poker as a 10BB stack will require a slightly different strategy than a 40BB stack, and it is important to be aware of these differences.

You may have noticed that the term ‘short stack’ is determined by the size of your stack relative to the blinds, and not relative to the stack sizes of your opponents. Therefore even if you have 30BB and your opponents have 20BB, you are still considered to have a short stack, and so you should continue to utilize a good short stack strategy.

How to play with a short stack.

Having a short stack means that you have less room to make plays at the poker table. Bluffs and advanced moves (like float plays) are formed from being able to make educated checks, bets, calls and raises on each round of the hand, so having a short stack will reduce and sometimes eliminate any room for special maneuvers by both you and your opponents.

Furthermore, the general structure of a no limit Texas Holdem game is that the bigger bets will be made on the turn and river, as the preflop and flop rounds are usually set-up rounds that build the pot and prepare the hand for action. The fact that we have a short stack means that we will rarely be making it past the flop in terms of betting as we will not having enough chips to continue.

With a short stack, most (or all) of the action will be taking place on the preflop and flop betting rounds.

Hands to play when short-stacked.

The fact that we have little room for movement and that our betting will cease at the flop means that we should be playing big heavy hitting hands that will make strong hands at the flop, rather than smaller hands that have ‘potential’.

We should avoid hands like suited connectors and small pocket pairs, as these hands are profitable when we have a deep stack, as our implied odds are there to compensate for the likely event that we miss the flop. In general we are best entering pots with are big suited cards that can make top pair or better at the flop, although we should exercise some flexibility in starting hand selection depending on the size of our short stack.

Below is a table of the hands we should be looking to play depending on our situation:

Starting hands chart.

Note: This starting hands chart is designed for tournament games where you are pressured to make more moves as the amount of chips left in your stack decreases. This table is not designed for short stack cash game strategy where you have the option of reloading again and again.

40BB or less.

• AA
• KK
• QQ
• AKs
• AQs
• JJ
• AK
• AQ
• AJs

30BB or less.

• AJ
• TT
• ATs
• KQs

20BB or less.

• AT
• KQ
• KJs
• KJ

10BB or less.

• AXs
• AX
• QJs
• QJ

Short Deck Poker Strategy

As you can see, a lot of emphasis has been placed playing big cards that can make top pair or better, which will often be the best hand on the flop. As you should remember it is unlikely that we will make any more bets past the flop betting round, so we should be more than happy to be making a good pair and get our money in on the flop.

You may notice that hands that include aces have been given a lot of weight, especially if you are a very short stack. This is because of the fact that as a extremely short stack, it is more than likely that you will be pushing or calling an all in on the flop regardless if you have caught a piece of it or not. Therefore if we are holding an ace, we will have a better chance of winning with a high card against an opponent in the event that they did not make a pair either.

How to play these hands.

When we are dealt any of the above cards that are within our range depending on the effective stack sizes, we should always be raising when entering the pot. It may seem like a good idea to limp and try and catch a good flop for cheap, but it is more profitable to raise and build the pot for when we hit our hand, which we are more likely to do if we are holding a strong starting hand.

With a stack of 10BB or more we should be looking to raise around 3 or 4BB if we are first to enter the pot. However, if we have 10BB or less, it will not be too bad of a play to push all-in straight away, as any call from a 4BB raise will leave us completely pot-committed anyway. With 10BB or less, you can think about using the stop and go play also.

On the flop we are usually reduced to going all-in or folding as a short stack. The smaller the size of our stack, the more inclined we should be to calling or pushing all-in as we are more likely to be committed to the pot. The shorter the stack, the less the flop will matter to us. However, if we have around 30/40BB, we can be a little more selective because we will not be pot committed and have the opportunity to wait for a better spot.

The shorter your stack, the less post-flop action you are going to deal with. So it's important to have a strong hand that has a good chance of winning after all 5 community cards have been dealt.

Nevertheless, if we are pot committed and will be moving all-in regardless, it is always better to make the all-in bet rather than calling if possible. This is because by betting we are giving our opponent the opportunity to fold the best hand or a potentially winning hand, which is something that is not available to us if we are calling the all-in bet.

• Short stack tips overview.
• Play simple ABC poker. Avoid attempting to bluff and just bet when you have a strong hand.
• Only enter pots with premium hands.
• Fold small pocket pairs and suited connectors as you have do not have implied odds.
• Make strong 4BB raises before the flop.
• Be prepared to move all of your stack in to the middle before or on the flop.
• Leave the table if you win a big pot (and intend on playing short-stacked).

Short stack strategy evaluation.

Good short stack strategy is all about pushing every little edge that we have. Just because we have a smaller stack, it does not mean that we have less chance of winning any individual hand, it just means we have to adapt our play a little differently to each situation.

Nevertheless, we will be facing an up hill battle if we are in a tournament as each pot we enter is more likely to involve putting our tournament life on the line. At some poker sites, the structure of the faster tournaments will mean that you will spend the majority of the game as a short stack, which is a good way to learn how to play good short stack poker.

We should always look for the most profitable situations and get our money in when we think we have the best of it, and we should always prepare for luck to play its part in each outcome. Playing a good, sound short stack strategy does not guarantee to save a tournament life or secure a double up, but it will improve your chances of coming out on top in the long run.

In cash games, you cannot expect to win every all-in, but you can still play a profitable game by picking the right situations and trying to get your money in with the best hand.

Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.

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The world’s leading online poker site, PokerStars has finally launched its own version of the exciting new variant 6+ Hold’em (also known as Short Deck Poker)—a game that has taken the poker industry by storm.

6+ is the operator’s fifth new cash game variant since 2018 and the first this year. It follows PokerStars Fusion, an innovative variant that blended the elements of Texas Hold’em and Omaha into a single variant. Fusion was recently withdrawn from the client after running for more than two months.

PokerStars’ 6+ Hold’em rolled out in Denmark, Estonia and in the play-money client (on the dot-net site) on January 15. It launched in the UK, Sweden, and on the global dot-com and dot-EU player pools on January 16.

How is PokerStars 6+ Holdem Played?

6+ is quite easy to learn as the game is played quite similarly to traditional Texas Hold’em except with a stripped down deck. All the cards lower than Six are removed from the deck to make it a 36-card deck instead of the usual 52. Because the low cards are removed, players are more likely to get dealt premium hands and hence this makes the game more of an action-oriented game.

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Rules of 6+ Hold’em

In PokerStars’ version of Six Plus Hold’em, instead of the traditional “small blind” and “big blind”, the game uses a “button blind” structure meaning every player on the table pays an ante while the player on the Button not only pays the ante but also pays a blind equivalent to the size of the ante. The same structure is also followed in the high stakes Triton Poker Series.

As in Hold’em, the action starts with the player seated to the left of the button. Each round then plays out according to standard Texas Hold’em rules, with pre-flop, flop, turn and river betting rounds.

Aces are played both low and high just like in traditional Hold’em, but in 6+ Aces can also play as Fives when making a straight. The lowest straight is A6789 and the highest straight is TJQKA.

Hand Rankings

What makes the game more interesting is the differences in the hand rankings compared with the Traditional Hold’em. Since the game is played with a deck of 36 cards, Flushes are harder to hit because there are only 9 cards of each suit instead of 13. As a result, Flushes are ranked higher than Full Houses—which in this game is easier to hit than a Flush.

Mathematically speaking, it is also easier to hit Straights than Sets or Trips in Six Plus Hold’em. However, in the PokerStars version, Straights are still ranked higher than Three-of-a-Kind.

To conclude:

• Flushes rank higher than Full Houses.
• Straights are ranked higher than Trips or Three-of-a-Kind
• A6789 is a low Straight while TJQKA is a high Straight.
• The game is played with an ante. All the players post an ante while the Button posts an additional ante that acts as the only blind.
• The player to the left of the Button is the first to act.

Is the Game Available in Tournaments or Other Format?

At launch, 6+ Hold’em is available only as cash game format. There has been no official announcement by the operator whether the game would be available in Sit & Go or tournament formats.

What are the Minimum and Maximum Buy-ins or Table Stakes Available?

The game is currently offered with buy-ins starting from $3-$4 with Button and Ante at $0.02 to a table with buy-ins as high as $30,000-$40,000 with Button and Ante at $200.

What is the Rake Structure of 6+ Hold’em?

Rake is charged at 3.50% at the lowest buy-in ($3-$4), 5% on Mid-stakes, and 4.50% on Higher-Stakes.

Caps on the rake depend on the table stakes and buy-ins which is shown below.

PokerStars 6+ Hold’em Rake Info

Buy-in	Ante	% Rake	2 Player Cap	3-4 Player Cap	5+ Player Cap
$2 -$3	$0.02	3.50%	$0.30	$0.30	$0.30
$5-$7.50	$0.05	4.15%	$0.50	$0.50	$1.00
$10-$15	$0.10	4.50%	$0.50	$1.00	$1.50
$25-$37.50	$0.25	5.00%	$0.50	$1.00	$2.00
$50-$75	$0.50	5.00%	$1.00	$1.00	$2.50
$100-$150	$1.00	5.00%	$1.25	$1.25	$2.75
$200-$300	$2.00	5.00%	$1.50	$1.50	$3.5
$500-$750	$5.00	5.00%	$2.00	$2.00	$4.50
$1,000-$1,500	$10.00	4.50%	$2.50	$2.50	$4.50
$2,000-$3,000	$20.00	4.50%	$3.00	$3.00	$5.00
$5,000-$7,500	$50.00	4.50%	$3.00	$5.00	$5.00
$10,000-$15,000	$100.00	4.50%	$3.00	$5.00	$5.00
$20,000-$30,000	$200.00	4.50%	$3.00	$5.00	$5.00

Can Players Choose Their Own Table or Seat in 6+ Hold’em?

No. Just like in the previous cash game novelties, 6+ Hold’em too has adopted “Seat Me” (also called blind-lobby functionality). Under this system, players choose the game and stake and the software automatically finds a seat for the players. If no seat is immediately available, players join a waiting list.

Is the Game Available in My Region?

6+ Hold’em is available for real money in global dot-com, European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK), Sweden (SE) client, Denmark (DK) client and the Estonian (EE) client. The game is not yet available in Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, European shared network (France, Portugal, and Spain), Greece, India, Italy, and New Jersey.

However, players from all these regions (including the United States) can play the game for play-money in NET client.

Are there any strategies on 6+ Hold’em available?

Yes, we have written two strategy articles on this game.

1) Six Plus Hold’em/Short Deck Poker Odds and Probabilities
2) Beginners Strategy/Five Tips about Six Plus Hold’em

Will it be a Temporary Offering or Permanent?

There is no mention by PokerStars whether 6+ Hold’em will be available indefinitely or if it will be available for a limited time offering. However, if history is of any indicator, it seems that 6+ will also be a temporary offering like the previous cash game novelties.

But given the fact that the game has turned out to be very popular across both live and online field, 6+ could well be made available permanently, much like Fast Fold format (aka Zoom) or Jackpot based Sit & Go’s (aka Spin & Gos).

Latest News on Six Plus Hold'em:

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PokerStars Launches 6+ Hold’em Spin & Gos

Games are spread at five buy-ins from $1 to $100.

GG Network Will “Probably” Launch Short Deck Poker in 2019

The stripped deck version of Texas Hold’em continues to surge in popularity as GGNetwork is set to add this action-packed variant to its game offering.

6+ Hold’em MTTs to Debut on PokerStars as SCOOP Side Events

Starting May 17, Short Deck tournaments will become available at PokerStars in both tournaments and Sit & Go formats.

PokerStars and partypoker Continue to Emphasize the Importance of Twitch

The competition between the two online poker giants intensifies as both look to expand their reach via the popular live-streaming platform with new signings.

Exclusive: 6+ Hold’em, Showtime and Fusion to Return to PokerStars in Tournament Format

Both Hold’em and Omaha versions of Showtime are among the games that will soon make their debut as MTTs.

Seating Scripts Now Completely Banned on PokerStars

Unexpected consequences of previous restrictions caused increased difficulties for players looking to get a seat.

Partypoker Launches Short Deck Hold’em

Two months after PokerStars launched Six Plus Hold’em, partypoker has joined the short deck craze with its own stripped deck cash game.

PokerStars Rolls Out 6+ Hold’em in Italy, 6+ Tournaments Set to Debut

The Short Deck variant will be the first new novelty poker game by PokerStars to be offered in a tournament format.

Exclusive: PokerStars Readies Split Omaha

In its continued attempt to keep poker fresh, PokerStars is planning to launch yet another new novelty variant based on the game Double Board Omaha.

6+ Hold’em to Debut in Italy and it Could be Permanent

Play Short Deck Poker Online Deuces Wild

6+ will be the only variant in the recent wave of new games from PokerStars to go live in a segregated market.

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