Play Short Deck Hold'em (6+ Poker) Free Online

Short deck poker is a Hold'em variant played with a 36-card deck, created by stripping every 2, 3, 4, and 5 out of a standard 52-card pack. Also known as short deck hold'em, 6+ holdem, six plus holdem, 6+ hold'em, and sometimes spelled shortdeck as a single word, this game keeps the familiar two-hole-card structure of Texas Hold'em while completely transforming the math underneath it. The lowest card in play is the six, the deck is 30% smaller, and that single change cascades through every decision you make at the table.

Short deck poker exploded out of the high-stakes cash games in Macau around 2014, where it earned the nickname "six plus" because every card from six and above is in play. Tony G, Phil Ivey, Tom Dwan, and the rest of the Macau crowd needed a game that would generate more action than No-Limit Hold'em — and short deck hold'em delivers exactly that. Hands run closer in equity, big draws hit more often, and the relentless ante format keeps pots inflating from the very first street.

The game has since spread to the mainstream poker tour. The Triton Super High Roller Series runs a Short Deck event most stops, and PokerStars, GGPoker, and other major operators added six plus holdem to their software libraries between 2018 and 2020. When you sit down at a 6+ hold'em table here, you're playing the same modern ruleset used at those events — with one important difference: this is free, play-money poker with AI opponents, no real money risk, and no signup required.

If you've never seen short deck before, the easiest mental model is this: take everything you know about Texas Hold'em, then accept that flushes now outrank full houses, that the ace plays low for a 6-high straight, and that almost every flop hits somebody. The strategic principles transfer; the specific frequencies and equities do not. That is exactly why shortdeck rewards Hold'em veterans who put in the work to re-learn the math, and punishes those who assume their existing instincts will translate.

Short deck hold'em uses almost the same hand rankings as standard Hold'em, with two critical changes that flow directly from the smaller deck. Memorize these before you sit down or you will lose a stack within the first orbit.

Change #1 — Flush Beats Full House

In a 36-card deck, you only have nine cards per suit instead of thirteen. That makes a flush mathematically rarer than a full house. To keep the ranking system honest (rarer hand wins), short deck poker swaps their order: a flush in 6+ holdem outranks any full house, period.

Concretely: if you make K♣ Q♣ 9♣ 8♣ 6♣ on the river, you beat an opponent holding A♥ A♦ for aces full of nines. In standard Hold'em this is a disaster — your opponent's boat crushes your flush. In short deck poker, you scoop the pot.

Change #2 — A-6-7-8-9 Is the Wheel

Because the deuces through fives are gone, the lowest possible straight in short deck is A-6-7-8-9. The ace plays "low" by wrapping around to become the bottom of a six-high straight, just as it wraps in Texas Hold'em to make A-2-3-4-5. This 6-high straight is called the wheel in 6+ hold'em circles. It is still the weakest straight and loses to a 7-high straight (6-7-8-9-T) and every straight above it.

Full Updated Ranking Order

From strongest to weakest in short deck hold'em:

Why The Math Forces These Changes

Probability is the only honest judge of hand strength. In a 52-card deck, the chance of making a flush by the river when you start with two suited hole cards is roughly 6.5%. In a 36-card deck, that chance falls to roughly 4%. Meanwhile, the chance of a full house climbs because more sets get made (your pocket pair hits a set on the flop 18% of the time in short deck versus 11.8% in regular Hold'em). The ranking system reflects what is actually harder to make.

One Variant Note — Trips Vs Straight

Some legacy short deck rooms also rank three of a kind above a straight, on the theory that the smaller deck makes straights easier than trips. Modern tour and online rooms — including ours — keep the standard order (straight beats trips). When you see a foreign rule sheet, always check this one before you sit down.

If you already know Texas Hold'em, short deck rules will feel 80% familiar. The deal, betting actions, and street structure are unchanged. What differs is the deck composition, the forced bets, and the pace.

1. The Setup

A 36-card deck (no 2s, 3s, 4s, or 5s) is shuffled. Each seat gets the same starting stack — at our tables, that's typically 100 ante units. The button moves clockwise after every hand, just like in standard Hold'em.

2. The Ante Format

This is the biggest structural change. Short deck poker most commonly uses an "ante-only" stakes structure instead of small-blind / big-blind:

• Every player at the table posts an ante before any cards are dealt.
• The player on the button posts a "button ante" (also called the "button blind") equal to twice everyone else's ante.
• There is no small blind and no big blind in the standard format. The button's double ante effectively replaces the big blind for the purposes of opening the betting.

A six-handed table with 1-unit antes therefore puts 7 units in the pot before any card hits the felt (5 standard antes + 2-unit button ante). That dead money on every hand is what makes 6+ holdem so action-heavy — you cannot patiently wait for premiums when the cost of folding hand after hand piles up so quickly.

Some short deck variants use traditional blinds with antes layered on top. We default to the ante-only structure because it is the format you'll see on the Triton Series and at most modern online rooms.

3. The Deal and Pre-Flop Betting

Each player is dealt two hole cards face down. Pre-flop action starts with the player immediately to the left of the button (since there is no big blind, the button is "last to act" pre-flop just like every other street). Players can fold, call the button's ante (matching the largest forced bet), or raise.

4. The Flop, Turn, and River

After pre-flop betting closes, three community cards (the flop) are dealt face up, followed by a betting round. Then one card for the turn with another round, then one final river card and a last round. The exact same street structure as Texas Hold'em.

Because hands run so much closer in short deck poker, expect every street to see action. It is common for three or four players to see the flop, two to reach the turn, and showdowns to happen much more frequently than in a standard NLHE game.

5. Showdown and Winning

If two or more players remain after the river betting round, they reveal their hole cards. Each player makes the best 5-card hand from any combination of their two hole cards and the five community cards. Remember the modified rankings — flushes beat full houses, and A-6-7-8-9 is the lowest straight. The winning hand scoops the pot.

If everyone folds to a single remaining player before showdown, that player wins immediately.

6. Variant Rules to Watch For

A few short deck rule variations exist in the wild:

• Button ante size — most rooms use 2x the ante; a handful use 1.5x or 3x.
• No-Limit vs Pot-Limit — our default and the Triton standard is No-Limit. Some legacy Macau games run Pot-Limit.
• Trips beats straight — some old-school rule sheets reverse these. We do not.

Always confirm the rule sheet before you sit at a new short deck hold'em room.

The single most important concept in short deck poker is equity compression. Because the deck has fewer low cards, every made hand and every draw connects with the board more often, and the gap between the best hand and the second-best hand shrinks dramatically. If you take only one strategic idea from this guide, take this one — it changes every decision from pre-flop through the river.

A Concrete Example

In Texas Hold'em, A-A versus 7-6 suited on a 9-8-2 rainbow flop is roughly a 65/35 favorite for the aces. The same matchup in short deck hold'em on a 9-8-6 rainbow flop (since deuces are gone, the small low card disappears) shifts to roughly 55/45. The drawing hand has so many ways to improve — open-ended straight draws hit more often, gutshot straight draws hit more often, backdoor flushes complete more often — that the aces are barely ahead.

Why It Happens

Three forces compress equities:

1. Fewer cards to dodge. Removing 16 cards from the deck (the deuces through fives) means every remaining card is more likely to be the one you need. A flush draw has 9 outs in both games, but those 9 outs come from a 31-card unseen deck in short deck instead of a 47-card unseen deck in Hold'em. Your odds per out roughly double.

2. More board connection. Almost every flop in 6+ hold'em interacts with at least one of your hole cards. The "K-2-7 rainbow" type flops that miss every range in Hold'em simply do not exist — there are no twos.

3. Closer ranks. With ranks running 6 through ace, every possible starting hand is within striking distance of every other starting hand. K-Q versus 8-7 is much closer in short deck than it is in Hold'em.

Practical Equity Numbers

Memorize these approximations for 6+ holdem:

• Pocket pair flopping a set: 18% (vs 11.8% in NLHE)
• Open-ended straight draw to river: 48% (vs 31.5% in NLHE)
• Flush draw to river: 36% (vs 35% — nearly unchanged, but with fewer outs in absolute terms)
• Two overcards to a pair by river: 39% (vs 24% in NLHE)
• Gutshot to river: 24% (vs 16.5% in NLHE)

Because draws complete so much more often, semi-bluffing with a draw is far more profitable in short deck poker than it is in Hold'em. Conversely, slow-playing top pair is far more dangerous — your opponents are catching up faster.

The Rule of 3 and 6

In standard Hold'em, the Rule of 2 and 4 approximates your equity (outs × 2 on the turn, outs × 4 on the flop). In short deck hold'em, that rule shifts to roughly the Rule of 3 and 6: multiply your outs by 3 on the turn and by 6 on the flop for a quick equity estimate. A flush draw on the flop is therefore 9 × 6 = 54% to come in by the river — a coin flip with a strong made hand.

Starting-hand selection in short deck poker is a complete reset from Hold'em. The same hand can shift from premium to marginal — or from trash to playable — purely because of how the new deck reshapes its equity. Below is a practical guide to which hands gain, which lose, and which stay roughly the same.

Hands That Gain Massively in 6+ Holdem

These hands jump in value because they make more straights, more sets, and more connected boards:

• Connectors and one-gappers: T-9, 9-8, 8-7, J-T, Q-J, K-Q. These hands flop straight draws constantly and complete those draws far more often than in Hold'em.
• Ace-x suited: Any suited ace gains because the nut flush is now the absolute top of the rankings — better than a full house. A-7 suited and A-6 suited are now playable hands.
• Suited broadways: K-Q suited, Q-J suited, J-T suited. Flush + straight + pair equity stacks together.
• High cards in general: Because the deck only runs 6-A, any high card hits a "top pair" range more frequently.

Hands That Lose Value in Short Deck

• Small pairs: Pocket sixes and sevens were already speculative in Hold'em. In short deck, they still flop sets at a great rate (18%), but they get outdrawn far more often by overcards-plus-draws. They are now marginal even in late position.
• Disconnected high cards: A-7 offsuit, K-7 offsuit. Without flush potential and with weak straight potential, they shrink to fold territory.
• Aces without a strong kicker: A-7, A-8, A-9 offsuit are dominated more often because the playable range is denser around the high cards.

Premium Tier in Short Deck Hold'em

These hands are strong enough to open-raise from any position:

• A-A, K-K, Q-Q, J-J — top pocket pairs. Slightly less dominant than in Hold'em because of equity compression, but still the strongest opening range.
• A-K (suited or offsuit) — pairs the top card, makes nut flush, makes Broadway straight. Still a premium.
• A-Q suited — pairs strong, dominates lower aces, makes nut flush.
• K-Q suited — top tier of suited Broadway; makes nut straights down to T-J-Q-K-A.

Speculative Tier — Play in Late Position

• T-T, 9-9, 8-8 — medium pairs play for set-mining and showdown value.
• Suited connectors T-9 through 7-6 — chase straight and flush draws.
• Suited one-gappers J-9, T-8, 9-7 — almost as strong as connectors in 6+.
• A-T through A-6 suited — playing for the nut flush.

Trash Tier — Fold

• Offsuit one-gappers and worse without a high card — 9-7 offsuit, 8-6 offsuit.
• Offsuit weak aces — A-7 offsuit, A-8 offsuit from early position.
• Dominated holdings — K-8 offsuit, Q-7 offsuit.

The Practical Pre-Flop Mantra

In short deck hold'em, you want to play hands that flop equity. Pairs flop sets, connectors flop straight draws, suited cards flop flush draws. Hands that "only have one way to win" — like A-7 offsuit, which has to pair an ace to be worth anything — perform terribly in 6+ holdem because they're dominated by every better ace and miss the flop entirely whenever the ace doesn't come.

Pre-flop play in 6+ hold'em is faster, looser, and more aggressive than its Hold'em counterpart. The combination of an ante-only structure, equity compression, and a smaller deck means standing pat with a tight Hold'em range will hemorrhage chips over time.

Open Wider Than You Think

In a six-handed short deck poker game, a typical solid opening range from the button (last to act pre-flop) might look like:

• All pocket pairs (66 through AA)
• Any suited ace (A-6s through A-K suited)
• Suited Broadway down to T-9 suited
• Offsuit Broadway down to K-T offsuit
• Suited connectors and one-gappers down to 8-7s

That's a much wider range than the equivalent NLHE opening from the button. The reason: the dead money in the pot (6 antes plus a button ante = 7 units before action) makes stealing the antes profitable even with weak hands, and equity compression means almost any hand has a viable post-flop fallback if you get called.

From under-the-gun, tighten up to roughly 22-AA, A-9 suited and up, K-Q suited, A-J offsuit and up. Position still matters in shortdeck — just with a wider baseline.

3-Betting Becomes More Common

Because equities run closer, you cannot count on linear "I have the best hand" math the way you can in Hold'em. The light 3-bet (re-raising with a non-premium hand) becomes a major weapon for two reasons:

1. Fold equity is real. Opening ranges are wider, so opponents fold to 3-bets often enough that the bluff is profitable.
2. Equity equity is real. Even when called, a hand like 9-8 suited has roughly 40% equity against an opener's range — close enough to play a flop in position with the betting lead.

A solid 3-bet bluff range from the button against a cutoff opener might be A-6 suited, K-T suited, T-9 suited, 8-7 suited. Polarize: 3-bet for value with your premiums (Q-Q+, A-K) and 3-bet as a bluff with hands that have blocker effects and post-flop playability.

4-Bet Cautiously

The light 4-bet is rare in short deck hold'em because the close equities mean even a "bluff" 4-bet often gets you stacked when called. Limit 4-bets to premium value (J-J+, A-K) and the occasional A-6 suited blocker bluff at deeper stacks.

Adjust to the Ante Structure

Some short deck rooms run blinds-plus-antes instead of antes-only. When blinds are in play, "stealing" the dead money becomes more valuable from late position, and the small blind especially becomes a worse seat. Always check the stakes structure before you set your ranges.

The Squeeze Play

When one player opens and one or more players cold-call, a squeeze 3-bet from a later seat picks up multiple antes plus the open and the calls. This is more profitable in 6+ hold'em than in Hold'em precisely because the dead money in the pot is so much larger. Squeeze polarized: top pairs plus suited blocker hands.

Post-flop play in short deck poker rewards aggression and punishes passivity. The same draws that complete more often for you also complete more often for your opponents, so you cannot rely on showdown value to win pots. Bet your equity and bet your draws.

Continuation Bet Less, Bet With Reason

In Texas Hold'em, a button raiser facing a single caller might c-bet the flop 70-80% of the time. In short deck, that frequency drops to 50-60% because the caller's range hits the flop more often (more pairs, more sets, more straight draws). Pick c-bets where the board favors your range — high-card flops where you have more Broadway combos than your opponent does.

Sets Get Paid Off Big

Pocket pairs flop sets 18% of the time in 6+ hold'em. When you flop one, the temptation is to slow-play. Resist. The board changes fast in shortdeck — a 9-8-7 rainbow flop where you have pocket sevens is a hand where you must bet. By the river, any 5, 6, T, or J completes a straight against you. With three flop streets to maximize value and no time to lose, lead out aggressively.

Straight Draws Are Semi-Bluff Gold

An open-ended straight draw on the flop has roughly 48% equity to the river — essentially a coin flip with the made hand. That makes semi-bluffing with open-enders almost a free roll. You either win with fold equity, win at showdown when you complete, or get to apply more pressure on later streets.

Gutshot draws also gain — 24% equity to the river versus 16.5% in Hold'em. In short deck poker, a single gutshot with overcards is enough to call a flop bet and barrel on the turn if you pick up additional equity.

Beware The Disguised Straight

Because the deck is compressed, more boards are inherently coordinated. A board like 9-T-J is a straight bomb in short deck — anyone with a Q, an 8, or pocket pair plus a connector has a real piece. Slow down when the board screams straight unless you have one yourself.

Flush Draws Are Even More Valuable

A flush in 6+ hold'em outranks a full house, so when you flop a flush draw, you're not just drawing to the third-best hand — you're drawing to a hand that beats every set and every two pair on a paired board. Bet flush draws hard for the equity plus the implied odds.

Pot Control Top Pair

In Hold'em, top pair top kicker on the flop is a hand you happily build a pot with. In short deck poker, top pair is much more often outflopped or out-drawn by the river. Bet for protection on the flop, but be willing to check the turn and call down rather than barrel three streets.

The Stack-To-Pot Ratio Mindset

With antes inflating the starting pot and more action on every street, stack-to-pot ratios (SPR) compress quickly. By the turn in many shortdeck hands, you're playing an SPR of 1.5 or less, which means every flop decision is essentially a commitment decision. Plan your river before you call the flop.

Short deck hold'em is one of several modern Hold'em offshoots you can sample for free on this site. Here is how 6+ hold'em stacks up against the other variants in the family.

vs Texas Hold'em — Texas Hold'em uses a 52-card deck, standard hand rankings (full house beats flush), and a small-blind / big-blind forced bet structure. Short deck poker uses 36 cards, swaps the flush and full house ranks, and replaces blinds with antes. Equities run far closer in 6+ holdem, meaning more action, more semi-bluffing, and faster swings. If you want the foundational game from which short deck poker evolved, play Texas Hold'em free and then come back to feel the difference.

vs Pot-Limit Omaha — PLO deals four hole cards (vs two), uses the standard 52-card deck (vs 36), and caps each bet at the current pot size (vs no-limit in short deck). Both games share the "equities run closer" DNA — you flop monster draws constantly in both — but they get there from completely different mechanics. PLO compresses equities by giving you more starting cards; short deck poker compresses equities by removing low cards. Try Pot-Limit Omaha for a four-card take on action poker.

vs Crazy Pineapple — Crazy Pineapple gives you three hole cards and forces you to discard one after the flop. Hand selection becomes about which three-card holdings have the most playable two-card subsets. Compared to short deck hold'em, Crazy Pineapple keeps standard rankings and the 52-card deck — the action comes from the wider pre-flop range, not from a modified deck. Both games reward Hold'em players who want a fresh strategic challenge. Play Crazy Pineapple to compare.

vs Heads-Up Hold'em — Heads-up is regular Hold'em with only two players. Ranges widen dramatically because almost any two cards have equity against a random hand. Short deck poker can also be played heads-up, and the combination of 6+ rules with two players is one of the most volatile poker formats in existence. If you want a one-on-one fight, start with Heads-Up Hold'em before trying heads-up short deck.

vs Sit & Go Tournament — Sit & Go is a tournament format (single-table, rising blinds, top finishers paid). The format question is orthogonal to the variant question — you can in theory run a Sit & Go in any variant. Our standard SNGs use Texas Hold'em rules. Play a Sit & Go to compare cash-game short deck to a tournament structure.

Pick Your Path

If you're a Hold'em regular looking for more action, short deck hold'em is the natural next step — most of your existing instincts transfer with a modest math reset. If you want a totally different game, PLO and Crazy Pineapple reshape strategy more dramatically. The beauty of free, play-money tables is that you can try each one in a single sitting and decide which game suits your style.