Ellis Pribyl

Short Deck Poker: 36-Card Hold'em Rules & Hand Order

Short deck poker (also called Six Plus Hold'em) strips every 2 through 5 from the deck, leaving 36 cards instead of 52. You already know standard Texas Hold'em, so the betting rounds and community-card structure feel familiar right away. What changes is the math: fewer low cards means bigger pairs and straights arrive far more often, which is why the hand ranking gets reordered. For the full-deck betting structure this game borrows from, see our Texas Hold'em rules guide.

Which Cards Are Stripped From The Deck

Short deck poker removes the 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s from a standard deck, cutting it from 52 cards down to 36. The 6 becomes the lowest card, and the ace still plays high or low for straights. Removing 16 cards makes pairs, two pair, and flushes noticeably easier since fewer weak, disconnected low cards dilute the deck. That single change is why short deck in poker plays so differently from the full-deck game.

Short Deck Poker Hand Order: What Changes

The most important adjustment for a Hold'em player is the reordered hand ranking. With only 36 cards, flushes become harder to make relative to full houses, so the two swap places in most short deck poker rulesets — a flush now beats a full house. Straights and sets also become more common, which pushes many rooms to rank a set above a straight too. Below is the standard short deck poker chart most clubs and tournaments use, ranked strongest to weakest.

Short Deck Poker Hand Ranking Chart (36-Card Deck)
Rank	Hand	Notes vs Standard Hold'em
1	Royal Flush	Unchanged — still the top hand
2	Straight Flush	Unchanged
3	Four of a Kind	Unchanged
4	Flush	Moved above full house — harder to make with 16 fewer low cards
5	Full House	Moved below flush
6	Straight	Unchanged position, but hits more often
7	Three of a Kind	Some rooms rank this above a straight instead
8	Two Pair	Unchanged
9	One Pair	Unchanged
10	High Card	Unchanged — weakest hand

Short Deck Poker Blinds And Ante Structure

Most short deck poker games skip traditional blinds and use an ante-only structure instead. Every player posts the short deck poker ante before cards are dealt, and the button posts an additional double ante to preserve positional cost. This spreads the cost of playing across the whole table rather than two players, matching a game where pots run bigger and hands connect more often.

Why Equities Run Closer In Short Deck

In my experience studying short deck poker combinations, the smaller deck compresses the gap between a strong starting hand and a mediocre one. With no 2s through 5s in play, more flops connect for more hands, so A-K runs much closer against a lower pair than it would in standard Hold'em. This tighter equity spread is the real skill gap between short deck poker and the full-deck game, not just the reordered hand ranking.

Quick Reference

Remember the flip: flush beats full house in short deck. Everything else in the ranking stays close to standard Hold'em, aside from three of a kind occasionally outranking a straight.

Tools Players Use To Study The Format

Because short deck poker combinations behave so differently from standard Hold'em, serious players lean on away-the-table study tools rather than guesswork. A solver like PioSolver or a trainer such as GTO Wizard helps rebuild preflop ranges for the 36-card game, and a HUD such as Hand2Note still works fine since it displays stats and leaves the decision to you. Some players also look at in-hand assistance software — NZT Poker's variants guide is one option worth exploring, though real-time assistance is against the rules on nearly every club app and regulated room, with account bans the typical consequence.

Where To Play Short Deck Poker

Short deck poker started in private high-stakes games in Asia before spreading to major tournament series and large regulated rooms. Both GGPoker and PokerStars now spread short deck cash games and tournaments, so you don't need a club invite to try the format. For the canonical rule set, see six-plus hold 'em.

Short deck poker 36-card deck laid out beside a standard 52-card deck for comparison — Removing the 2s through 5s from a standard deck is what reshapes short deck poker's hand rankings and equities.

Curious How Assistance Apps Frame Short Deck?

NZT Poker covers short deck alongside other formats — one option worth a look, not a rulebook replacement.

See NZT Poker's Variants Guide

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What is Short Deck poker?

Short deck poker is a Texas Hold'em variant played with a 36-card deck instead of 52 — every 2, 3, 4, and 5 is removed. The betting rounds and community cards work the same as standard Hold'em, but the hand ranking is reordered and hands connect far more often because the deck has fewer weak low cards left in it.

How do you play Short Deck poker?

Play follows standard Hold'em structure: two hole cards, a flop, turn, and river, with betting after each street. The differences are the 36-card deck, an ante-only or ante-plus-blinds structure, and a reordered hand ranking where a flush beats a full house. Most players also open wider preflop since hands run closer in equity than in the full-deck game.

How many cards are in a Short Deck poker deck?

Short deck poker uses 36 cards. A standard deck has 52 cards, and short deck removes all sixteen 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s, leaving 6 through Ace in each suit — which is why the format is also called Six Plus Hold'em.

Who invented Short Deck poker?

Short deck poker grew out of private high-stakes games in Asia, particularly Macau, before spreading into mainstream tournament circuits around 2014-2015. No single inventor is credited — it developed among high-stakes cash game regulars seeking more action, then got picked up by major tours.

Why play Short Deck poker?

Short deck poker rewards players who enjoy bigger pots, more frequent big hands, and closer equity battles than standard Hold'em offers. Because the smaller deck makes strong hands common, post-flop decisions matter more and passive play gets punished harder, which many experienced players find more engaging once they've adjusted their ranges.

Does a flush beat a full house in Short Deck poker?

Yes. In short deck poker, a flush ranks above a full house, reversing the order used in standard Hold'em. This swap happens because removing the 2s through 5s makes flushes statistically harder to complete than full houses, so the ranking adjusts to reflect true hand rarity in the 36-card deck.