★★★★★ Six-plus hold 'em (also known as short-deck hold 'em) is a community card poker game variant of Texas hold 'em, where the 2 through 5 cards are removed from the deck. Each player is dealt two cards face down and seeks to make the best five card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards (five community cards and their own two hole cards). This is a discussion on 6 plus holdem or short deck within the online poker forums, in the General Poker section; Does anyone know the rules to this game I had trip A and lost to high card.

• Six Plus Hold'em Poker
• Six Plus Holdem Rules
• 6 Plus Hold'em Hand Rankings

Last week, the iPoker Network, which is composed of such online poker rooms as TitanPoker, William Hill, and Ladbrokes Poker, rolled out a new poker variant called Six-Plus Hold’em. Unlike other new poker games that have come along over the last few years, this isn’t another “fast fold” game or “lottery sit-and-go” format, but rather a nearly standard hold’em game with one exception: a smaller deck. I wasn’t familiar with it until recently, and I would guess many readers are not, either, so let’s take a look at what, exactly, Six-Plus Hold’em entails.

• Six-Plus Hold’em. This variant revolves around community cards and unlike typical poker, Six-Plus will utilize only 36 cards. Playing cards 2–5 will not be in play. This means that there are fewer winning hands but also fewer players. The cards available are Sixes to Kings, and Aces are included. In comparison, while the Texas variant has.
• 6+ Hold’em is a popular ' short deck ' poker format that plays much like Texas Hold’em, but with a few exciting differences: All cards lower than a six are removed from the deck Everyone posts an ante and only the button posts a blind - known as the 'button blind' A flush beats a full-house and Ace, 6, 7, 8, 9 is classified as a straight.

At first glance, the name might make one think that this is six “card” hold’em, but that’s not the case, as that would essentially be Omaha. In Six-Plus Hold’em the twos, threes, fours, and fives are all removed from the deck, creating a new deck of 36 cards. All cards have a value of six or greater, hence “Six-Plus.”

Because the deck is now smaller, the probabilities of hitting certain hands has changed. Therefore, the hand rankings have been adjusted. Flushes are now rarer and stronger because there are only nine cards of a suit instead of thirteen and straights have become more common and are weaker. The hand rankings have shifted from this:

Royal Flush
Straight Flush
Four of a Kind
Full House
Flush
Straight
Three of a Kind
Two Pair
Pair
High Card

To this:

Royal Flush
Straight Flush
Four of a Kind
Flush
Full House
Three of a Kind
Straight
Two Pair
Pair
High Card

As you can see, the flush has jumped up past the full house because of its rarity, while a straight has dipped below three of a kind. With the elimination of deuces through fives, the cards that players will be dealt will be packed closer together in value, thus making straights more frequent and weakening that hand’s relative strength.

To illustrate, imagine you are playing in a heads-up Six-Plus Hold’em match and have 8-9 as hole cards on a board of T-J-A, giving you an open-ended straight draw. In normal hold’em game, you would have eight outs to hit your straight out of 47 unknown cards. You have about a 17 percent chance to make that straight. In Six-Plus Hold’em, you still have the same number of outs as in a normal hold’em game, but now there are only 31 unknown cards, as 16 cards are no longer in the deck. Therefore, your chances of making the straight have jumped to around 26 percent.

In Six-Plus Hold’em, the Ace can still complete the low or high end of a straight, so the lowest straight possible is A-6-7-8-9.

Six-Plus Hold’em has been particularly popular in some of the high stakes games in Macau, as it is a much higher action game that requires players to participate in many more hands than they normally would. And that is likely the goal for the iPoker Network here: introduce a heavy action game in which both recreational players and skilled pros can become more engaged as they get involved in more pots. Players will play longer, pots will grow bigger, and rake will increase.

Remember the uncommon poker games article published on PokerTube a couple of months ago? Remember the last game we talked about briefly? That’s right, Six Plus Holdem, a very interesting format introduced by the usual suspects in Macau, Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey. Well, we believe you’ll be very happy to know that the future is now.

The new format is finally available online, on the iPoker Network - although still in test mode - and everyone bored with the old Cadillac of Poker can now try Six Plus Holdem with as little as a few bucks. So far, the available stakes are 4NL and 20NL. Since March is full of promotions targeting the new game, the tables and the stakes will probably continue to pile up in order to compete with the Pot Limit Omaha iPoker traffic.

Six Plus Hold'em Poker

Before hitting the SPH tables though, you need to know some basic things about this format. Yes, it’s a lot like No Limit Texas Holdem, but at the same time, different in many ways. And to prove it, let’s start things off with the rule changes.

Stripped Deck Of Cards, Different Hand Rankings

The most important difference between the regular Holdem and SPH concerns the deck of cards. In SPH you play only with 36 cards, stripping away the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s. That’s why it’s called Six Plus, because the deck has cards ranked six and above. As in regular Holdem, the Ace can also have a low value thus make a low straight like the classic wheel - A2345. In SPH, the wheel is actually A6789.

Since there are fewer cards in deck and only nine of the same suit, the hand ranking is slightly different as the strength of certain poker hands changes. Therefore, the flush has a much higher value and actually beats the boat. The straight on the other hand has a lower value than in NLHE and is beaten down by the set but still beats the lone pair and two pairs. Below, you can read the entire Six Plus Holdem Hand Rankings from the weakest to the strongest hand:

• High Card
• One Pair
• Two Pairs
• Straight
• Three of a Kind
• Full House
• Flush
• Four of a Kind
• Straight Flush
• Royal Flush

Strategy: Smaller Edges, Different Perspective

Six Plus Holdem Rules

Now what about the basic strategy? The good news is that the Six Plus Holdem winning strategy is a work in progress, so that means everyone is likely to make big mistakes at one point or another. The preflop edges are definitely much smaller, more like in Omaha, that’s why the weaker player won’t make that much of a mistake if they call preflop with a weak holding. Like in Omaha, the hands will run bigger as compared to NLHE so anyone who starts playing SPH must be very careful in determining the relative strength of their poker hand.

6 Plus Hold'em Hand Rankings

Basically, this is a brand new version of Omaha but much less complex. And since we’re comparing the new game with Omaha, we also have to mention the swings and high variance SPH could bring in your online cashier. Don’t believe us? Well, let’s hear Ivey and Dwan talk about the new format (notice the smirk on Ivey’s face when he’s talking about bankroll management and Dwan’s reaction):

As expected, they aren’t prepared to share their insight about the game just yet, but we can provide you with some basics hints at least. You definitely need to change your perspective when playing SPH, even re-think your betting sizes preflop and know that position is even more important than in NLHE. And remember...Omaha: big cards, huge value, high suited cards are even more important - connected cards, not that much anyone - and yes, reverse implied odds. Those odds can be a game changer as the user ExciteD pointed out on 2+2 forums:

For more tips regarding how to approach the new game, you can also take a look on our sister site PokerVIP and read the Six Plus Hold'em Rules & Strategy.

Editor’s Take: New Games, New Opportunities

Ok, more gambling, smaller edges but is it worth it? Can SPH become the next big thing in the poker industry? It definitely can!

Many poker players are of the opinion that the revitalization of the poker ecology cannot be done by simply wiping out old, inefficient formats and games. It can only be done by adding and developing new, interesting, and different game options. I share their opinion and I believe a new derivation like Six Plus Holdem will bring a lot of positives to the depleted online environment in the long run.

Everybody knows why Omaha didn’t catch up with the mainstream as much as Texas Holdem, too many complained about the complexity of the game. Not to mention paying attention to all those ever-present draws and making a poker hand from exactly three community cards and two hole cards. SPH gets rid of all those complaints. It’s simple like regular Holdem and the gambling factor is much more present. If we also add the lack of strategic information about the game, we can assume every single one of us could be a winner (the reverse is also possible if we aren’t prepared to put in the work, every one of us can be a fish).

So really, what’s not to like? Can SPH become an even more popular game than the regular NLHE? Maybe in the long run, but for now it definitely has the potential to compete with other poker variants like Stud, 2-7 Triple Draw and yes, even Pot Limit Omaha.

What do you think? Is Six Plus Holdem a Game Changer? Can it top the popularity of PLO and NLHE? Share your thoughts with the rest of us in the comment section below.