How do you play short deck poker?
Updated November 2026
Short deck is Texas Hold'em played with 36 cards, because the twos through fives are taken out. The betting and the deal are the same, but a flush beats a full house, and the ace can play low in the straight 9-8-7-6-A.
It's also called six-plus Hold'em. Fewer cards means bigger hands come up far more often.
| Hand | Short deck, ways to make it | One in |
|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 24 | 15,708 |
| Four of a kind | 288 | 1,309 |
| Flush | 480 | 785 |
| Full house | 1,728 | 218 |
| Straight | 6,120 | 62 |
| Three of a kind | 16,128 | 23 |
| Two pair | 36,288 | 10 |
| One pair | 193,536 | 1.9 |
| High card | 122,400 | 3.1 |
Why does a flush beat a full house?
Because it's rarer. Each suit has only nine cards, so a five-card flush can be made 480 ways. A full house can be made 1,728 ways. Rarer hands rank higher, so the order swaps.
In short deck, the flush wins
Where does the ace go?
High or low. The lowest straight is 9-8-7-6-A, because the five is gone and the ace takes its place. The highest straight is still A-K-Q-J-10.
The lowest straight
Does a straight beat three of a kind?
Usually, but check before you play. Most games rank a straight higher, as the five-card count suggests. Some games keep the standard order for other hands or change this one, so the rules of your game come first.
What else is different?
Pocket pairs come more often, at 8.57 times in 100 against 5.88 in the full game. Flushes are harder: with two suited cards you make one by the river 4.76 times in 100, compared with 6.4.
Hand values get closer together too, so big pairs are less safe than you're used to.
Short deck against the full game
How does a hand run?
Just like Hold'em. Two hole cards, a flop, a turn and a river, with a round of betting for each, and you make your best five from seven cards. Many games use an ante in place of blinds, so check the structure before you sit down.
The deck
Where did it come from?
It's a variant of a game called Manila. Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan helped promote it in 2015, and it's played most in Macau, Hong Kong and Manila. The 2018 Triton Poker series hosted the first televised tournaments.
Do you know the differences?
Twelve spots in three rounds.
Questions players ask
Is short deck harder than Hold'em?
Different more than harder. The action is bigger and hands run closer together, so it's easy to overvalue a big pair.
Are the odds still worked out the same way?
Yes, with 36 cards in place of 52.
Can I use a normal Hold'em chart?
No. Hand values change too much.
How the numbers on this page were worked out
Exact counts of the 376,992 possible five-card hands from a 36-card deck. Rules and history come from Wikipedia's page on six-plus Hold'em.
Know someone who wants to try something new?
Send them this page.