Short Deck

The Short Deck game eliminates all the low ranked cards. This makes the gameplay more intense and leaves a greater chance of having impressive hands. It’s a small but amazing twist that is making its popularity increase each month.

Short Deck Rules

Short Deck Poker is very closely related to Texas Hold’em. With Short Deck Hold’em you play without cards lower than 6 (Ace are still included in Short Deck). This means no 2’s, 3’s, 4’s and 5’s.

Eliminating these cards means that you have a greater chance of getting a full-house than a flush. It’s also harder to get three of a kind than a straight – unlike in 52-card poker. This is because you only have 9 cards of each suit, so flushes and three of a kind are pretty rare when playing with a short deck.

How Play

You start the game by putting out a small blind and big blind. After that you deal each player two cards with the top down – just like in regular Texas Hold’em. All players need to at least match the big blind in order to continue.

After the initial betting round you lay out the first 3 community cards. Then you have a new betting round. Next you lay out the turn card in the CC, bet again, and then finally add the river card – just like in Texas Hold’em.

In the end all the remaining players need to show their cards in order to find the winner of the pot

Short Deck Poker Card Rankings

As mentioned above the hand rankings are a bit different when playing Short Deck Poker. This is because the mathematical possibilities change when removing the lower cards. The hand rankings are…

1. Royal Flush

2. Straight Flush

3. Four of a kind

4. Flush

5. Full House

6. Three of a Kind

7. Straight

8. Two Pair

9. One Pair

10. High Card Flush and Full House have switched places. So has Three of a Kind and Straight.