Short Deck Hold'em
Also called Six Plus Hold'em: Texas Hold'em played with a 36-card deck (2s through 5s removed), which flips some standard hand rankings and is popularly associated with high-stakes Asian cash games.
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Short Deck Hold'em is dealt exactly like standard Texas Hold'em — two private hole cards, a five-card community board revealed as flop, turn, and river — but uses a stripped 36-card deck with the 2s, 3s, 4s, and 5s removed, leaving only 6 through Ace in each suit.
Because the deck is shorter, hand probabilities shift significantly: flushes become harder to make than full houses (since there are fewer cards of each suit available), which is why many short deck rulesets rank a flush ABOVE a full house — the reverse of standard poker hand rankings. Some rulesets also rank three of a kind above a straight, though this varies by table.
Betting is commonly structured with antes from every player rather than blinds, reflecting the game's popularization in high-stakes Asian cash games before it spread internationally.
Strategy notes: Because the smallest cards are removed, average starting hands run stronger than in standard Hold'em, and players need to consciously re-rank hand strength — a full house that would be nearly unbeatable in standard Hold'em is meaningfully more vulnerable to a flush here.
Common house rules
Flush beats full house — confirm before dealing
This is the single most important rule to confirm before playing: because flushes are rarer than full houses with a 36-card deck, most (but not all) tables rank flush above full house — the reverse of standard poker.
Trips vs. straight ranking varies
Some rulesets additionally rank three of a kind above a straight, reflecting further probability shifts from the shorter deck — this is less universal than the flush/full-house swap, so confirm it separately.
Antes instead of blinds
Many short deck tables use antes from every player rather than the two-blind structure standard Hold'em uses, building a bigger pot before any cards are even dealt.
Related games
Based on shared category, origin, and rules that reference each other.
Texas Hold'em
The world's most popular poker variant: two private hole cards combined with five shared community cards, playable heads-up or with a full ring of players.
Learn the rules →5-Card Omaha
Omaha with five hole cards instead of four, played high-only — the high-hand-only counterpart to Big O, which adds a low split to the same five-card format.
Learn the rules →All In Stud
A Galaxy Gaming casino table game mathematically equivalent to Let It Ride, but using an 'add bets' structure instead of the pull-back mechanic.
Learn the rules →Cajun Stud
A Galaxy Gaming casino table game built on the same progressive-reveal structure as Mississippi Stud, with additional side bets layered on top.
Learn the rules →