The hand A6789 is a straight, and is the lowest straight.In Short Deck games, 2's, 3's, 4's, and 5's are removed from the deck, leaving 36 cards instead of the normal 52 cards.īecause there are less ranks in the deck, several of the rules for scoring hands change: Players in Short Deck are not required to use a certain amount of hole cards to form their best 5-card hand, and may play 3, 4, or even all 5 of the community cards. The hand now complete, the dealer button moves clockwise and the next hand begins. The pot is awarded to the best Short Deck hand, or split in the event of a tie. If two or more players remain in the hand, a showdown is held and the players’ hole cards are compared. When this round is complete, the river comes: 1 final community card is dealt to the center of the table. When this round is complete, the turn comes: 1 additional community card is dealt to the center of the table.Īnother round of betting occurs in the same way. When this betting round is complete, the flop comes: 3 community cards are dealt to the center of the table.Īnother round of betting occurs, starting with the first player clockwise from the dealer. Starting with the first player clockwise left of the dealer, each player has an opportunity to call or raise the current bet, or fold and exit the hand. The player with the button posts a double ante.Įach player is dealt 2 hole cards from a short deck of 36 total cards.Ī round of betting occurs.

Short Deck Hold'em Poker GameplayĪ hand begins with all players placing a forced bet, known as the ante. Short Deck uses Short Deck Hold'em hand rankings which differ from normal high hands. The deck contains no 2's, 3's, 4's, or 5's. Short Deck Hold'em is a variant of Texas Hold'em played with a short deck of 36 cards. All the cards holding the rank of deuces (twos), threes, fours and fives are removed from the deck. Now the cards aren’t just removed randomly.

While a regular deck has 52 cards, the reduced deck used for this game has only 36 cards.

Unlike Texas Hold’em, in Short Deck Poker, the deck size is reduced. Last time we talked about the thrills and challenges poker holds, even for a player as experienced as Phil. In the latest Paul Phua Poker School video, we welcome back the great Phil Ivey.

Short deck hand rankings