HPD study room · Short Deck / Six Plus rules

Short Deck poker rules: read the smaller deck correctly

The HPD spade has brought his usual rulebook and a box much bigger than he needs. Mara, our teacher, asks him to check the contents first. Short Deck looks familiar because the board still arrives as a flop, turn and river. Familiarity is exactly where the mistakes start. A missing rank can break a remembered draw; a changed ranking can reverse a showdown.

This guide uses the PokerStars 6+ Hold’em rule profile: a 36-card deck, a flush above a full house, and A-6-7-8-9 as the lowest straight. A straight still beats three of a kind in this profile. Everyone posts an ante and the button also posts the only blind. Those choices belong together in the examples below.

Short Deck and Six Plus are useful game names, but a name is not a complete rules sheet. Confirm the actual table rules before applying any comparison. The six puzzles here are invented study deals, with exact cards printed in text. They teach hand reading, not a betting system. Any chip amounts are classroom units with no cash value.

Jump to the 36 cards, hand rankings, ace straights, antes and the button blind, or the six showdown puzzles.

Which cards stay in the deck?

Keep six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king and ace in every suit. That is nine ranks in clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades: 9 × 4 = 36 cards. Remove every two, three, four and five. Do not remove the aces just because an ace can sometimes play low. It is still one of the nine ranks in the deck.

Written as ranks, the entire deck is 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A in each of ♣, ♦, ♥ and ♠. If a hand record includes 5♦, the record does not describe a legal deal under this profile. The right response is to correct or clarify the record before comparing hands. Quietly changing that five to a six invents a different hand.

One physical card can appear only once in a deal. A♥ in your hand cannot also be on the board or in another player’s hand. Different aces are fine: A♥ and A♠ are separate cards. This sounds elementary until someone copies an example between formats and leaves a duplicate suit behind. Write the suits down when a flush or straight flush could matter.

For a paper exercise, sort the deck by suit and remove the low ranks before shuffling. Keep the removed cards out of reach. A correct final answer is impossible if the starting material belongs to a different game.

The finished hand still contains five cards

Each player receives two private cards. The shared board has three cards on the flop, then one turn card and one river card. At showdown, choose the strongest five-card hand available from your two cards and the five board cards. You may use both private cards, one of them or neither. All remaining players have access to the same board.

This makes the first useful question very concrete: which five cards am I actually counting? Say them out loud or write them on a separate line. A sixth card cannot improve a tied five-card hand. A private pair does not count merely because it is yours. The board can supply a better hand for everybody.

Suppose the board itself is A♥ K♦ Q♣ J♠ 10♥. It is an ace-high straight. A private pair of aces is not added to that straight, and it does not create a separate bonus. Unless a player can assemble a higher category, the straight is their best hand. In puzzle four, you will check that possibility for both players instead of stopping at the impressive-looking private cards.

The same freedom explains why a single heart in your hand can complete a flush when there are four hearts on the board. Do not import Omaha’s exactly-two-private-cards restriction. If that distinction feels slippery, HPD’s five-card Omaha lesson provides a useful contrast in hand construction.

Hand rankings for the PokerStars 6+ profile

Read this table from strongest to weakest. The position of flush and full house is the change that catches many Hold’em players. The straight-versus-trips comparison below is deliberately labeled for PokerStars 6+, rather than presented as a rule for every game described as Short Deck.

Hand category	How to read it in this profile
Straight flush	Five consecutive ranks in one suit. A royal flush is the ace-high version, not an extra sixth card.
Four of a kind	Four cards of one rank, plus a kicker.
Flush	Five cards of one suit. It beats a full house here.
Full house	Three cards of one rank and two of another.
Straight	Five consecutive ranks, including the special A-6-7-8-9 sequence. It beats three of a kind here.
Three of a kind	Three cards of one rank, plus two kickers.
Two pair	Two ranks paired, plus one kicker.
One pair	One rank paired, plus three kickers.
High card	Five cards without a stronger category.

Compare the category first. A low flush beats a high full house under this profile; the three-of-a-kind rank inside the full house cannot cross that category boundary. Within a category, compare the relevant ranks. For a full house, compare the trip rank before the pair rank. For two pair, compare the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the remaining kicker.

For an ordinary flush, sort the five cards from highest to lowest. Compare the top cards, then the next cards if necessary, continuing until a difference appears. Suits do not break a tie. A club hand does not win because clubs have some supposed priority over diamonds. If both players have equal-ranked best five-card hands, they tie.

A same-suit sequence is a straight flush, so check that before calling something an ordinary flush. A♠ 6♠ 7♠ 8♠ 9♠ is a nine-high straight flush in this profile. Do not read the ace as high and accidentally downgrade the hand to an ace-high flush.

The ace can sit below the six, but it cannot wrap around

The special low sequence is A-6-7-8-9. Its top card is nine. The ace fills the low end; it does not make the sequence ace-high. The next straight is 6-7-8-9-10, which beats it because ten is higher than nine. From there, continue through 7-8-9-10-J, 8-9-10-J-Q, 9-10-J-Q-K and 10-J-Q-K-A.

There are six possible rank sequences for a straight in this deck. That is a useful manual check: list them, then match your five different ranks to one of those sequences. Duplicated ranks do not fill missing steps. A-A-6-7-8 still needs a nine to form the low straight; the second ace cannot stand in for it.

An ace is not a hinge that joins any high and low cards you like. Q-K-A-6-7 is not a straight. Neither is K-A-6-7-8. The special permission applies to A-6-7-8-9, while the ordinary high-end sequence remains 10-J-Q-K-A. If you find yourself bending the sequence around a circle, stop and write the five ranks in one line.

Outside the special low straight, an ace retains its high rank for ordinary high-hand comparisons. Aces are the highest pair. An ace can be the top card of a flush. The exception concerns how one particular sequence is read; it does not turn every ace in the game into a low card.

Keep the ranking profile attached to the hand

PokerStars’ published 6+ rules change the flush/full-house ordering and recognize A-6-7-8-9, while retaining the other ordinary high-hand rankings. That is why a straight beats trips throughout this lesson. Do not silently swap that comparison because another chart uses the same Short Deck label.

If the rules sheet you are using places three of a kind above a straight, you are working with a different ranking profile. Write that change beside the hand before analysing it. This lesson does not assign that alternative rule to a particular operator or event. A screenshot caption, an old video or a friend’s memory is not enough to decide what the current table uses.

A useful note starts with the game label and the two easily confused comparisons: flush versus full house, and straight versus trips. Then record the low-ace sequence and the forced-bet structure. If those details are missing, ask for them before naming a winner. Being precise about the rules is part of reading the hand, not an optional footnote after the result.

Antes and a button blind are separate payments

In the PokerStars 6+ structure, every player posts an ante and the player on the button posts an additional blind. There is one blind, on the button. Preflop action starts with the player immediately to the button’s left and moves clockwise. Do not draw a conventional small-blind and big-blind pair onto that seating plan.

An ante goes into the pot but does not satisfy the current live bet. The button blind is a live preflop contribution. These are different jobs even when the amounts happen to be equal. The button is also a position marker; it is not an extra player. A phrase such as “button ante” should not be substituted for “button blind” without checking what the writer actually means.

Here is a classroom ledger. Six players each post an ante of 1 unit, and the button posts a separate blind of 2 units. Before voluntary action, the pot contains 6 antes plus the 2-unit blind: 8 units. A player away from the button who wants to call the unraised blind adds 2 units, not 1. Their ante has already gone into a different part of the ledger.

Now let all five players away from the button call 2, and let the button check. The pot is 8 + 10 = 18 units. Each player has contributed 3 units in total: an ante of 1 and a live preflop contribution of 2. If instead the live bet has been raised to 6, the button has 2 credited toward that live total and needs 4 more to call, assuming no intervening change. The ante does not reduce that 4.

These amounts are invented to make the accounting visible, not a claim about a particular stake or an ante-to-blind ratio. Actual minimum bets, raise increments, all-in procedures and forced-bet amounts come from the rules of the game being recorded. The deck size alone does not specify a betting limit. Write the structure down rather than guessing from the word Short Deck.

Follow the streets without moving the first seat by habit

There is a preflop betting round after the two private cards are dealt, a flop betting round after three shared cards, a turn round after the fourth shared card, and a river round after the fifth. Once the flop is out, action begins with the first player still able to act clockwise from the button. Skip players who have folded or are already all-in; those seats have no further betting decision.

In the button-blind profile used here, the seat immediately to the button’s left also starts the preflop round. That can feel strange if your default picture is an ordinary two-blind Hold’em table. The point is to locate the live forced bet and read the applicable action-order rule, rather than reuse seat names from a different diagram.

Consider seats A, B, C, D, E and F clockwise, with F on the button. A acts first preflop. If A and B fold before the flop, C is the first active player to the left of F on the flop. D is not first merely because C happened to be the last player who called before the flop. A new street resets the starting point according to position.

Do not confuse the first player to act with the last player who will ever act. A raise can require another response from players who have already acted. Likewise, an ante does not entitle a player to see the flop for free. When a live bet is outstanding, they must deal with that bet under the applicable rules or fold.

Six exact-card showdown puzzles

Use the PokerStars 6+ ranking profile for all six puzzles. Each deal has two players still in at the river, with no folded cards or other holdings specified. Compare the best five cards, then open the answer. Symbols mean clubs ♣, diamonds ♦, hearts ♥ and spades ♠. If reading aloud, say each rank and suit; color alone is not enough.

1. The full house looks bigger

Board: K♥ 9♥ 8♥ 8♣ 6♠
Player A: A♥ J♥
Player B: K♣ K♦

Who wins, and which five cards decide it? Before comparing ranks, give each hand its category. Do not let the paired board stop you from checking the suit count.

Show answer 1: a flush beats a full house

Player A wins with A♥ K♥ J♥ 9♥ 8♥, an ace-high flush. Both private cards are hearts, and the board supplies the other three hearts. The five ranks are not consecutive, so this is an ordinary flush rather than a straight flush.

Player B has K♣ K♦ K♥ 8♥ 8♣, kings full of eights. That is a full house, and it loses to the flush under the stated PokerStars 6+ profile. Comparing the king trips with the ace at the top of the flush is unnecessary: the categories already decide the result.

The lesson is to finish both hands before declaring a winner. The board being paired permits a full house; it does not guarantee that a full house wins. In an ordinary full-deck high-hand game this category comparison would be different, which is why the profile label stays beside the exercise.

2. An ace at the low end

Board: 6♣ 7♦ 8♥ K♣ Q♠
Player A: A♣ 9♠
Player B: 9♦ 10♥

Both players can make a straight. Is Player A’s ace the highest card in the comparison, or does it have a different role? Write the two sequences before choosing.

Show answer 2: ten-high beats nine-high

Player A uses A♣ 6♣ 7♦ 8♥ 9♠. This is the special nine-high straight. The ace acts below the six, and the nine is the top card of the sequence. Player A uses both private cards.

Player B uses 6♣ 7♦ 8♥ 9♦ 10♥, a ten-high straight, also using both private cards. Player B wins. The comparison is ten-high against nine-high; it is not ten-high against ace-high.

The king and queen on the board do not improve either straight. Player A cannot join Q-K-A to 6-7 and call it a wrapped sequence. Set the unused cards aside and the result becomes much easier to see.

3. A straight against a set

Board: 6♥ 7♣ 8♦ Q♠ K♣
Player A: 9♣ 10♥
Player B: Q♥ Q♦

The hand categories are different again. This time the trap is bringing a trips-above-straight chart into the PokerStars 6+ profile. Which ranking are we actually using?

Show answer 3: the named profile decides the order

Player A has 6♥ 7♣ 8♦ 9♣ 10♥, a ten-high straight. Player B has Q♥ Q♦ Q♠ K♣ 8♦, three queens with king and eight kickers. Player A wins because a straight beats three of a kind in the PokerStars 6+ rules used here.

Player B’s pocket pair plus one matching board card is commonly called a set. That word describes how the three of a kind was formed; it is not a stronger category than trips. It does not overtake the straight.

A different explicitly stated hierarchy would require a different comparison. Do not change this answer halfway through the deal. If a hand history omits the hierarchy, the useful first note is “confirm the ranking profile”, rather than a confident winner based on an unnamed chart.

4. Two pocket pairs, one shared straight

Board: A♥ K♦ Q♣ J♠ 10♥
Player A: A♣ A♦
Player B: K♣ K♥

Player A can find three aces; Player B can find three kings. Must either player use those cards? Find the best hand, rather than the most personal-looking hand.

Show answer 4: both players use the board

Both players can choose A♥ K♦ Q♣ J♠ 10♥, the ace-high straight already on the board. They tie, and neither needs a private card. A private ace or king could replace the board card of the same rank without improving the straight.

Player A’s three aces and Player B’s three kings are weaker than a straight in this profile. Neither player can make a flush, full house, four of a kind or straight flush from the cards available. The private pairs therefore provide no improvement over the board.

An unused ace does not become a sixth-card kicker for Player A. The five ranked cards are equal, so there is no further card to compare. If the pot is 80 classroom units and no deductions or side pots apply, each player receives 40 units.

5. Four hearts on the board

Board: A♥ J♥ 9♥ 7♥ 6♣
Player A: K♥ Q♣
Player B: Q♥ K♣

Both players hold a king and a queen by rank, but the suits are attached to different cards. Does that matter? Identify the five hearts each player can actually use.

Show answer 5: compare the second flush card

Player A has A♥ K♥ J♥ 9♥ 7♥. Player B has A♥ Q♥ J♥ 9♥ 7♥. Both have ace-high flushes and both use exactly one private card. Player A wins because the next card after the shared ace is a king, while Player B’s next card is a queen.

Player B cannot borrow Player A’s K♥. The K♣ in Player B’s own hand is a club and cannot enter a heart flush. Likewise, Player A’s Q♣ is unused. Comparing just the words “ace-high flush” would stop one card too early.

This is a good test for whether a hand record has kept enough information. The private ranks K-Q alone would not identify the winner. The suits determine which private card belongs in each five-card hand.

6. The third pair has to become a kicker

Board: A♣ A♦ K♥ K♦ 6♠
Player A: Q♣ Q♦
Player B: J♥ 9♣

Player A can see three different pairs among seven cards. Poker still asks for five cards. Which ranks survive, and what happens to the second queen?

Show answer 6: aces and kings, then the kicker

Player A’s best hand is A♣ A♦ K♥ K♦ Q♣, with Q♦ interchangeable for Q♣. It is two pair, aces and kings, with a queen kicker. Only one private queen enters the five-card hand. There is no three-pair category.

Player B’s best hand is A♣ A♦ K♥ K♦ J♥, two pair with a jack kicker. The two pairs match between players, so compare the fifth card. The queen beats the jack, and Player A wins. Both kickers improve on the board’s six.

Player A does not have a full house because no rank appears three times. Combining two aces, two kings and two queens would use six cards. Writing the final five cards prevents both errors without needing a slogan about how strong a pocket pair feels.

A smaller deck needs its own probability question

Do not reuse a full-deck outs percentage just because the draw has a familiar name. The sample space has changed, and so may the definition of a winning outcome. Completing a straight and winning a showdown are separate events. An opponent can improve too, and the ranking profile affects which improvements matter.

Even the number of unseen cards needs a clear information boundary. If you know only your two private cards and a four-card board, there are 30 cards whose locations you do not know: 36 minus 6. Some may be in opponents’ hands or otherwise unavailable to the river, but without further information you do not know which ones. If another player’s two exact cards are exposed, the unseen set becomes 28. These are different conditional questions.

A made flush example also shows why memory can mislead. There are nine hearts in the original deck. In puzzle five, four are on the board and each player holds another heart, so six hearts are explicitly known and three are not shown. That count alone says nothing about a future win rate because the exercise is already at the river. State the street and the known cards before asking for a probability.

For study, first solve the deterministic task: name every legal five-card hand needed for the comparison. Then define a separate probability task with the known cards, unknown holdings and possible runouts. Keeping those questions separate makes a calculation easier to check and prevents a remembered percentage from deciding a hand that is already complete.

Keep a small rules note beside the hand

A reusable Short Deck note should tell another reader enough to reproduce your answer. You do not need a long essay for every deal, but missing one rule can be more damaging than missing a paragraph of commentary.

• The exact game or event profile, including flush/full-house and straight/trips ordering
• The allowed deck and low-ace straight rule
• The antes, live blind or blinds, button position and action order
• The two private cards per player and every known board card, with suits
• The strongest five cards for each player and the first comparison that decides the result

When a copied hand contains a two, three, four or five, pause the analysis. When a card appears twice, pause again. If the cards are valid but the ranking rules are missing, ask for the rules. Those checks are quicker than debating a result built on an impossible deal.

Mara’s last question is simple: “Can you point to the five cards?” Ace has finally closed the oversized box. If you can name the five, name the profile and explain the first differing rank, you have a hand-reading answer someone else can check.

Choose the next lesson

The HPD spade invites you to keep the same careful-note habit in another format. Try five-card Omaha rules to practice a stricter card-selection rule, straddle rules to separate forced bets from familiar seat labels, or a poker study routine to turn one checked hand into a repeatable exercise.