6 Holdem Strategy

Six-Player Power Ratings in Texas Hold ’Em Introduction. The following table ranks the top hands in a 6-player game. This table assumes that all players stay in until the end. Explanation of column headings: Cards: Initial two-card hand. Probability of win: Probability that this hand will win, or tie for the win. Jan 05, 2021 Short Deck Hold’em – also known as Six Plus (6+) Hold’em – is No-Limit Hold’em played with a stripped-down deck. All of the deuces to fives are removed to make the total deck just 36 cards. That means some pretty big changes to the poker hand rankings, game dynamics and to standard Texas Holdem strategy. 1) The Short Deck.

Six Plus Hold'em could be the future of Poker. Due to its potential appeal to recreational players, Six Plus Hold'em could one day become more popular than Texas Hold'em Poker. The game of Six Plus Hold'em follows the same rules as Texas Hold'em with a few differences. In Six Plus Hold'em the deck consists of 36 cards (compared to the full 52-card deck dealt in Texas Hold'em). In the game of Six Plus Hold'em, all cards ranking 2, 3, 4, and 5 are removed from play. The chart of hand rankings is slightly different between the two games and basic poker strategy must be adjusted to playing with a smaller deck.

Six Plus Hold’em and Texas Hold'em Comparison

Six Plus Hold’em Strategy

As there are only 36 cards in the deck, the likelihood of being dealt good cards is higher and the odds of getting specific cards dealt in the flop/turn/river are also increased. Although the rules of playing Six Plus Hold'em are the same as those in Texas Hold'em, certain strategy considerations must be adjusted to the smaller deck.

** In Six Plus Hold'em, the odds of being dealt pocket aces are double the odds in Texas Hold'em.

** Flushes are extremely difficult to make, as there are only 9 cards in each suit. As a result, a Flush is ranked higher than a Full House.

6+ Hold'em Strategy

** Straights are much easier to make. Therefore, a Straight is ranked lower than Three of a Kind.

** It's easier to make two-pair hands in Six Plus Hold'em.

Six Plus Hold’em Origins and Ambassadors

Where the game of Six Plus Hold'em originated is not entirely clear, but it is highly likely that it made its first major appearance on the cash tables in Macau. It was there that the game was discovered by poker pros Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan. Both have spoken highly of the game and its potential and admitted that they are still in the process of mastering its strategy.

According to Ivey, 6+ Hold'em is 'a little bit more exciting than playing regular No Limit Hold'em because you get to play more hands and there's a lot more luck involved,' Ivey said. 'I think it's a lot more exciting for a new player,' he added.

Despite the differences, Ivey said the game of Six Plus Hold'em is 'still poker, you know. You have to be patient when you need to be patient, and be aggressive when you need to be,' he said.

Why Play Six Plus Hold’em

The game of Six Plus Hold'em Poker is still a novelty but it will appeal to many groups of players:

** Players who are bored with Texas Hold'em and seek a change.

** Players eager to learn as many varieties of Poker as possible.

** Players seeking to be the first to master a new game and thereby gain an advantage over other players.

6+ Holdem Strategy

** Recreational players who will be happy to be dealt many more 'good' hands.

Will Six Plus Hold'em appeal to you? The best way to know for sure is by playing this new exciting variety of Poker. You could be the first one to know the ins and outs of the game. Invite your friends to join you for a Six Plus festival of Poker.

Photo of Phil Ivey credit: Flickr upload bot, CC-BY-2.0.

6+ Hold’em is a popular ‘short deck’ poker format that plays much like Texas Hold’em, but with a few exciting differences:

• All cards lower than a six are removed from the deck
• Everyone posts an ante and only the button posts a blind – known as the ‘button blind’
• A flush beats a full-house

Available in cash games, exclusively at PokerStars, 6+ Hold’em is your chance to play an action-packed variant loved by high-stakes players around the world.

Having already acquainted ourselves with the differences in rules and pre-flop hand selection between 6+ Hold’em and regular Holdem, it is time to meet some post-flop nuances that make 6+ Hold’em a completely different game post-flop as well as pre-flop.

The Rules of Three and Six

6 Handed Texas Holdem Strategy

Two ancient nuggets of wisdom from the early days of Holdem are the rules of two and four. These rules provide a short-cut for translating outs into equity. In other words, if there are X cards in the deck that will make your hand, how much equity do you have? In Holdem you have 4X% equity on the flop and 2X% on the turn, assuming that your outs will make you the best hand and that there is no other way of improving to the best hand.

In 6+ Hold’em you have the same number of outs with a straight draw as you do in Holdem. If you have an open-ended straight draw on the flop, then you have eight outs to the best hand. The difference lies in the fact that there are less cards in the deck that are not your outs. Instead of trying to hit your 8 cards from a possible 47 unseen cards, the turn and the river emerge from a deck of just 31 unseen cards. This means that we will fail to hit our straight on the turn and river (23/31) x (22/30) = 54% of the time. Our straight will get there the other 46% of the time. 46 / 8 = 6 and this is how we arrive at the rule of six on the flop. Multiply your outs by six instead of four in 6+ Hold’em.

On the turn, there is one less card to come and the chances of making the straight are now half of what they were on the flop. The rule of three will guide us in this case. With eight outs we can expect to make our hand 8 / 30 = 27% of the time. 8 x 3 is 24 and so the rule of three gives a reasonably accurate approximation of our equity.

These new rules also apply to flush draws but remember that a flush draw has less outs in the first place. Flopping a draw to a flush gives us nine outs in regular Holdem but only five in 6+ Hold’em. On the flop, we have five outs twice from a deck of 31 unknown cards. We will miss the flush (26/31) x (25/30) = 70% of the time, meaning that we will hit it 30% of the time. The rule of six is very accurate here.

The impact of this is that while it is considerably easier to make a straight in 6+ Hold’em, it is somewhat harder to make a flush. Memorize the outs of the two types of draw and then apply the rules of three and six to get a good feel for how often your outs will turn into big hands.