Short deck poker, also known as Six-plus hold em or short-deck hold em, is a community card poker game variant of Texas hold em. The game is played with a stripped-down deck of 36 cards, where all cards 2 through 5 are removed (16 cards), thus the total number of cards in the deck is 36. Aces are high, but same as in Texas hold em, can make both low and high end of straights. For example, the lowest straight would be (9x-8x-7x-6x-Ax) and the highest (Ax-Kx-Qx-Jx-10x) .
Each player is dealt two cards face down and seeks to make the best five-card poker hand from any combination of the seven cards (five community cards and their own two hole cards) . The rules in terms of betting structures, play of the hand, and showdown are the same as in Texas hold em. However, the removal of low cards and use of the 36-card deck makes it more likely to make higher value hands, a change that tends to introduce more action.
Some variations of Six-plus hold em play with standard Texas hold em hand rankings, while others rank straight higher than three-of-a-kind which has become standard. When calculating for 5 card Six-plus hold em where each player is dealt two cards, the lowest possible straight is Ax9x8x7x6x (think of the ace as essentially replacing the missing 5x) .
