Six Plus Hold’em
Six Plus Hold’em (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 and Ace, 6, 7, 8, 9 is classified as a straight
The Rules of 6+ Hold’em
All 6+ Hold’em games use a 36-card deck (with all cards lower than a 6 removed), which is shuffled before every hand is dealt. Games also use a ‘button blind’ structure: every player posts an ante, and the player seated at the button position is the only one who posts a blind – meaning there is only one blind per hand, rather than traditional small/big blind format.
The action starts with the player seated to the left of the button. Each hand then plays out according to Texas Hold’em rules, with pre-flop, flop, turn and river betting rounds.
If you’ve played Texas Hold’em games before, the rules of 6+ Hold’em are easy to follow.
But don’t forget: contrary to regular Texas Hold’em games, in 6+ Hold’em a flush beats a full-house. A five-card hand consisting of Ace, 6, 7, 8, 9 (any suit) is also deemed a straight. All other hand rankings remain the same.
Differences in 6+ Hold’em play
With fewer cards in the deck that obviously means a few difference to regular hold’em.
For instance, with only nine cards for each suit, a flush in 6+ Hold’em beats a full house. You’ll also notice you flop sets a lot more – 17% of the time to be exact (as opposed to 11.8% in regular hold’em).
You’ll also make more full houses.
That’ll seem great to start with, but you’ll quickly discover that 6+ Hold’em hands get big fast.
Learn How to Play 6+ Hold’em for Free
If you want to learn how to play 6+ Hold’em, then download the poker software and join any of the free poker games where you can play online against other players. Unlike the real money poker games, since there is nothing at stake, you can be comfortable learning the ropes of the game and all the rules of 6+ Hold’em. We hope to see you in the poker room, and good luck at the tables!
