Short Deck Hold’em
Also known as: Short Deck, 6+ Hold’em, Six Plus Hold’em
Play Short Deck Hold’em online: no 2s to 5s, bigger hands, more action.
Short Deck Hold’em uses 36 cards (6 through A): two hole cards each, five community cards and no-limit betting. BluffKing Short Deck Hold’em offers 2–6-player friend rooms: register, then share an invitation link or four-digit room code, and the host can add computer players to empty seats. Practice against computers without registering. The server deals and settles each hand with free practice chips on a separate ledger; they have no monetary value.
- Players
- 2–6 players
- Ways to play
- Friend rooms · Play with bots
- Clubs
- Club rooms supported
- Chips & scoring
- Separate practice chips
- Category
- Card games
- Platforms
- Web · Telegram · iOS · Android
Fair play in Short Deck Hold’em, without exploitation
The server shuffles randomly and applies the room’s action and scoring rules. Membership tier is not an input to dealing. Per-game cryptographic verification records are not currently available for this game.
Fair play without exploitation: funded by memberships, not player losses. No manufactured hands or advantages for sale. Membership never changes the deal, rules, or outcome. No real-money play.
See fairness mechanisms and verification scope →Learn the basics. Then take a seat.
- 01
Every player dealt in posts one ante; the button also posts a button blind of one more ante (two antes in total). Then everyone receives two hole cards.
- 02
Preflop, action starts left of the button and the button acts last. After the flop, turn and river, the first active player left of the button starts. Fold, check, call, bet, raise or go all in; the minimum bet is one ante.
- 03
Make the best five cards from your two hole cards and the five community cards. A flush beats a full house and a straight beats three of a kind (as on GGPoker); A-6-7-8-9 is the lowest straight.
Short Deck Hold’em · Rules and scoring
These are the rules used by BluffKing. Regional variants can differ; check the game settings before playing.
How results are settled
Practice chips settle through each hand’s pots. Everyone posts an ante and the button adds a button blind equal to one ante. Betting is no-limit; all-ins split main and side pots by contribution, showdowns use short-deck rankings, and odd chips in a split go to the winner nearest the button’s left.
Playing rules
- A 36-card deck: the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s are removed, leaving 6 through A in each suit.
- Every player dealt in posts an ante; the button (D) also posts a button blind equal to the ante, so the button puts in 2 antes. Antes are dead money; the button blind counts as a live preflop bet. A seat with less than 2 antes sits out until it adds chips; a button holding exactly 2 antes is all-in from these bets and still plays for the pot.
- Each player gets 2 hole cards, then the flop (3), turn (1) and river (1) are dealt face up. Your hand is the best 5 of your 7 cards.
- Preflop, the first player left of the button acts first (heads-up: the non-button player); the button acts last and may check or raise if nobody raised. After the flop, the first remaining player left of the button acts first.
- No-Limit: the minimum bet is the button blind, and a raise must add at least the largest full bet or raise of the round. An all-in short of a full raise does not let players who already acted raise again, unless several short all-ins together add up to a full raise. Each decision has 20 seconds; on timeout you check if you can, otherwise fold.
- All-ins split the money into a main pot and side pots by contribution. At showdown every remaining hand is shown and the best hand wins; ties split. If everyone else folds, the winner does not show.
Before you play
Short Deck Hold’em is also known as Short Deck, 6+ Hold’em or Six Plus Hold’em. BluffKing Short Deck Hold’em offers 36 cards · Antes + button blind · Flush beats full house. Short Deck Hold’em uses 36 cards (6 through A): two hole cards each, five community cards and no-limit betting. BluffKing Short Deck Hold’em offers 2–6-player friend rooms: register, then share an invitation link or four-digit room code, and the host can add computer players to empty seats. Practice against computers without registering. The server deals and settles each hand with free practice chips on a separate ledger; they have no monetary value. Player count: 2–6 players. Friend rooms are available. Computer practice is also available. Start in a browser without downloading; this page describes BluffKing’s rules, not every regional variant.
Three things differ. The deck has only 36 cards (6 through A, no 2s to 5s). There are no small and big blinds: everyone antes and the button adds a button blind of one more ante. And a flush beats a full house, with A-6-7-8-9 as the lowest straight; a straight still beats three of a kind, as on GGPoker. Otherwise it plays like Texas Hold’em: two hole cards, five community cards and four betting rounds.
From high to low: straight flush > four of a kind > flush > full house > straight > three of a kind > two pair > one pair > high card. A straight above three of a kind matches GGPoker; some short-deck variants rank three of a kind higher, so check this page before you play. The Ace plays high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low in A-6-7-8-9, and suits never break ties.
Each room has an ante level. Every player dealt in posts one ante, which goes straight into the pot, and the button posts one more ante as a button blind that counts as a preflop bet. The minimum bet equals the button blind (one ante), and a raise must be at least the largest bet or raise increment so far on that street. The default buy-in is 100 antes.
No. Short Deck Hold’em uses free practice chips on a separate ledger that cannot be bought or redeemed. Share the room code with friends and the host can add computer players to empty seats, or choose computer practice to start on your own.
Yes. Open BluffKing Short Deck Hold’em in a browser on Android, iPhone or a computer. Use this page’s Play button to open the game at https://app.bluffking.ai/games/shortdeck; no app installation is needed.
BluffKing Short Deck Hold’em friend rooms support 2–6 players. Create a human-player room in the game lobby and share a link from Invite friends at the table, or its 4-digit room code. Friends open BluffKing, tap Join Game and enter the code; they do not need to choose a game first. Playing with other people requires an account; signed-out players register or sign in before returning to the invitation. You can also choose computer practice. See the game-specific rules and scoring on this page.
BluffKing Short Deck Hold’em lets you invite people you know into the same internet-connected room without using stranger matchmaking. Even when sitting together, each friend connects through their own device. This is not offline play, LAN-only multiplayer or a scorekeeper for a physical tabletop game. See this page’s friend-room answer for invitations; supported count: 2–6 players.
BluffKing Short Deck Hold’em is for practice and entertainment, with no real-money bets, deposits, cash prizes or cash-out. Scoring: Separate practice chips, with no monetary value. Membership does not change rules or outcomes.
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