Many poker players now start out by playing no-limit hold’em and this lesson is intended for those looking to make the transition to fixed-limit hold’em. We’ll focus on differences between the two games. While the betting rules are the main difference between the two formats, there are many other strategic differences.

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In its most rudimentary form the main difference between the two is that implied odds drive no-limit and in limit making or saving an extra big bet is what separates good players from their mediocre brethren. One might make the analogy of the first game being similar to a roller coaster and the second a carrousel. While some enjoy the thrill of speed, others prefer the comfort of the merry-go-round.

• No-Limit Hold’em By Tom 'TIME' Leonard Many poker players now start out by playing no-limit hold’em and this lesson is intended for those looking to make the transition to fixed-limit hold’em.
• Short-deck poker can be played according to the exact same rules as regular Texas Hold'em. The betting can be fixed-limit or no-limit (although most often the game is played no-limit), and the.

Poker: Texas Hold'em (No Limit) By Masque Publishing. Play two face down cards and the five community cards. Bet any amount or go all-in. Your Gaming History. NL Hold’em Starting Hand Charts. One aspect of the game of No-Limit Hold’em that causes beginning players much grief is deciding which hands to play and which hands to dump. NL Hold’em is much more difficult than Limit Hold’em because the value of a hand depends on so many factors other than just the cards in your hand.

For those who have never really embraced limit play and look down upon it, rest assured that there are many pros that make six figure incomes playing limit hold’em without the roller coaster thrashing to their bankrolls that can accompany no-limit play.

The Key Strategic Differences

The following list of differences between the two forms of hold’em should give you an idea of what to pay attention to if you’re switching from no-limit hold’em

Starting Hands

While many unsuited big card starting hands are regularly and correctly played in limit, those same hands can get a player into a heap of trouble in no-limit. Hands such as AQ or KQ can be played aggressively in limit but they can be a disaster in the making in no-limit, especially if the stacks are deep.

Ability / Inability to Manipulate Pot Odds

This difference is obvious but worth noting. Many poker players who play both games will, on occasion, complain at the tables while playing limit that they cannot protect their hands due to the structured betting. Of course these same players, when turning over a losing hand, do not praise the game for allowing them not to have lost their entire stack.

There still are times when a bet and/or a raise can impact the odds offered opponents in limit and accomplished players are always aware of this dynamic.

The Odds

Certainly the knowledge and proper use of odds has a place in both limit and no-limit play. Due to the heightened emphasis on implied odds, no-limit players can many times continue a hand with the worst of it and ultimately prevail and profit handsomely. In limit play, pot odds take on a much more critical role and relying too heavily on implied odds to justify chasing a draw becomes a major downfall of certain players.

Limit is a more mechanical and structured game and adhering to the odds is a must to succeed.

Information

Players need to understand that while one can bet as much as he likes in no-limit, the size of his bets give away information to his opponents as to the strength of his holding. It is for this reason many no-limit players like to keep their bet sizing constant, to avoid giving too much information away. Of course when they play like this – they are playing like limit players. Ironic, don’t you think?

Protecting Your Hand

In no-limit one attempts to manipulate the pot odds to make it ‘incorrect’ for opponents to proceed with draws. Limit players need to focus to the times when being aggressive in an attempt to ‘thin the field’ will work and when knowing all reasonable hands will call your bet anyway. Then your bet/raise will only build a pot that will make it correct for opponents to play.

In limit play pot odds are critical, as implied odds do not take on the emphasis they do in no-limit. Players that fail to make adjustments based upon both the odds they are receiving as well as the odds their opponents are being offered by the pot will not fare well in limit play.

Bluffing

While many believe that bluffing in limit play is a fool’s errand, there is no question that a well timed bluff can work. While bluffs have a much better chance of success in no-limit play, you need to understand that the cost of failure in no-limit can be much higher.

Over the years limit gurus, such as David Sklansky, have advocated that in limit play losing a bet on the end is okay but losing the pot is a disaster. This dictum has led a legion of players to lose a lot of bets on the end and has lost favor in the current limit thinking. Today’s accomplished limit players are not as quick to pay off on the river fearing being bluffed out. This, of course, would indicate that there may well be more opportunities for river bluffs in today’s limit hold’em.

Just know your players, understand the image you have been projecting, assess the board and put yourself in their shoes to evaluate if your bluff is believable.

Stack Sizes

The size of your stack and also your opponents’ has a much greater importance in no-limit versus limit play. Playing with or against a deep stack in no-limit can make significant differences to your strategy. The threat that is evident by the amount of money behind a bet is much larger in no-limit. However it still exists in limit play. In addition, the amount of money a player has on the table also helps create an intimidating presence which can help create positive results in either form of the game.

The Goal

There should be consensus that the single most popular goal of playing poker is to accumulate more chips than you started with. However, in no-limit players are constantly on the lookout for opportunities to double up or take an opponent’s entire stack. In limit play, the accepted guideline for middle limits is to earn one big bet an hour over time. Individual sessions can spike wildly in either direction but a winning player, whether a dedicated amateur or professional, who keeps accurate records will be able to chart this one big bet an hour earn rate.

Conclusion

While the two games look very much the same on the surface they are very different. This will become even more apparent as your progress through our lessons on limit hold’em.

Many players tend to play just one of the hold’em variations, usually being the one they initially learned. There are many others that feel comfortable playing either format. There are then those that can excel at both formats and they are forces to be reckoned with. You should strive to be in this third class of players because they are truly poker players. This third group usually feels right at home with other poker variations such as stud, Omaha, razz and all the different formats. They are truly poker players not just hold’em players.

By Tom 'TIME' Leonard

Tom has been writing about poker since 1994 and has played across the USA for over 40 years, playing every game in almost every card room in Atlantic City, California and Las Vegas.

Table Of Contents

What is Short Deck Poker?

Short-deck poker (also known as six-plus hold'em) is a new variation of traditional Texas hold'em that mostly follows the same rules albeit with a significant difference.

Short-deck poker uses a smaller 36-card deck rather than the full 52-card deck.

Most first heard of short-deck poker after it was introduced among the mix in the high-stakes cash games in Macau.

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Short-Deck Poker Rules

Before we discover how to play short-deck poker, let's see how to get to the 36-card deck needed to play a game of 6+ hold'em.

The 36-card deck in use in poker short deck is created by removing the 2xs, 3xs, 4xs, and 5xs from the deck (16 cards).

That leaves the 6xs up through the Kxs as well as the Axs.

What about the Aces?

As in regular hold'em, in short-deck poker the aces still count as high or low when making straights.

The lowest possible straight in a game of short-deck poker is Ax9x8x7x6x (think of the ace as essentially replacing the missing 5x).

Poker short-deck is played similarly to regular hold'em.

Each player receive two hole cards and use them in combination with five community cards to create the best possible hand.

A game of short-deck poker features four streets of betting:

1. Pre-flop
2. Flop
3. Turn
4. River

However, there are some differences in the poker short-deck poker that you should know about before playing.

Short-Deck Poker Hand Rankings

Short-deck poker can be played according to the exact same rules as regular Texas Hold'em.

The betting can be fixed-limit or no-limit (although most often the game is played no-limit), and the same hand rankings can be used as follows:

Hand Ranking	Hand Name	Poker Hand
Lowest	High card	Kx6x9x8xQx
One pair	K♦K♠5x8xQx
Two pair	K♦K♠6♥6♦Qx
Three-of-a-kind	K♦K♠K♥6♦Qx
Straight	A♠6♣7♥8♥9♦
Flush	K♦J♦10♦6♦9x
Full house	K♦K♠K♥6♦6♠
Four-of-a-kind	K♦K♠K♥K♦6x
Straight flush	6♦7♦8♦9♦
Highest	Royal flush	10♦J♦Q♦K♦A♦

For more info about the hand rankings in poker and which hand wins, visit our guide to poker hands.

Alternative Short-Deck Hand Rankings

Short-deck poker is played often employing a different hand ranking system. Here are the alternate hand rankings for short-deck poker (note the differences in bold):

Hand Ranking	Hand Name	Poker Hand
Lowest	High card	Kx6x9x8xQx
One pair	K♦K♠5x8xQx
Two pair	K♦K♠6♥6♦Qx
Straight	A♠6♣7♥8♥9♦
Three of a kind	K♦K♠K♥6♦Qx
Full house	K♦K♠K♥6♦6♠
Flush	K♦J♦10♦6♦9x
Four of a kind	K♦K♠K♥K♦6x
Straight flush	6♦7♦8♦9♦
Highest	Royal flush	10♦J♦Q♦K♦A♦

As you can see, following these alternate poker short deck hand rankings a three-of-a-kind beats a straight (instead of vice-versa), and a flush beats a full house (instead of vice-versa).

Why a Different Hand Rankings?

These changes were introduced the because the removal of cards from the standard deck alter the probabilities of making certain hands.

For example, with only nine suited cards (instead of 13), a flush is harder to make in shord-deck poker than in regular hold'em.

Six-Plus Hold'em Variation — The Deal (Fifth Street)

One other popular variation often introduced in six-plus hold'em has to do with the way the river is dealt.

The game can be played according to the same procedure followed in regular hold'em, with the community cards coming in the same way — flop (three cards), turn (one card), and river (one card) — and betting rounds after each street.

More often, though, instead of a river card being dealt to complete a five-card board, players are each dealt a third hole card instead.

Players then make their five-cardpoker hands by using exactly two of their three hole cards and three of the four community cards.

The building of hands resembles the procedure followed in Omaha poker where players must use two of their four hole cards plus three board cards to make a five-card poker hand.

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Short-Deck Poker Basic Strategy

As you might imagine, 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.

You should adjust your thinking about relative hand values from what they are used to in regular hold'em.

The smaller deck makes it easier to make two-pair hands, which means a hand like top pair-top kicker is no longer as strong in six-plus hold'em as it is in regular hold'em.

Straights and full houses are also easier to make in six-plus hold'em than in the regular version of the game (a reason for the alternate hand rankings).

The odds of hitting certain draws change, too, in short-deck pokr.

Just to highlight one example, filling an open-ended straight draw becomes more likely in poker short-deck.

While you're still looking for the same eight outs there are fewer total cards in the deck, thus increasing the percentage you'll make your straight.

The smaller deck also affects the likelihood of being dealt certain hands. [∫]You're more than twice as likely to get pocket aces[/B] in short-deck poker than you are in regular hold'em!

Finally, players being dealt a third hole card instead of there being a fifth community card obviously affects hand values as well, making it even more likely that players improve their hands — yet another factor that has to be taken into account when calculating odds and considering your final-round betting strategy.

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Conclusion

Short-deck poker / 6+ hold'em introduces several exciting twists to traditional Texas hold'em, creating an action-filled alternative that many players are finding especially enjoyable to play.

The changes from regular hold'em aren't terribly complicated, making it easy to new players to learn and play right away.

Short-Deck Poker FAQ

How do you play Short-Deck Poker?

A game of short-deck poker follows the same rules and gameplay as Texas hold'em poker.

The players receive two hole cards and they need to combine them with five community cards to create the best possible five-card hand.

Short-deck poker, however:

• Uses a 36-card deck rather than the full 52-card deck
• Ranks the hands differently compared to Texas hold'em

All the details to know before playing a game of short-deck poker are in this article.

Why is short-deck poker so popular?

The game of short-deck poker, os six-plus hold'em became famous at the high-stakes games in Macau. Due to the smaller deck, the game makes it more probably for players to hit high-value combinations.

Where is short-deck poker played?

You can play short-deck poker live at most poker festivals. If you are looking for games of short-deck poker online, check out the pokes sites listed on this page.

What's the best short-deck poker strategy?

The removal of some low-value cards from the deck changes the game's basic strategy and the value of different poker hands.

To understand ranges and odds in short-deck poker, have a look at this article.

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