PokerStars appears to be bringing the popular new poker variant, Six Plus Hold’em or Short Deck Poker, to its platform soon, according to a report at PokerFuse.
Nov 24, 2020 Short Deck Poker, also known as Six Plus Poker, is a game played like traditional Texas Hold’em but with only a 36-card deck (a “shorter” deck as the name implies). This means all deuces, threes, fours, and fives are removed from the deck. The shorter deck creates some major differences in strategy and even in hand rankings. ★★★★★ Texas Hold'em is the best casino poker game in the world. 6 Plus hold'em (or Short Deck) is the easiest Texas Hold'em for player. Your take free chips, share a VIP poker table, join Tour and fight in League Seasons with global friends. It's all for FREE. AMAZING FEATURES - 🃏Easiest Texas Hold'em: 6+ porker rules are simple. It has the thrill of cosino slot.
In recent months, the game has gained some traction in cash games and on the tournament scene in southeast Asia among high rollers. Some of the most well-known players in the world have gotten in on the Six Plus (Short Deck) bandwagon, including Tom Dwan and Phil Ivey, who began playing the game in 2015 in Macau.
It appears PokerStars is now bringing the game to the masses and began utilizing a Six Plus graphic recently to promote the new offering.
For the uninitiated, Six Plus is quite a bit different than traditional Texas Hold’em. Deuces through fives are taken out of the deck and then the game follows the traditional hold’em format. The removal of those low cards makes for only a 36-card deck, and even changes the math of the game.
In fact, the deck’s alteration also changes the ranking of hands, with straights now ranked higher than flushes in Short Deck. With so many higher cards now, players’ odds to make much stronger hands increase – creating more action and some say a bit more gamble than traditional hold’em. Ivey said as much to PaulPhuapoker.com last year.
“There’s a lot of gambling involved,” he said. “The equities run pretty close, so it’s pretty easy to get your money in the middle and be 50/50 or somewhere near that. It suits a more gambling style of player.”
Will the short deck action attract a following on PokerStars? Time will tell, but the site has been looking to expand its offerings in recent months, trying to offer more variants to entice more players to the tables with fresh games.
The site recently launched three new games: Unfold, Split Hold’em, and Showtime Hold’em. Here’s a look at the theory behind those three games:
Six-Plus becomes just the latest in the ever-expanding stable of PokerStars hold’em games. However, no timetable has been offered yet on when Six Plus will make its debut on the site.