Short deck poker, also called quick deck, is a relatively recent innovation in the world of poker that has grown out of the highly popular variants of Hold ‘Em that have been the standard for playing poker for years. Six-plus hold’em is simply a community card game version of Texas hold’em, where all the five cards are discarded from the hand and dealt straight to the players. Every player is then dealt a second card face down and looks for the best five card hand from among the seven cards on the table. The first three cards of the hand are called the flop, and these serve as the basis for the rest of the play. If the flop comes up with no value and no good hands, the player will fold and start again with another round of betting.
However, a player can win a lot of money with short deck poker: if he knows how to manage the odds. In Texas hold’em the highest odds of hitting your bid are on the flop, and so if you want to maximize your chances of winning then you need to bet small amounts on the flop. On the turn and re-turn the same rule applies, with the exception that the odds on the turn are generally less than the odds on the re-turn. The same applies to the river roll. In other words, with a relatively small pot you can get away with placing smaller bets on each of the five or seven-card hands.
There are a few factors that you should watch out: for when you are playing poker short deck. For instance, because the hands are dealt so quickly, it is easy to commit two or three of your cards to memory incorrectly. This is particularly true of Ace and King of the Aces. If you remember your Ace and King of the Aces correctly but forget the Ace and Queen of the King of the Aces, you have no chance of hitting the correct bet, because the cards are still spread out amongst your opponents. This means that if you are in a tight game with tight players you are likely to loose.
What is short deck poker is also about knowing when to raise and when to fold: There is nothing worse than being in a position to win handily only to be told that you are losing when you have all of your loose cards and you are in a big hand. When you are faced with a flush or a straight, you can often bluff your way to a win by throwing down a bet with high confidence that you will make the flush or straight.
When you are betting short you should keep an eye: on your open cards as well as your closed ones. In order to work out what hand rankings you have you simply have to count all of your cards – ace, king, queen and Jacks or Nails. Once you have done this you then need to figure out the different hand rankings for each of your five decks. You can then look up your numbers and determine what hand you have the highest percentage of winning with.
It is very difficult to analyze hands without seeing them: and you may have to rely solely on your analysis. If you are already having trouble, you can easily memorise how to play a few of your better hands so that you can always use them as a source of protection against tight players. In Hold Em poker the best hands are usually the low cards, because you know that the opponents will have to make certain decisions based on the cards they have. If you are already having trouble, it is a good idea to start studying your cards so that you can work out how to best lay out your boards.
What is short deck poker is also about knowing when to fold and making the most of your available time by making the right bets when you have a strong hand.