Every card two through five is removed, so the deck is 36 cards deep instead of 52.Everyone is dealt two cards, except they're not coming out of a standard deck.In fact, anyone familiar with hold'em - most likely, nearly all of the readers of this site - will have no problem quickly grasping short deck's basics. The mechanics of short deck as it relates to the action-by-action playing of the game are simple enough. In this series, PokerNews will seek to flesh out some of the basics and concepts behind the game, so you can learn not only how to plat short deck poker, but also the first couple of moves to this brand new dance. This new and crazy beat has changed the game.Īs short deck continues to proliferate, more and more poker players across the world will get the chance to play, be it in a home game, in live poker rooms, or at the top online poker sites. Quite the opposite, in fact, as strategies and concepts are still in the early stages of being explored. The format, growing in popularity since it first entered the poker public's consciousness a few years ago, brings a brand new beat. Has poker become too predictable these days?Įnter short deck, a.k.a. Perfectly fine for getting you place to place, but not something that's going to excite the driver or turn the heads of anyone who happens to be watching. Once the Cadillac of poker, Texas hold'em poker has become a beige Volvo. Double-barrels these turns but not those turns. Big blind checks, player bets these flops but not those flops. Indeed, in many ways the mechanics of the game have become as predictable dancing to the cha cha slide. 'Poker's become a dance where everyone knows the moves,' he lamented. It had become a bit stale, he thought, and it was hard to disagree. While discussing poker strategy and talking over some hand histories, Rich lamented the current state of the no-limit hold'em metagame. Last year, my friend and old PokerNews colleague Rich Ryan stayed with me for a few days over the summer so he could fire the $1,500 Millionaire Maker at the World Series of Poker.

Short deck starting hand rankings