Popular Hold’em variant plays with reduced deck of cards
partypoker has launched online “SHORTDECK” games for its global dotcom market, a cash game format gaining popularity in the poker world and a favourite amongst high roller circles.
Also known as “Six Plus Hold’em”, the format offers an exciting variation on traditional Texas Hold’em, marked by a few key differences. Most significantly, the game is played with a reduced deck of cards. All cards below a 6 are removed, leaving a 36-card deck. An Ace can be used as high or low, making the low end of the straight ‘A-6-7-8-9’, while ‘A-6-7-8-9’ of the same suit subsequently becomes a straight flush. The other main distinction sees a regular flush beat a full house in the order of hand rankings.
Available on 6-Max tables, the game forces every player to place an ante pre-flop, resulting in larger opening pots than in Texas Holdem. For example, at a regular $100 buy-in 6-Max Hold’em table with blinds of $0.50/$1, the pot value stands at $1.50 before any voluntary money is contributed to the pot. At an equivalent buy-in 6-Max SHORTDECK table however, this amount rises to $7.
Coupled with the trimmed deck, the game is played with greater intensity from the outset, favouring a loose-aggressive style of play.
While other versions are available elsewhere, partypoker is the only online poker operator to offer the exact same ‘Ante-Only’ game adopted by the Triton Poker Super High Roller Series, adhering to the same set of rules, blind structures and naming convention.
The high stakes tour regularly attracts some of the greatest players in the world, and partypoker is excited to bring Triton’s popular interpretation of the game to its own online player base.
In addition, partypoker is the sole poker site that will give players the option to remove chips from the table once their stack reaches a certain size, but also allow them to continue playing at that same table.
The new games enjoy their own SHORTDECK ‘quick lobby’ in the partypoker client, and can also be found within the main Cash Game lobby.
Team partypoker’s Timofey Kuznetsov, who recently won a SHORTDECK Hold’em High Roller event in Jeju, South Korea, said: “SHORTDECK is the most action-packed poker game out there! Enough of boring waiting and folding, here you can play half the cards dealt in a cash game and still do just fine.
“I’m a big fan of the format (my ante is posted even while writing this), and can’t wait to play my first hand on partypoker. See you at the tables!”
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