In 2014-2015, a new game with a smaller deck, from which all cards from fives and below were removed, gained popularity in Macau. 6+ poker developed the ideas of Manila poker – a popular Australian game of 28 or 32 cards, where antes were used along with the blinds, and a flush was stronger than a full house – and soon spread to the highest stakes.
As early as 2015, Phil Ivey and Tom Dwan admitted their love for Short Deck. In an interview with a Chinese channel, they praised the game for its constant action, a large number of overclocked pots and, despite the increased element of chance, the importance of skill.
Short deck quickly spread beyond the casinos in Macau. Online play concentrated on Asian apps, most notably PokerKing. At peak times, it hosted hundreds of tables with antes up to $300.
The reasons for the new game's popularity are easy to explain. Compared to classic Hold'em, amateurs can enter the hands much more often, and the advantage in equity of strong hands over weak ones is noticeably smaller. The new game gave regulars an excellent opportunity to earn good money, quickly understanding the basics of theory, and understanding opponents met at the tables much less often.
Trueteller Inspires Other Players to Try Short Deck
Many Russian poker players got acquainted with Short Deck thanks to Trueteller, whose real name is Timofey Kuznetsov.
"I started playing on Timofey's advice," wrote Sergey vedevas Lebedev. "He had been playing Short Deck in closed live games for some time when the game became available online. We had already had experience of successful cooperation in NL short stack, when he helped me with the technical part for a share of my game. And Short Deck in depth less than 100 ante (the game almost always takes place in this format, since with the exception of PokerStars , you can take chips over 100 ante from the table everywhere) has quite a lot in common with shortstack play in NL. In addition, the action in the games I was used to – caps on PokerStars and Push Or Fold on 888 – was clearly on the decline."
"At some point, two of our good friends got into training for a percentage fee from Trueteller," Mikhail inner Shalamov remembered. "In their turn, they took three more of us into training, also for a percentage (both for them and Timofey). The games were then just don't beat a man when he's down, literally 3-5 hours of theory was enough to take out huge bucks practically without pain. Then I played a maximum of 2,000 yuan in ante with a purchase of 50-100 ante, the game was very expensive even with my share of 50%. The peculiarity of the game was that the rake was taken for the result of the table, each table is a separate account, so on the balances it was necessary to keep over***** [a lot], so in case of a drain not to fly off from the table, which is in the minus, since while you are in the minus you essentially play without rake."
Short Deck Finds Mainstream Popularity
Short Deck appeared in classic poker rooms in 2016: the pioneer was the iPoker network, where the game was established in the lobby under the name Six Plus Holdem. But Hold'em 6+ reached its peak popularity several years later. This was largely due to Paul Phua, who launched the Triton series: famous professionals played million-dollar pots in Short Deck and participated in high roller tournaments, and free broadcasts with professional commentators were broadcast on YouTube and Twitch.
Competitors did not stand still either. In 2019, a $10,000 short deck tournament was added to the World Series schedule for the first time, and a €25,500 high roller tournament was played at the European stage of the WSOP. It is significant that the runner-up of the tournament both times was the American grinder of Vietnamese origin, Thai Ha – in 2023, he will win a bracelet in the 1,500 tournament. Short Deck Hold'em was also included in the schedule of domestic series: at the Super High Roller Bowl in Sochi in 2021, out of 11 tournaments, there were three of them in this game.
Meanwhile, a big scandal was flaring up online. PokerKing Asia declared war on European regs who had flocked to weak Asian fields and began massively blocking accounts without refunds. The app developers accused players and unscrupulous affiliates of teamplay, botting and other mortal sins, but provided no evidence. Outside of Europe, other players also came under fire, like Russia's DrRuBack: in 2019, he set himself the goal of winning $1,000,000 in a year. The plan for January was exceeded by 20%, in February – by 80%, but in March the account was banned.
"What about the goal of $1,000,000 in a year?" DrRuBack asked. "I'll set a goal of a million, and win two, xFlake did it. The game is good, the win rate is 25bb/100. Let's go. And forgetting about cashouts and fear, he began to chop.
And then PokerKing blocks the accounts of all non-Chinese. "They have already frozen some players, most likely the check will take 2-3 weeks" – the affiliate told me. Well, ok, the check happens. But something is really sh***y when $350k is stuck on the accounts and this is a very insignificant part of the bankroll."
At some point the room decided that it didn't need plus players and banned us all at once with confiscation," Misha Inner pointed out. "My share was about 300k, it was very hard for me to go through with it and I couldn't let it go. There were still some vague hopes, Truteller tried to negotiate on the side with Dwan, who was flashing his ***** [face] as an ambassador of this dump, that they would take all our xx and give it to independent experts for study and if no cheating was found, the money would be returned. But Dwan jumped off at some point, and Timofey apparently got ******* [fed up] with rummaging around for such pennies, so basically we were left with nothing."
As a result, almost everyone switched to classic rooms. A notable event was the appearance of 6+ Holdem on Stars, and along with cash and MTT, thematic spins immediately appeared. On partypoker and in the GG network, the game was called Short Deck, in Chico rooms – Texas 6+.
"In 2019, the game was played in various clubs on Pokermaster," recalled vedevas, "also, it started at some point on PokerStars. Periodically, some other applications appeared, but the games there died quite quickly.
At one point there was a game on the American WPN network with some weird rules where a set beat a straight. It's the dumbest game I've ever played in my life, but it was mostly NL guys with no experience playing regular Short Deck, so the edge was sky high."
"At the beginning of 2020, I was faced with a choice of what to do next," said FaNjke. "Then suddenly, like a jack-in-the-box, Short Deck appeared. Many thanks to the guys who told me about this game and its prospects. At the beginning of 2019, I saw a game on PokerKing with an ante of 500, 1000 yuan (this is very expensive, x3 from Hold'em) and thought how it is possible to get an advantage in Fool, where JT in AK is a coin. It turns out that it is possible, and those who played then won a lot. So, since February 2020, I began to study this wonderful game in upstreaks and terrible in downstreaks."
However, after 2021, the popularity of the game quickly declined. Over time, traffic from most rooms flowed to GGPoker, and on other sites it gradually came to zero. In 2023, the first Triton without Short Deck tournaments was held in Monte Carlo.
"Short Deck is a game for true gamblers," vedevaspointed out. "But apparently after 5+ years of active play (and many amateurs played in apps 24/7 without exaggeration) even they started to get tired of this half-poker. I don’t want to say anything really bad about Short Deck, for me personally it gave a second wind in my poker career and the opportunity to finish this very active career on a high note, but at some point, except for the fatigue from endless all-ins, you don’t feel anything anymore. It’s no coincidence that it disappeared from the Tritons’ schedule: if there was still any point in playing it, then the number of people willing to watch the circus was clearly approaching zero."
Big Reforms on GG Network
In March 2024, the established Short Deck rules changed significantly. Tables were expanded from 5-max to 6-max, the minimum buy-in size was reduced to 40 bb, and chips could be removed from the stack when 40 bb was exceeded (previously it was 100). Straddles were also banned.
Regulars gave the innovations a decidedly negative assessment. In their opinion, the variance has increased several times, the game has turned into a push-fold, and it has become more difficult to reach rich amateurs.
Krushitellomatel : "The changes on April 1, 2024 at GG felt like they changed the game to before and after. 6-max tables with a 40 ante buy-in and a chip cut to 40 ante made the game almost unbeatable in any lineup, unless there are VIPs with deep stacks. Along with the innovations, strange Chinese grinders appeared who take almost every leaderboard, often in completely dishonest ways (open HU tables and throw everything away). And the change in VIP tables killed the hopes of highstakes regs for a random VIP at NL5-10k. There is a game, but be prepared for x3 variance from a regular Short Deck."
Pale_Knight : "I play exclusively on GG, as I live in the Russian Federation and do not have access to other rooms. After the April changes last year (reducing the minimum stack to forty ante, as well as the ability to withdraw chips), the game for regs became much more difficult. Most competent players did not even try to adapt to the new conditions and simply abandoned ship. At the same time, the game for VIPs was greatly simplified (many of them are still fighting for the leaderboard at high stakes), because in shoving, almost everyone is equal. Due to the abundance of preflop pushes, often 3+ in one hand, the game became even more dispersive, and most often my graphs look like "over/under". This also includes extremely rare play in deeps, over the course of a year it can greatly shake both in one direction and the other (which makes you shamefully think about taking a cash out in small pots of 400 ante+).
I myself managed to adjust and finish the year with a double-digit win rate, lazily playing 10-15k hands per month at NL50-100. I still play in 100 ante stacks, have to choose tables where there is at least one opponent with a comparable stack depth, and then look for an opportunity to end up with him postflop. The field still plays poorly, someone under-pushes, someone, on the contrary, goes beyond the range and sometimes it is also possible to take advantage of this."
Is Short Deck Worth Playing in 2025?
Krushitellomatel : "In 2025, starting to play Short Deck from scratch only makes sense for those who were invited to a private game, where there are 100% weak opponents. Trying to move up in stakes in today's climate is, to put it mildly, optimistic. The Chinese have played enough, there is no Short Deck even on Triton. Almost all the top regs have either changed disciplines or tied up with poker."
Pale_Knight : "The regulars I talk to who run tables on PokerStars are increasingly looking towards Omaha as they get bored of sitting on the observation tower waiting for any game to happen."
vedevas : "As a player, I would like us to somehow magically move to the beginning of the 2010s and have good old Isai Scheinberg at the helm of the best poker room ever. But objectively speaking, I'm not sure that if there were a lot of open, expensive games with good action now, I would be competitive. There's no passion to play poker 24 hours a day, and the technical preparation now required is much more solid than in the times when I managed to be among the best. It seems that the development of online poker, at least its high-stakes segment in cash, is moving towards a division into closed games, where your absolute level is of little importance, and pure competition between professionals, closer to chess than to the poker of the 2000s-2010s. True, it's not entirely clear who will pay for this second branch over the long term."
Short Deck Poker Rooms
GGPoker
Optimal time for the game : Friday-Saturday evening in GMT time Cash game traffic : high Software : prohibited Minimum buy-in : 40 bb Tournaments : from $2.16 to $21, higher ones are extremely rare
You can find cheap action at any time of day. For example, on Saturday night the game was played at 75 tables with an ante of $0.25, 42 tables with an ante of $0.50, 36 tables with an ante of $1 and 18 tables with an ante of $2.
The leaderboard offers a total of 10,000 cash dollars daily.
Stakes
Guarantee
0.02
100
0.05
200
0.10
300
0.25
400
0.50
600
1
1,000
2
1,400
5
2,000
10
4,000
If you lose with a combination of four of a kind sixes or higher, you can get the jackpot (except for VIP tables).
Tournaments are held in regular, turbo and hyper formats. There are bounty tournaments for $2.50, $3.20, $5.80, $10.80, $21.60, $32 and $215. Two tournaments start every hour. Periodically, MTTs for Hold'em 6+ are included in the schedule of large series. At the autumn WSOP 2024, one tournament for $5,000 was included in the schedule.
At high stakes, the game is played at tables $100 and $200. To stay in the game, the VPIP must be at least 45%.
Buy-in
Rake
Cap (2-3 players)
Cap (4-6 players)
2
5%
0.03
0.06
5
5%
0.08
0.15
10
5%
0.15
0.30
25
5%
0.25
0.50
50
5%
0.50
1
100
5%
1
2
200
5%
1.50
3
500
5%
3.75
7.50
4.9
GGPoker is a Hold’em and Omaha focused site on the Good Game Network. Offering a broad range of playing formats such as Randomised Sit & Gos, All-in or Fold, and 6+ Short Deck as well as fast cash games, and a plethora of tournament series including: GGMasters, Multi Millions and Bounty Hunters.
Optimal time for the game : morning GMT time Cash game traffic : low Software : allowed Mobile application : for iOS, Android Minimum buy-in : 50 bb Tournaments : every day for 1.10, in large series
The traffic in the room is almost unnoticeable – in the evenings there are up to 10 tables of the lowest stakes: $0.02, $0.10 and $0.25. Gone are the days when the tab was located directly in the lobby: now the Short Deck is available through a filter in the cache.
There are two $1.10 tournaments every day with a 50 guarantee. 6+ tournaments are included in the schedule of large series, for example, the APPT Cambodia Event stage for 400.
Short Deck is on the schedule of PokerStars' signature online series. For example, three tournaments were held at SCOOP 2024: for $5.50, $55 and $530.
Buy-in
Ante
Rake (%)
Cap for 2 players
Cap for 3-4 players
Cap for 5+ players
1- 2
0.02
3.50
0.30
0.30
0.30
2.50- 5
0.05
4.15
0.50
0.50
1
5- 10
0.10
4.50
0.50
1
1.5
12.5- 25
0.25
5.00
0.50
1
2
25- 50
0.50
5.00
1
1
2.50
50- 100
1
5.00
1.25
1.25
2.75
100- 200
2
5.00
1.50
1.5
3.5
250- 500
5
5.00
2
2
4.5
500- 1,000
10
4.50
2.5
2.5
4.5
1,000- 2,000
20
4.50
3
3
5
2,500- 5,000
50
4.50
3
5
5
5,000- 10,000
100
4.50
3
5
5
10,000-20,000
200
4.50
3
5
5
4.9
PokerStars starting out holding online poker games back in 2001 and now the company is worth over 6 billion dollars. They sponsor a slew of tournaments like the European Poker Tour, UK and Ireland Poker Tour, plus a handful of others. Over the years, PokerStars has remained on top of the online poker industry. They’ve expanded to offer fantastic online casino games and sports betting.
Optimal time for the game: Friday-Saturday evening GMT time Cash game traffic : low Software : allowed Mobile application : for Android Minimum buy-in : 40 bb Tournaments : none
In 6+ on RedStar Poker, players place not only antes, but also blinds. You can play at six stakes – NL4, NL10, NL20, NL50, NL100 and NL200. The rules of the game here are different from other rooms – a set is higher than a straight.
The lobby for 6+ is anonymous: you can see your opponents' nicknames only by placing a big blind.
There is practically no action, even on weekends the game is only played at the cheapest stakes.
Rake in No Limit and Pot Limit Cash Games at RedStar Poker
Rates, EUR
Number of participants in the distribution
Cap, EUR
Commission
0.01/0.02-0.02/0.05
2-10
0.50
6.67%
0.05/0.1
2
1
3-10
2
0.1/0.2
2
1
5%
3-10
2
0.25/0.5
2
1
3-10
3
0.5/1-5/10
2
1
3-10
4
10/20
2
5
3-10
10
25/50
2
12.5
4.7
Operational since 2005, RedStar Poker offers licensed and regulated online poker via the iPoker platform to users across Eastern Europe.
Optimal time for the game: daytime GMT time Cash game traffic : average Software : prohibited Mobile application : for iOS, Android Minimum purchase : 20 bb Tournaments : classic, turbo, hyper, bounty and mystery bounty from 2.2 to 110
There are regularly about 15 tables of low and medium stakes up to ante $50. You can't select tables. The choice is wide – from ante $0.02 to ante $500. The game is played in yuan at the tables. At the same time, the display in the lobby itself can be changed to dollars.
The lobby is almost completely empty in the morning. Tables start to pack up after lunch.
There are tables with bomb pots, in the lobby they are called BOMB SD. At the beginning of the hand, 4 antes are taken from each player and placed in the pot before the cards are dealt.
It is not possible to play more than two tables at the same time – this is how the developers provide “protection” for amateurs from regulars.
WPT Global leads in the number of tournaments. Every day there are more than 15 MTTs with a classic structure of levels from $2.20 to $110. Half of them are in the bounty and mystery bounty format.
There are also turbo and hyper-turbo tournaments.
Ante
Rake
Cap
0.02
4%
0.04
0.1
4%
0.2
0.2
4%
0.4
0.5
4%
1
1
3%
2
2
3%
4
5
3%
10
10
3%
20
25
3%
50
50
3%
100
100
3%
200
200
3%
300
500
3%
750
4.5
WPT Global is the newest poker site today. After years of experience in the international live tournament market, in 2022 the WPT company decided to expand its influence to online platforms — and you can benefit from their welcome bonus.
