Short Deck Hold'em rules

• NLHE played with a 36-card deck (the 2s through 5s removed).
• A flush beats a full house, and everyone pays an ante instead of blinds.

Base: NLHE

Differences from NLHE:

• The deck is 36 cards (6 to A). You still make the best five from 2 hole cards and 5 board cards
• A flush beats a full house. A straight beats three of a kind (same as NLHE)
• The lowest straight is A-6-7-8-9 (the A plays as a 5)
• No blinds. Everyone antes 1 and the button antes 1 more (Button ante). The button’s extra ante is the preflop bet
• Preflop and on every later street, action starts left of the button and the button acts last
• You may enter by limping (calling the button’s 1 ante)

Example. Six players, ante 10. The pot at the deal is 10 × 6 + 10 = 70. UTG limps for 10, or raises to, for example, 60.

Hand rankings differ at some tables. Check before you sit.

Sources

• Poker TDA Rules (2024 version: Rules 47 and 48; short all-in raises and the number of raises)
• Robert Ciaffone, “Robert’s Rules of Poker” (the half-bet rule in limit)
• PokerNews and Wikipedia rules pages for each game