So you’ve mastered Texas Hold’em. You can calculate pot odds in your sleep, your hand ranges are tight as a drum, and you’ve got a decent read on player types. Then someone invites you to a Short Deck game. Suddenly, your aces get cracked by a flush, your middle pair feels like gold, and the aggression level is… well, let’s just say it’s turned up to eleven.

Welcome to Six Plus Hold’em. It’s not just a fad—it’s a fundamentally different beast. For a Hold’em veteran, the shift isn’t just about new odds. It’s a complete mental and strategic recalibration. Let’s dive into what makes this game tick and how you can adapt your veteran mindset to not just survive, but thrive.

The Mindset Shift: From Precision to Power

In traditional Hold’em, there’s a certain elegance to the slow grind. You wait for spots, you value bet thinly, you fold marginal hands. Short Deck? It throws that playbook out the window. The removal of cards deuce through five changes everything. It condenses the deck, which in turn condenses the action. Hand values skyrocket. The probability of hitting a big hand increases dramatically.

This creates a core psychological shift: you must move from a precision-based mindset to a power-based one. Hesitation is punished. Passivity is a death sentence. Your brain, wired for Hold’em’s subtleties, will scream at you to fold that Q-10 offsuit under the gun. In Short Deck, that’s often a legitimate opening hand. The first step is accepting that your cherished starting hand charts are obsolete.

Emotional Whiplash and Variance

Here’s a real pain point for newcomers: the variance feels insane. You’ll see more monsters, more coolers, and more seemingly “bad” beats. A flush beats a full house more often because there are fewer cards in the deck, making flushes slightly more common relative to boats. It can feel chaotic, unfair even.

The key is to reframe this not as luck, but as baked-in game dynamics. The swings are part of the fabric. Your psychological edge comes from embracing the storm, not being terrified by it. Expect action. Welcome it. If you’re emotionally prepared for the rollercoaster, you’ll make better decisions when the gears are grinding.

Strategic Pillars: Where Hold’em Logic Fails

Okay, let’s get tactical. Your Hold’em instincts will lead you astray in specific, predictable ways. Here’s the strategic overhaul you need.

Hand Ranking Upheaval

This is the big one. The change in deck composition flips hand strengths on their head.

In fact, a straight is now more valuable than a flush. Let that sink in. It changes post-flop play completely. The board texture you fear most is now connected, straight-heavy boards, not flushy ones.

Aggression is Not an Option, It’s the Currency

With everyone having stronger hands on average, you can’t just call down hoping to hit. You have to create your own equity through aggression. Pre-flop limping? Almost always wrong. Post-flop passive calling? A sure way to bleed chips.

Think of it this way: in Hold’em, aggression is a tool. In Short Deck, aggression is the environment. You’re swimming in it. You need to be the one applying pressure, forcing opponents to make tough decisions with their vulnerable one-pair hands. Check-raising becomes a standard weapon, not a tricky move.

Drawing Differently

Your odds are different. An open-ended straight draw on the flop has 8 outs? Not here. With a condensed deck, it often has 10, 11, or even 12 outs. That’s because the missing low cards mean more of the deck completes your straight. These are monster draws. You should be willing to get all-in with them much more frequently.

Conversely, flush draws are weaker. They have fewer outs relative to the deck size. You can’t chase them with the same gusto. This is a classic trap for Hold’em players—overvaluing a pretty flush draw on a board that’s also threatening a straight.

The Psychological Arena: Reading the New Player

The meta-game shifts, too. You’ll encounter three main player types in Short Deck, especially at tables with Hold’em veterans:

• The Over-Adjuster: This player has read the “be aggressive” memo and has taken it to an absurd extreme. They’re shoving every other hand. They’re volatile but predictable. Wait for a premium hand and let them donate.
• The Scared Rock: They’re playing Short Deck like it’s Hold’em. Folding too much, calling too passively. You can run these players over relentlessly. Apply constant pressure. Their stacks will slowly migrate to yours.
• The Confused Calculator: You can see them pausing, trying to compute traditional odds that don’t apply. They’re stuck in a mental lag. Use tempo against them. Speed up your play when you’re strong; slow it down when you’re bluffing. Their tells will be glaring.

Your own psychology matters just as much. You have to manage the frustration of seeing your “nuts” get cracked more often. You have to embrace the gamble, honestly. There’s a fine line between disciplined aggression and reckless spewing—finding it is the art of the game.

Putting It All Together: A Veteran’s First Steps

So, where do you start? Don’t try to overhaul everything at once. Here’s a practical plan:

1. Loosen Up Pre-flop, but with purpose. Play more connected hands, suited broadways, and pocket pairs. Ditch the ultra-tight opening ranges.
2. Bet, Bet, Bet. Default to betting when you show initiative. If you raised pre-flop and the flop is mediocre, a continuation bet is almost always correct.
3. Respect Straights Above All. On a 8-9-J board, you should be terrified. Proceed with extreme caution unless you have the nuts or a monster draw to it.
4. Devalue Flushes. Don’t go broke chasing them. And if you have one, remember it’s vulnerable to a full house much faster than in Hold’em.
5. Embrace the All-In. You will get it in good and lose more often. That’s the math. Trust the equity of your big draws and premium hands over the long run.

In the end, Short Deck poker isn’t just a simplified version of the game you love. It’s a distillation. It strips away some of the nuanced layers and replaces them with raw, pulsating action and decisive psychological pressure. For the Hold’em veteran willing to unlearn, to adapt, and to engage with the chaos, it’s not just a new game. It’s a rediscovery of the fundamental thrill that drew you to poker in the first place—the pure, unadulterated clash of wits, will, and calculated courage.