PokerStars Launches Six Plus Hold’em

The hottest new poker game around, Six Plus Hold’em, is now available at PokerStars as the industry’s top site has added the variant to its offerings.

Also known as Short Deck Poker, the game uses 36 cards of the standard 52-card deck, removing the deuce thru five of every suit. Last year, a number of poker sites rolled out the game, and it was played at several live poker festivals.

PokerStars may be a little late to the Short Deck Poker party, but fashionably late nonetheless. That fashion comes in the form of referring to the game as 6+ Hold’em, instead of Six Plus Hold’em. The relatively new poker variant can be found under the “6+” tab in the PokerStars lobby.

A Game for All Budgets

Stake levels for 6+ Hold’em run the gamut from the micros on up to the nosebleed cash game tables. It can be found at more than a dozen stake levels in a majority of the markets in which PokerStars operates.

Players new to 6+ Hold’em who are anxious to try the game before playing for real money will also find it available at the play money tables. For those ready to play for cash, there are several things to keep in mind.

The game is offered under the “seat me” format that requires players to merely choose their buy-in and then wait to be whisked to an open seat. If none are available, players will join a waiting list and will either be taken to a seat at an existing table upon their turn or will be part of a new table once the waiting list becomes populated enough to create a new table.

Short Stacking Not Allowed

All 6+ Hold’em tables are six-handed and are played with each player posting an ante, with the player holding the button required to post an additional ante. Hole cards are dealt, and the player left of the button acts first, with typical Hold’em betting rules from that point forward.

Keep in mind that when players select their cash game buy-in prior to seating, their starting stack will be equivalent to 200 antes. In other words, all players begin with the same amount of money at the table. Short stacking is not permitted.

Also remember that hand rankings are slightly different in Short Deck Poker than traditional Texas Hold’em. Due to playing with less cards of each suit, flushes are harder to make. Due to playing with less cards in general, straights are easier to make. Therefore, three of a kind beats a straight and a flush beats a full house in 6+ Hold’em.

Will the Game Stick?

PokerStars has rolled out several new poker variants in recent months that included Unfold Hold’em (which disappeared quickly), Fusion, Showtime, and Split Hold’em. All have been removed after a trial run.

It’s believed by many that 6+ Hold’em will have much better staying power than the others. The game may become a permanent fixture at the leading real money poker site, but it all depends on whether players take to it or not.