Natural8 Short Deck 6+
Short Deck 6+ is Hold'em played with a 36-card deck (the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s are removed). With fewer cards, hands are made more easily, so a flush beats a full house, and the ace can play low to make an A-6-7-8-9 straight. On Natural8 stakes run from $0.02 to $10, with buy-ins of $0.80–$400.
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On this page
Short Deck vs regular Hold'em
| Item | Regular Hold'em | Short Deck 6+ |
|---|---|---|
| Cards | 52 | 36 (2–5 removed) |
| Flush vs full house | Full house wins | Flush wins |
| Lowest straight | A-2-3-4-5 | A-6-7-8-9 |
| Forced bets | Small and big blind | Ante + button blind (judging by the official table) |
The two hands people get wrong
A flush beats a full house: each suit has only 9 cards left, so a flush is harder to make than a full house. This flush K♥J♥9♥7♥6♥ beats this full house Q♠Q♦Q♣8♠8♥ in Short Deck.
A-6-7-8-9 is a straight: A♠6♦7♣8♥9♠ is the lowest straight in Short Deck.
Short Deck hand rankings, best to worst
- Straight flush (including royal flush)
- Four of a kind
- Flush
- Full house
- Three of a kind / straight (see the note below for the order)
- Two pair
- One pair
- High card
Whether three of a kind or a straight ranks higher varies between Short Deck rule sets. Natural8's official page doesn't say, so confirm it in the client's hand-ranking info before you sit down. The rest of the order matches the standard hand rankings.
Stakes, buy-ins and rake
- Stakes: $0.02 to $10. Each row of the official table lists the same number twice, which looks like the ante and the button blind, but the header is garbled, so go by the table info in the client.
- Buy-ins: $0.80 to $400.
- Rake: 5%, with 5+ player caps from $0.06 to 1.5BB; see our rake guide.
- Play-money tables: max 5 players per table.
Bad Beat Jackpot and leaderboard
Short Deck is covered by the Bad Beat Jackpot: the losing hand must be four sixes or better, and both players must use both hole cards. The fund works differently from Hold'em: 1 ante is taken when the pot exceeds 100 antes. Payout details are on the Bad Beat Jackpot rules page. The Short Deck daily leaderboard pays $10K; see leaderboards.
Open a Short Deck tableHow to play your first Short Deck table
- Install the client. Like every other game, Short Deck runs only in the client; see the download guide.
- Start with play money. New players get P20,000 in play chips, and Short Deck play-money tables seat up to 5, a good place to get used to rules like the flush beating a full house.
- Start at the lowest stake. Real-money buy-ins start at $0.80; check the ante and rake cap in the table info before you sit.
Tips for beginners
- With 36 cards, high cards are more concentrated and the equity gap between starting hands is smaller than in Hold'em, so don't reuse a Hold'em starting-hand chart.
- Natural8's official odds calculator has a Short Deck mode, so you can run a few common matchups before you play.
- The high-stakes VIP Short Deck tables are marked as no longer available; high-stakes players should go by the stakes actually open in the lobby.
- For another game with lots of post-flop action, try Omaha PLO; every format is listed in Natural8 games.
FAQ
Why does a flush beat a full house in Short Deck?
What is the lowest straight in Short Deck?
What are Natural8's Short Deck stakes and buy-ins?
Is there a Short Deck Bad Beat Jackpot?
Does three of a kind beat a straight?
Sources
Facts on this page were checked against these official Natural8 pages on 2026-10-30. The official terms always prevail.
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