6+ Poker rules, and why the hand rankings change.
This guide covers BetGames live 6+ Poker: a 36-card game between Player and Dealer. Its hand rankings and betting rounds differ from player-versus-player Short Deck Hold’em.
The deck
Every card below a six is taken out, leaving 36. That single change drives everything else about the game: hands that were rare become less rare, hands that were common become more common, and the ranking order has to move to keep up.
What changes in the rankings
In BetGames 6+ Poker, a flush beats a full house. Removing the 2s through 5s changes the relative frequency of these hands.
The ace still plays low at the bottom of a straight, but the bottom is different: the lowest straight is A-6-7-8-9, because the cards between the ace and the six no longer exist. The highest is A-K-Q-J-10, as always.
BetGames also ranks three of a kind above a straight. PokerStars 6+ Hold’em uses the opposite order for those two hands. Check which version you are playing; the rules here describe the BetGames Player-versus-Dealer game.
| Hand | BetGames 6+ Poker | Standard Hold’em |
|---|---|---|
| Flush | Beats a full house | Loses to a full house |
| Three of a kind | Beats a straight | Loses to a straight |
| Lowest straight | A-6-7-8-9 | A-2-3-4-5 |
| Highest straight | A-K-Q-J-10 | A-K-Q-J-10 |
The live table
The live version is not a poker game you play against other people: there is no folding and no raising. It runs as player against dealer: the player's two cards are dealt face up, the dealer's face down, and five community cards follow. Each side makes its best five from the seven available.
You bet on the outcome before the cards run: whether the player or the dealer takes it, whether it ties, and on what the winning hand will be worth. Betting windows open between the streets.
Payouts differ between operators and between bet types, so the paytable shown at the table is the one that governs your bet.
How Roulette Streaks watches it
Card games are watched by absence rather than by streak. Roulette Streaks counts how many rounds it has been since each combination last appeared, and flags one when the gap grows unusual for that hand.
The thresholds are alert settings, not frequencies, and they rise with how rare a hand is: two pair is flagged after 15 rounds, a flush after 45, four of a kind after 150, and a royal flush only after 1,600.
Frequently asked
- What is 6+ Poker?
- This guide covers BetGames live 6+ Poker: a 36-card game between Player and Dealer. Its hand rankings and betting rounds differ from player-versus-player Short Deck Hold’em.
- Why does a flush beat a full house in 6+ poker?
- Because the deck is smaller. Removing the 2s through 5s takes out four ranks but no suits, so completing a flush becomes harder relative to filling a full house. The rankings are reordered to match the real odds.
- What is the lowest straight in short deck poker?
- A-6-7-8-9. The ace still plays low, but the cards between the ace and the six have been removed from the deck, so that is where the bottom straight now sits.
- Can you fold in live 6+ poker?
- No. The live table is a betting game rather than a poker game: you wager on the outcome before the cards run, and every hand is played to the river.