Advanced How To Handle Highly Aggressive Opponents in Short Deck Poker Owen Gaines Owen Gaines is a professional poker player and author who has played an estimated ten million hands and written four poker strategy books. April 10, 2026 Short Deck creates an environment where highly aggressive opponents demand a disciplined counter-strategy Short Deck Poker, also known as Six-Plus Hold’em, uses a 36-card deck with all twos through fives removed, creating a game where strong hands appear far more frequently than in standard Texas Hold’em. The probability of flopping a set with pocket pairs increases dramatically from 11.8% in standard Hold’em to 18% in Short Deck, while open-ended straight draws improve from 31.5% to 48% equity by the river. This compressed landscape means that when you face a highly aggressive opponent, standard defensive adjustments from full-deck poker often fail completely. Because equity runs so close between hands, opponents in Short Deck can hold any number of strong holdings, making it much more difficult to pin players down to a narrow range of starting cards, a core challenge when dealing with aggressive pre-flop raisers. The correct response is not simply to fold more, but to recalibrate which hands warrant resistance. Since there is a smaller gap between good and bad hands in Short Deck, aggression backed by position forces folds and significantly improves your edge, meaning you must prioritize being in late position to counteract an opponent playing loose and fast. Early-position raises should be tighter because more opponents behind you will hold playable hands, while late positions allow wider aggression due to better visibility and control, and stack depth matters. Shorter stacks favor strong Broadway combinations while deeper stacks reward suited, connected holdings that can generate disguised monsters. Against hyper-aggressive players specifically, the flush becomes your most powerful weapon. Flush draws represent extremely strong holdings in Short Deck that can often be bet for value against multiple opponents, as the rarity of flushes means they frequently extract maximum value and opponents often pay off large bets with strong but second-best hands. Successful players adjust their strategies based on opponent tendencies. Against aggressive players, tightening up and choosing your spots for big plays can be more effective, particularly when an opponent is overbetting into boards where your concealed holding is extremely strong. Patience and selective confrontation, not reactionary tightening, is the practical framework when navigating a table controlled by an aggressive short-deck opponent.