Building a Balanced Range for Short Deck Play

Stay aware of your own frequencies since balanced play keeps opponents guessing and minimizes exploitation

In short deck poker, also known as 6+ Hold’em, building a balanced range is critical for long-term success. With fewer cards in the deck—specifically, the 2s through 5s removed—hand values shift and new strategies emerge. Understanding these shifts and constructing a solid, balanced range helps protect your decisions and prevents skilled opponents from easily reading your game.

The first step is recognizing how hand strengths adjust in short deck. For example, a flush is rarer and, therefore, stronger than a full house, and open-ended straight draws appear more often. Pocket pairs also become more valuable preflop, particularly high pairs like jacks and above. That said, balance means not leaning too heavily on any one type of hand.

A good starting range in early position should include premium pocket pairs (JJ+), suited broadways (like AKs, AQs, KQs), and high suited connectors (JT suited or better). These hands hold well post-flop and offer flexibility depending on the board. As you move into later positions, the range can widen to include more speculative hands like suited one-gappers or lower pairs. However, incorporating some of these weaker holdings occasionally from early or middle positions can help disguise your strong hands—a key part of maintaining a balanced strategy.

Postflop, it’s important to continue the theme of balance. Bluffing with missed draws or lower equity hands is expected, but make sure to mix in enough strong value hands in similar situations to avoid being predictable. For example, if you’re frequently betting when an ace hits the turn, ensure you’re doing this both with top pair and occasional bluffs.

Lastly, adjusting your range based on your opponents’ tendencies is essential. Against tight players, widen your range to steal more pots. Against loose players, tighten up and punish their mistakes.