Intermediate The Importance of Reading Board Textures in Short Deck Hold’em URL has been copied successfully! The more accurately you can evaluate the possibilities, the better your decisions will beIn Short Deck Hold’em, also known as 6+ Hold’em, reading board textures is even more critical than in traditional Texas Hold’em. With the 2s through 5s removed from the deck, hand values shift, and players need to adjust how they interpret flops, turns, and rivers. Understanding board texture helps you recognize which hands are likely strong, which draws are more likely to hit, and how your opponents may be thinking about the same board. One of the biggest differences in Short Deck is that straights are easier to make. With fewer cards in the deck, and gaps reduced, hands like 6-7-8-9-10 show up more often. That means boards with connected cards, especially in the mid-range, become much more dangerous. If the flop comes 7-8-9, you should be aware that several hands could have already completed a straight or are drawing very closely to one.Flushes are harder to make in this format because there are fewer cards of each suit in the deck. In many variations of Short Deck, a flush even ranks above a full house for that reason. So when the board comes with two or three cards of the same suit, pay close attention—flush draws are rarer, but when someone plays strongly on such a board, it’s worth considering they could actually have it.Pair-heavy or trip-heavy flops are also more common due to the higher density of face cards and aces. This can lead to tricky spots where trips or full houses are in play, and your top pair may not be as strong as it seems.Reading board textures in Short Deck Hold’em isn’t just about protecting your own stack—it’s about identifying what hands your opponents might be building.