Your quick guide to Poker 6+ games at Bitcasino
What you’ll love most about playing in Bitcasino is that aside from its amazing services, it also allows you to play amazing games from top game providers. Aside from a variety of slots, the site also introduces you to several variants of card games such as poker.
Poker is an amazing game you can play with friends and win prizes. It comes in different poker variants including the most popular being the Texas Hold’em. However, what others might not know is that this type also has sub variants of its own. Among those is Poker 6+.
This variant is widely available in the Bitcasino live casino section. In case you haven’t tried it yet, here is a quick guide on how you can make the most out of this exciting take on poker:
What is Poker 6+?
Poker 6+, also called short-deck poker, six-plus hold’em, or 6-max or 6-handed, follows the same rules of the traditional Texas Hold’em game, except for the fact that it has a handful of differences that set it apart from it. This was first introduced as one of the high-stakes games in Macau and has significantly grown from there.
Aside from the fact that the game is only available for a maximum of 6 people at one table, the game also uses a smaller 36-card deck instead of the full 52-card deck. This adds more thrill to the game, thus explaining why there are several people fond of playing it as is or with Bitcasino bonus offers.
Game rules
Upon knowing what makes the game special, it is also important that you understand the rules first. This involves knowing what cards to include in the deck. Specifically, the 36-card deck is made by removing the 2xs, 3xs, 4xs, and 5xs which are all equal to 16 cards.
With regards to the aces, they are still counted high or low when making straights, just like how it is in regular hold’em. This means that the lowest possible straight you can form in a game of poker 6+ is 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x, and Ax.
Gameplay
In a game of Poker 6+, each player will receive two hole cards that you can use with five community cards that were dealt for all. That way, you can form the best possible hand that might make you win bigger prizes than anyone else at the table.
A simple game of short-deck poker includes four streets of betting which are pre-flop, flop, turn, and river. Though the same principles may apply, there are some notable differences that make it more unique. Among these is the way the river is dealt.
In regular hold’em, the community cards are dealt in the sequence of flop (three cards), turn (one card), and river (one card). The betting rounds come after each street. Sometimes, short-deck poker follows the same style. However, there are times when a third hole card is dealt instead of a river card. This allows players to establish their best poker hands using two of their three hole cards and three of the four community cards.
Hand rankings
Short-deck poker uses a different hand ranking system that somehow differs from the regular Texas Hold’em game. With that, here is a side-by-side comparison of the card rankings from lowest to highest:
| Regular Texas Hold’em | Poker 6+ |
| High card | High card |
| One pair | One pair |
| Two pair | Two pair |
| Three of a kind | Straight |
| Straight | Three of a kind |
| Flush | Full house |
| Full house | Flush |
| Four of a kind | Four of a kind |
| Straight flush | Straight flush |
| Royal flush | Royal flush |
The reason why there are several changes in the hand rankings is that the removal of certain cards from the regular deck altered the probabilities of making certain hands. An example of this would be how hard it is to create a flush in short-deck poker compared to the usual one.
Different positions in 6-max
Some players may not know it but the spot where you choose to seat at a table may affect the way you play. Each of these positions has its respective name and they’re part of poker terminology you will encounter.
There are only six positions in 6+ since there are only 6 players involved. These are:
- Under the Gun (UTG) → The player who acts first before the flop and is positioned directly to the big blind’s left.
- Hijack (HJ) → The bettor seated at the left of UTG. This may also be called middle position (MP).
- Cutoff (CO) → The player seated to the left of HJ and on BTN’s right
- Button (BTN) → The bettor positioned on the right side of CO and the left side of SB
- Small Blind (SB) → The person who posts the small blind prior to the flop is seated to the left of the BTN.
- Big Blind (BB) → The player who sits to the left of the small blind and is the last one to act on the preflop.
Ways to win your 6+ poker games
Now that you know the basics of the game, here are some ways on how you can make the most out of your winning chances in this exciting poker game:
Refer to 6-max starting hand charts
Poker players know that one way to ace the game is to have a great preflop hand selection. By doing so, it will be easier to have a well-structured range that can lead to better profitable options.
It is also best to choose a starting hand chart that works best with your playing style. There are certain opening ranges in the charts that work best for each position. Still, you may want to vary it a little, especially if you’re faced against less-experienced players.
Learn the art of 3-betting
3-betting is one of the best moves that you can use in a short-deck poker game. This style is heavily dependent on the position you’re playing in as well as the tendencies of the open raise. Even though it may be a little hard to learn, it will pay off once you learn how to do it correctly. Here are some of the reasons why you should do it:
- To help establish the pot and extract money from the weaker hands that other players you can play against.
- This is also one way to decrease the chances of a multiway pot to happen as the equity of the hand decreases with every additional player who decides to join the game.
- Once you master the 3-betting technique, you may use it with your bluffs to keep your range balanced. This will also prevent your opponents from realizing their equity.
There are two ways you can pull off a 3-betting style. The first way is for you to use a linear range which involves top equity hands such as premiums. The other way you can do it effectively is by using a polarized range which makes use of monster hands and bluffs. In case you forgot the hands in this betting range, here’s a quick recap of what you can play:
- Premiums → AA, KK, QQ, JJ TT, AK
- Below premiums → AQ, AJ, KQ, 99, 88
- Speculative hands → suited connectors (98s), suited aces (A5s), small pocket pairs
Defend your big blind against a raise
The BB is considered a special position, given the fact that the said player has already placed 1 BB into the pot. In a way, this gives them a discounted price when facing a raise. With the wide range of hands it offers, it can be comparable to other positions.
When in this position, you can enjoy a positional advantage postflop and be a little more careless when responding to raises from SB players. Given the fact that many players frequently try to steal (or limp) from the small blind, you will have a wide range of opponents to play against. Simply put, this can increase your chances of winning frequently.
Use a 6-max postflop strategy
Upon learning the ways how you can enhance your preflop game, you should also work on improving your postflop game. There are two major approaches you can do for this — c-betting and double barrelling.
The correct adjustment is to use the barreling strategy which suggests that you bet more frequently on all streets. The first barrel is also known as the continuation bet or c-bet. It is followed by the second barrel which occurs when you also fire the turn, and the third barrel which takes place when you fire one more time on the river.
In contrast to the full ring where many tight players can win by merely waiting for the nuts to flop, the 6-max strategy is where the blinds come often enough to open up the game for you to succeed.
Play Poker 6+ at Bitcasino now!
Now that you know more about Poker 6+ and what sets it apart from the traditional Hold’em game, you can be more interested to try this for yourself. By doing so, you can have a better grasp of how and why this variant tends to be more action-packed compared to the traditional one. So, what are you waiting for? Fire up the ante and see what luck awaits you in this fun poker title you can play at Bitcasino!