What ClubGG has confirmed
- Short Deck exists on ClubGG. iOS version 26.05.0219 (11 August 2026) "added a new Short Deck BBJ Jackpot Trigger option".
- It runs in tournaments. ClubGG's help center lists an article called "MTT Settings Breakdown (NLH, PLO, 6+)". We know it from its title only; the article body isn't public without the help-center app.
- Club Bad Beat Jackpots can cover it. Club admins can put club chips into a BBJ, and unions can set "Tournament and BBJ inclusion". The Short Deck trigger option means the qualifying hand can be set separately for 6+ tables — what the default trigger is, ClubGG doesn't say.
Everything else on this page is general Short Deck knowledge. Your club's rule screen wins if it says otherwise.
The rules in 60 seconds
- The deck: 36 cards, 6 through ace in each suit. No 2, 3, 4 or 5.
- The deal: two hole cards each, then flop, turn and river — exactly like Hold'em.
- The low straight: in most rule sets the ace plays low as A-6-7-8-9.
- Flush over full house: the standard Short Deck ranking.
- Straight vs trips: rule sets split here. Check before you play.
- Blinds or antes: some Short Deck games are ante-only, others use blinds. On ClubGG the host's table settings decide.
Why the hand ranks change
Hand ranks follow rarity. Remove 16 cards and the rarity order shifts. Here are the counts of five-card hands from a 36-card deck (376,992 in total):
| Hand | Ways to make it | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 24 | Still the top hand. |
| Four of a kind | 288 | Still beats a flush. |
| Flush | 480 | Only nine cards per suit — rarer than a full house. |
| Full house | 1,728 | Drops below the flush. |
| Straight | 6,120 | Rarer than trips in five-card counts… |
| Three of a kind | 16,128 | …yet some rule sets rank trips higher, because seven-card frequencies differ. |
Check the straight-vs-trips order on your table. ClubGG doesn't publish which order its 6+ tables use, and the two common rule sets disagree. Misreading it costs whole stacks.
Worked example: your draws get stronger
You hold 9♥8♥ and the flop comes 7♣6♠K♦
You hold 9-8-7-6. In Hold'em a 10 or a 5 completes the straight. In Short Deck there are no 5s — but in most rule sets the ace plays low, so A-6-7-8-9 is a straight. Your outs are the four 10s and the four aces: still 8 outs, just different cards. (If your table's rule set doesn't count A-6-7-8-9, you're down to four outs — one more reason to read the rules screen.)
| 8-out draw on the flop | Unseen cards | Hit by the river |
|---|---|---|
| Hold'em (52 cards) | 47 | about 31.5% |
| Short Deck (36 cards) | 31 | about 45.6% |
Same eight outs, far fewer blanks. Flush draws go the other way: with nine cards per suit you hold four and only five remain, so a flop flush draw hits about 30.1% of the time by the river, against about 35.0% in Hold'em. That's the rarity that pushes the flush above the full house.
Short Deck checklist for your first session
- Open the table info and confirm: straight vs trips order, whether A-6-7-8-9 counts, and blinds or ante.
- Expect bigger average hands — top pair is weaker than in Hold'em.
- If your club runs a BBJ, ask the host which hand triggers it on 6+ tables.
- Hosts setting up tournaments: the blind planner works for 6+ too; antes are set in your table settings.
Comparing other games? Go back to all ClubGG formats or see the jackpot and other gadgets in table features.
Questions people ask
Does ClubGG have Short Deck poker?
Does a flush beat a full house in Short Deck?
Does a straight beat three of a kind in Short Deck?
Is A-6-7-8-9 a straight in Short Deck?
Where these facts come from
Checked against these official pages and store listings on 2026-10-31. If ClubGG changes something, its own terms win.
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