The player on the button posts a double ante. There is no small or big blind, and instead everyone has to post an ante that increases each level in the same way blinds do in a standard game of No-Limit Hold’em.

The variant featured in Triton Poker Series events is called Short-Deck, Ante-Only. At a time when poker’s ecosystem is under pressure from advancements in technology and available poker resources, with players getting improving at a rate never before witnessed, Short-Deck is fixing a leak that is in danger of drowning the game. “The first thing you notice when you sit down to play Short-Deck is the equities run much closer than No-Limit Hold’em.”Īnd the closer you get, the more often a weaker player wins, and the more likely he or she is to remain in the game. Paul and Richard found that by removing the lower half of the cards, they increased the likelihood that an amateur would receive two very playable starting hands.Īs the former World Series of Poker (WSOP), Player of the Year, Ben Lamb, mentions during his first experience of Short-Deck during a 2018 Triton Poker Series in Jeju, South Korea.īen Lamb at Triton Poker Series Jeju, South Korea (July 2018) The better player begins with a narrower range of hands, and this disparity means the amateur ends up with the worst of it more often than the pro. One of the problems that amateurs have when playing superior players, especially professionals, is they play with a broad range of starting hands because their primary focus in the game is to enjoy themselves, and you can’t do that if you fold. The net result, was a 36-card deck – a Short-Deck – and the outcome was incredible. Also known as, Triton Hold’em, Short-Deck has its roots in Asia, where successful businessmen, and poker lovers, Paul Phua and Richard Yong, experimented by removing a few cards from the standard 52-card deck, increasing the likelihood of strong pre-flop hands.

Short deck poker hand ranking