Here is the follow-up to the previous post on Short Deck.
The table below presents the tally (pct) of specific winning hole-card hands in 6-max Short Deck. Examples of specific hole-card hands are AdQd, KhJc, 9d9c, etc.
As explained in the previous post, the entries of this table (for a specific hand such as KhJc) are derived directly from the previous table (for the corresponding combo such as KJo). Every unsuited entry of the previous table was divided by 12, every suited entry of the previous table was divided by 4, and every paired entry of the previous table was divided by 6.
Table 4: Tally of 6-Max Short Deck Winning Hands by Specific Starting Hand
1000*Pct | __A__ | __K__ | __Q__ | __J__ | __T__ | __9__ | __8__ | __7__ | __6__ |
---|
A | 294 | 204 | 191 | 183 | 177 | 155 | 146 | 135 | 124 |
K | 234 | 259 | 200 | 192 | 188 | 144 | 125 | 117 | 108 |
Q | 218 | 225 | 232 | 200 | 197 | 151 | 129 | 109 | 102 |
J | 214 | 219 | 227 | 217 | 211 | 164 | 140 | 119 | 100 |
T | 208 | 216 | 225 | 236 | 205 | 181 | 154 | 131 | 111 |
9 | 184 | 174 | 180 | 193 | 205 | 177 | 148 | 132 | 113 |
8 | 175 | 158 | 160 | 169 | 182 | 176 | 162 | 120 | 104 |
7 | 166 | 148 | 141 | 149 | 162 | 163 | 150 | 149 | 91 |
6 | 158 | 140 | 135 | 133 | 143 | 143 | 136 | 123 | 137 |
To repeat from above, following poker convention, the "lower triangular" portion of the table consists of suited hands, the "upper triangular" portion of the table consists of unsuited hands, and the "main diagonal" (in bold) of the table consists of the pairs.
The table's first entry of 294 means that 0.294% of all 6-max Short Deck deals were won by a specific AA hand such as AhAc. Also, the 234 entry just below the 294 means that 0.234% of all 6-max Short Deck deals were won by a specific AKs hand such as AdKd. Finally, the 204 entry just to the right of the 294 means that 0.204% of all 6-max Short Deck deals were won by a specific AKo hand such as AhKc.
Presenting the tallies (pcts) at the specific hand level rather than at the combined combo level allows us to see "expected" results such as AKs is preferred to AKo. In addition, pairs are now placed on equal footing with both suited and unsuited starting hands.
The table shows that, according to this simulation, the ten best starting hands in 6-max Short Deck poker are AA, KK, JTs, AKs, QQ, QJs, QTs, KQs, KJs, and AQs. Of course, in this simulation every hand goes to showdown on every deal, so "playability" and other such factors (which may be less critical in Short Deck?) are not taken into account.
The above table illuminates many fascinating elements of Short Deck poker. In general, you can see that pre-flop hand equities are much tighter than in Long Deck. Since ranks are compressed in Short Deck, virtually every hand has a viable chance of making a straight, trips, two pair, or even a full house. Also, since flushes are elevated above full houses in Short Deck, suited connectors take on added value. We saw above that JTs (which I think is the 18th best starting hand in 6-max Long Deck) shoots up to become the 3rd best starting hand in 6-max Short Deck, behind only AA and KK. JTo is also a very good hand in Short Deck due to its many straight possibilities. Other suited connectors which are very strong starting hands in Short Deck include QJs, QTs, KQs, KJs, KTs, and T9s.
Last edited by whosnext; 06-08-2019 at 05:31 PM.