Upswing Poker Short Deck

'If you can learn the constructs of live PLO games, you have a REALLY good chance of making a lot of money…literally, if you watch this whole course you're ahead of almost everyone in your local live PLO games.' – Dylan Weisman.

1. Upswing Poker Short Deck Railings
2. Upswing Poker Short Deck Plans

Meet the latest elite pro to join the Upswing Poker team. He has been working tirelessly on a comprehensive short deck course to help beginners and advanced players alike improve their win-rates.

Today we're gonna take an inside look at the latest course from Upswing Poker: PLO Launch Pad. In this review, I'll walk you through the course and share what I like (and what I don't).

1. Many of the rules in Short Deck Hold'em are exactly the same as a No Limit Hold'em game: Each player receives two hole cards. There are three rounds of community cards (the flop, turn, and river) with a round of betting after each. You can bet any amount of your stack at any time.
2. The Short Deck Course by Kane Kalas is an exciting new poker training program that was just released by Upswing Poker. This is the poker training site by the way that is famous for the Upswing Poker Lab which is still my #1 top recommended poker training course today. You can read my full review for The Upswing Poker Lab right here. For their new Short Deck Poker course Upswing Poker have hired Kane Kalas as.

Table of Contents

• Course Instructor
• Course Walkthrough
• PLO Launch Pad Review

Course Instructor

The course is taught by PLO poker pro Dylan Weisman.

Who is Dylan Weisman?

Dylan Weisman, known as iheartco0kie online, is a successful high-stakes player and coach. To demonstrate how profitable low stakes PLO can be, he just wrapped up a challenge where he grew a $5k bankroll into $25k in only 30 sessions.

PLO Launch Pad Course Overview

Compared to other Upswing courses, PLO Launch Padis a relatively short, 9-hour primer on the fundamentals of Pot-Limit Omaha for both live and online players.

It is specifically designed to improve the games of low to mid-stakes PLO players as well as no-limit players transitioning to the wonderful world of PLO.

Unlike Dylan's Advanced PLO course, this course is geared towards providing a solid PLO foundation. However, do not mistake this as a rank beginner poker course. You should have at least a cursory background in general poker concepts such as ranges, equities, and game theory, even if those are from No-Limit Hold'em.

And if you are already a seasoned PLO pro, you are still very likely to learn a few things. And at a $99 price point, it's significantly more affordable than most Upswing courses.

Course Walkthrough

What to expect in the PLO Launch Pad course

The course is broken up into 6 different sections:

1. PLO 101
2. Preflop
3. Flop
4. Turn / River
5. Miscellaneous Fundamentals
6. Play & Explains

The first four sections provide a general foundation on how to think about hand ranges and common situations on different streets.

Miscellaneous Fundamentals and Play & Explains will help you understand what PLO gameplay is like and over-the-shoulder, real-world examples of theory in action.

PLO Launch Pad Review

Pros: Here's what I like about the course

• The course gives a really solid foundation for beating up low stakes live and online games.
• The price point ($99) is significantly lower than Dylan's other course and is a real value. You could easily win that back in the first hour of a session.
• I personally hate solvers (I know, I know, I'll never be an elite player). But you don't need solvers to be a winner in low stakes PLO. Thankfully, this course is not solver-based like Dylan's advanced course.
• There is a lot of Play & Explains content at different stakes.
• The video player allows you to speed up or slow down videos to match your own pace of learning

Cons: Here's what can be improved

• You should have a basic background in poker theory before taking this course (even if that theory is from No-Limit Hold'em). I'd like to see a course where someone can learn the basics of PLO instead of learning No-Limit first. Cause lets face it, 2 card games suck!
• Dylan has some funky orange glasses he wears indoors. Ok, that's got nothing to do with the course, but it's a little too cool for school (sorry Dylan).
• There's very little coverage of wraps. But that's ok, you're on the right website for that!
• The Play & Explains sections are all online PLO which does have a different style than live PLO. I would have liked to see some live hands transcribed into PokerTracker like Dylan's advanced course.

Is PLO Launch Pad Worth it?

If you want to improve your win rates at low to mid-stakes Pot Limit Omaha or are transitioning from No-Limit Hold'em, then PLO Launch Pad produced by Upswing Poker is a good choice for several reasons. First, it provides a solid strategic foundation to help you avoid common money leaks in PLO.

Secondly, the poker training course has some foundational guidelines like preflop hand selection and common PLO situations like how to play aces. Thirdly, there is a 16-part Play & Explain series where you can watch concepts applied in real game scenarios.

—>Check Out PLO Launch Pad<—

Frequently Asked Questions

Is PLO Launch Pad for beginner PLO players?

Yes, it is geared towards beginner and intermediate players. However, even advanced players will benefit from these strategic concepts.

Is PLO Launch Pad geared towards live or online play?

The hand reviews are online. But much of the theory applies to both online and live games.

Who is the instructor of PLO Launch Pad?

PLO Launch Pad is taught by poker pro Dylan Weisman.

Does PLO Launch Pad cover PLO tournaments?

While the course is primarily geared towards cash games, there are some Play & Explains sections where MTT games are reviewed.

One of the games that have seen a flurry of interest over the last few months is Six Plus Hold'em, also referred to as Short Deck Poker.

Six Plus Hold'em is an exciting and fun poker variant based on Texas Hold'em where the game is played with a deck of 36 cards as opposed to the usual 52 cards in traditional hold'em. Deuces through fives are removed from the deck giving the game its name Six Plus Hold'em/6+ or Short Deck Poker.

Aces are played both low and high, making both a low-end straight A6789 and the high JQKTA. Also, with a shortened deck, the game changes a bit in terms of hand rankings and rules. A Flush beats a Full House and in most places where Six Plus is offered, a Set or a Three-of-a-Kind beats a Straight.

• Largest player base in the world.
• Home of Spin & Go, Power Up and lots of other unique game variants including 6+ Hold'em.
• Biggest weekly tournament schedule around.

Because the low cards are removed, there are more playable hands compared with traditional Hold'em, and so it is more of an action-orientated game. Not only are the hand rankings modified but so are the mathematics and odds/probabilities of the majority of hands.

Before we talk about the odds and probabilities of some of the hands, let's have a look at the hand rankings offered in Six Plus Hold'em (ranked from the highest hand to the lowest):

Six Plus Hold'em Hand Rankings Comparison

One may wonder why a Flush is ranked higher than a Full House or why Three-of-a-Kind is ranked above a Straight. That's because in Six Plus Hold'em, a Flush is harder to make since there are only nine cards in each suit instead of thirteen. Similarly, the stripped-deck also means that the remaining 36 cards are much closer in rank and so there will be smaller gaps between the cards in the hand and those on the board. This increases the probability of a hand becoming a Straight and hence Straights are ranked higher than a Three-of-a-Kind.

However, it is worth noting that the rules vary from game to game. For example, in the Short Deck variant offered in the Triton Poker Series, a Straight is ranked higher than a Three-of-a-Kind like in traditional hold'em even though mathematically a player would hit a Straight more.

One of the reasons why an operator would rank a Straight higher than Three-of-a-Kind is because it would generate more action. If Trips were ranked higher, a player with a Straight draw would have no reason to continue the hand as he or she would be drawing dead.

Let's take a look at the odds/probabilities of hitting some of the hands:

Six Plus Hold'em vs Traditional Hold'em (Odds and Probabilities comparison)

As you can see in the table above, the odds of being dealt pocket Aces are doubled as you now get the powerful starting hand dealt once in every 105 hands, as opposed to once in every 221 hands with a full 52-card deck. However, the probability of winning a hand with aces vs a random hand decreases from 85% in traditional hold'em to 77% in Six Plus Hold'em.

The probability of hitting a Set with pocket pairs increases to 18% from 11.8%, and the probability of hitting an open-ended Straight by the River also increases to 48% in 6+ Hold'em compared with 31.5% in traditional Hold'em.

Let's now have a look at some of the pre-flop all-in hand situations:

Six Plus Hold'em vs Traditional Hold'em (Hands Comparison)

Upswing Poker Short Deck Railings

As mentioned earlier, the equities run very close to each other with the shortened deck and so a hand like Ace-King versus Jack-Ten is almost a coin-flip, whereas the former is a favorite in Texas Hold'em. Again, a hand like Ace-King versus a pocket pair like Tens is a coin-flip in 6+, whereas a pocket pair is a slight favorite in normal Hold'em.

Upswing Poker Short Deck Plans

Now, let's take a look at the probabilities when a connected or wet Flop is dealt:

Player 1: Ac Ks
Player 2: Td 9h

Flop: Kh 8c 7d

In traditional Hold'em, Ace-King is a favorite with 66% and Player 2 is chasing the Straight draw with a close to 34% chance of hitting it. However, the probability significantly changes in both variants of 6+ Hold'em. In a variant where Trips beat a Straight, Player 1 is only a slight favorite with just 52% (more like a coin-flip). However, in a Short Deck game where a Straight beat Trips, Player 2 is now slightly favorite with 52% chance of hitting a Straight by the river.

Another hand:

Player 1: As Ah
Player 2: Qd Jh

Flop: Ad Th 9s

The first four sections provide a general foundation on how to think about hand ranges and common situations on different streets.

Miscellaneous Fundamentals and Play & Explains will help you understand what PLO gameplay is like and over-the-shoulder, real-world examples of theory in action.

PLO Launch Pad Review

Pros: Here's what I like about the course

• The course gives a really solid foundation for beating up low stakes live and online games.
• The price point ($99) is significantly lower than Dylan's other course and is a real value. You could easily win that back in the first hour of a session.
• I personally hate solvers (I know, I know, I'll never be an elite player). But you don't need solvers to be a winner in low stakes PLO. Thankfully, this course is not solver-based like Dylan's advanced course.
• There is a lot of Play & Explains content at different stakes.
• The video player allows you to speed up or slow down videos to match your own pace of learning

Cons: Here's what can be improved

• You should have a basic background in poker theory before taking this course (even if that theory is from No-Limit Hold'em). I'd like to see a course where someone can learn the basics of PLO instead of learning No-Limit first. Cause lets face it, 2 card games suck!
• Dylan has some funky orange glasses he wears indoors. Ok, that's got nothing to do with the course, but it's a little too cool for school (sorry Dylan).
• There's very little coverage of wraps. But that's ok, you're on the right website for that!
• The Play & Explains sections are all online PLO which does have a different style than live PLO. I would have liked to see some live hands transcribed into PokerTracker like Dylan's advanced course.

Is PLO Launch Pad Worth it?

If you want to improve your win rates at low to mid-stakes Pot Limit Omaha or are transitioning from No-Limit Hold'em, then PLO Launch Pad produced by Upswing Poker is a good choice for several reasons. First, it provides a solid strategic foundation to help you avoid common money leaks in PLO.

Secondly, the poker training course has some foundational guidelines like preflop hand selection and common PLO situations like how to play aces. Thirdly, there is a 16-part Play & Explain series where you can watch concepts applied in real game scenarios.

—>Check Out PLO Launch Pad<—

Frequently Asked Questions

Is PLO Launch Pad for beginner PLO players?

Yes, it is geared towards beginner and intermediate players. However, even advanced players will benefit from these strategic concepts.

Is PLO Launch Pad geared towards live or online play?

The hand reviews are online. But much of the theory applies to both online and live games.

Who is the instructor of PLO Launch Pad?

PLO Launch Pad is taught by poker pro Dylan Weisman.

Does PLO Launch Pad cover PLO tournaments?

While the course is primarily geared towards cash games, there are some Play & Explains sections where MTT games are reviewed.

One of the games that have seen a flurry of interest over the last few months is Six Plus Hold'em, also referred to as Short Deck Poker.

Six Plus Hold'em is an exciting and fun poker variant based on Texas Hold'em where the game is played with a deck of 36 cards as opposed to the usual 52 cards in traditional hold'em. Deuces through fives are removed from the deck giving the game its name Six Plus Hold'em/6+ or Short Deck Poker.

Aces are played both low and high, making both a low-end straight A6789 and the high JQKTA. Also, with a shortened deck, the game changes a bit in terms of hand rankings and rules. A Flush beats a Full House and in most places where Six Plus is offered, a Set or a Three-of-a-Kind beats a Straight.

• Largest player base in the world.
• Home of Spin & Go, Power Up and lots of other unique game variants including 6+ Hold'em.
• Biggest weekly tournament schedule around.

Because the low cards are removed, there are more playable hands compared with traditional Hold'em, and so it is more of an action-orientated game. Not only are the hand rankings modified but so are the mathematics and odds/probabilities of the majority of hands.

Before we talk about the odds and probabilities of some of the hands, let's have a look at the hand rankings offered in Six Plus Hold'em (ranked from the highest hand to the lowest):

Six Plus Hold'em Hand Rankings Comparison

One may wonder why a Flush is ranked higher than a Full House or why Three-of-a-Kind is ranked above a Straight. That's because in Six Plus Hold'em, a Flush is harder to make since there are only nine cards in each suit instead of thirteen. Similarly, the stripped-deck also means that the remaining 36 cards are much closer in rank and so there will be smaller gaps between the cards in the hand and those on the board. This increases the probability of a hand becoming a Straight and hence Straights are ranked higher than a Three-of-a-Kind.

However, it is worth noting that the rules vary from game to game. For example, in the Short Deck variant offered in the Triton Poker Series, a Straight is ranked higher than a Three-of-a-Kind like in traditional hold'em even though mathematically a player would hit a Straight more.

One of the reasons why an operator would rank a Straight higher than Three-of-a-Kind is because it would generate more action. If Trips were ranked higher, a player with a Straight draw would have no reason to continue the hand as he or she would be drawing dead.

Let's take a look at the odds/probabilities of hitting some of the hands:

Six Plus Hold'em vs Traditional Hold'em (Odds and Probabilities comparison)

As you can see in the table above, the odds of being dealt pocket Aces are doubled as you now get the powerful starting hand dealt once in every 105 hands, as opposed to once in every 221 hands with a full 52-card deck. However, the probability of winning a hand with aces vs a random hand decreases from 85% in traditional hold'em to 77% in Six Plus Hold'em.

The probability of hitting a Set with pocket pairs increases to 18% from 11.8%, and the probability of hitting an open-ended Straight by the River also increases to 48% in 6+ Hold'em compared with 31.5% in traditional Hold'em.

Let's now have a look at some of the pre-flop all-in hand situations:

Six Plus Hold'em vs Traditional Hold'em (Hands Comparison)

Upswing Poker Short Deck Railings

As mentioned earlier, the equities run very close to each other with the shortened deck and so a hand like Ace-King versus Jack-Ten is almost a coin-flip, whereas the former is a favorite in Texas Hold'em. Again, a hand like Ace-King versus a pocket pair like Tens is a coin-flip in 6+, whereas a pocket pair is a slight favorite in normal Hold'em.

Upswing Poker Short Deck Plans

Now, let's take a look at the probabilities when a connected or wet Flop is dealt:

Player 1: Ac Ks
Player 2: Td 9h

Flop: Kh 8c 7d

In traditional Hold'em, Ace-King is a favorite with 66% and Player 2 is chasing the Straight draw with a close to 34% chance of hitting it. However, the probability significantly changes in both variants of 6+ Hold'em. In a variant where Trips beat a Straight, Player 1 is only a slight favorite with just 52% (more like a coin-flip). However, in a Short Deck game where a Straight beat Trips, Player 2 is now slightly favorite with 52% chance of hitting a Straight by the river.

Another hand:

Player 1: As Ah
Player 2: Qd Jh

Flop: Ad Th 9s

It's pretty clear when it comes to normal Hold'em, but in a Short Deck variant where Trips beat a Straight, Player 2 is drawing dead as opposed to the other variant where Player 2 still has a 32% of chance of completing a Straight by the River.