A deficit deadlift is a deadlift performed while standing on a weight plate or platform, usually around one to four inches high. It's used as assistance work for those that have trouble in the first stage of the deadlift. The increased range of motion also recruits more of the posterior chain and quads.
You can even get creative with it and use farmers walk handles on either side of your platform or plate. These really challenge your grip with heavy weights.
Tony shoots apart training myths like they were ducks and he was a starving fat man sitting in a pond with a rifle. Read about the "other side of the core," deadlifting mistakes, and the pencil test. (You gotta' take the pencil test.)