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I came up through the ranks as an online casino player studying the classics. My blackjack and video poker education came through practice, repetition, and patience.
And while I had a few friends to show me the ropes, my teaching was mostly spent attending the school of hard knocks. Rough runs and really incredible short-term swings helped refine my strategic approach. Eventually, I was able to beat the house consistently. Keep reading here at Xgtiger Casino!
Now, I have moved from student to teacher. Gambling has grown rapidly since my youth. Millions of people whose parents wouldn’t be caught dead in a casino happily enjoy table games, slots, poker, and more.
How to Play Three-Card Poker
With the massive influx of new players taking to the casino, the house is enjoying more of an advantage than ever before. That’s especially true with the advent of more exotic table games like Three Card Poker.
It combines the unpredictable outcomes of a game of chance with an important element of skill. The result is the perfect casino gamble.
If you have just started playing Three Card Poker, or have never tried it in your life, here is the game.
Players place an Ante bet to start before drawing three face-up cards at random. Some games also offer an optional side chance called Pair Plus, which you’ll learn more about later on the page.
Then, the dealer deals themselves three cards that are dealt face up. After assessing the relative strength of your three-card poker hand, the game’s only decision is asking you to “Play” or “Fold.” You will not take additional cards through the draw or do anything else to change your initial holding.
Playing means placing a second bet equal to the first. Folding obviously means discarding the hand right then and there.
The dealer reveals their hand if you decide to bet Play. Then you compare the indicators to see which one ranks higher.
These are three-card poker hands, so something like 7-8-9 is good for a straight. Q-K-A of both suits is known as the Mini Royal Flush.
Three Card Poker has earned a reputation as a sort of “carnival game” among the sharp gambling crowd. This is because the game doesn’t ask too much of its players. But, without important decisions to improve your hand, Three Card Poker plays more like a game of chance than a skill-based card game.
Despite its reputation and deceptively simple appearance, Three Card Poker is subject to an important element of skill. There are a few rules and strategies I’ve gleaned from a lifetime of playing three-card poker.
You Only Need to Remember One Rule to Play Three Card Poker Perfectly
If you’ve ever studied blackjack before, those detailed color-coded charts advising you on how to make every possible decision perfectly can give you nightmares.
After all, memorizing and mastering the basic strategy for blackjack is a mental exercise. Some players may also call these “chores.”
If you want to give your brain a break, the basic strategy of Three Card Poker should be right up your alley.
Three-card poker uses a static deal, meaning players cannot change their starting cards. Combined with a single decision point, this makes Three Card Poker strategy easy.
All you need to remember to play this game to perfection is a simple cutoff point, Q-4-6.
In any hand ranked Q-6-4 or higher, you should always bet Play and check with the dealer. And with any hand-typed Q-6-3 or worse, you should always fold and live to fight another day.
Don’t take my word for it, though. Here’s what longtime casino game analyst and mathematician Michael Shackleford had to say on the subject:
“I have no doubt that Q/6/4 is the best strategy for three-card poker.
Stanley Ko independently made the same advice. This strategy is based on a computer program that evaluates all 22,100 possible combinations of the player’s three cards and, for each of the remaining 18,424 possible combinations of the dealer’s three cards.
If you follow the dealer’s strategy, you will fold on several hands with an expected return greater than -1 (the return by folding).”
Game theorists run every conceivable combination of three cards through a supercomputer to save you the advanced math. The software analyzes each unique expected return of each hand and divides all hands into positive and negative play. Q-6-4 represents the exact cutoff point where Three Card Poker hands become profitable in the long run.
Using the Q-6-4 strategy, sharp players shave the house’s edge on Ante and bet up to 3.37%. This is better than close table game cousins Let It Ride (3.51%) and Caribbean Stud Poker (5.22%).
Hunting for a Quality Pair Plus Pay Table Will Save You Tons in the Long Run
The Pair Plus side bet is the big bugaboo for bad Three Card Poker players.
At first glance, paying a few bucks to give yourself a chance at the excellent payouts that go up to 40 to 1 seems like a steal. And in fact, when you get a topline Pair Plus payout, it can be hard to imagine playing this game without the side bet working.
But one look at the table below should show you why the Pair Plus bet is such a play:
Three Card Poker Pair Plus Side Bet Pay Tables (No Mini Royal Flush)
| HAND | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 | #7 | #8 | #9 | #10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight Flush | 40 | 35 | 40 | 35 | 50 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 42 |
| Three/Kind | 30 | 33 | 25 | 25 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 30 | 32 | 38 |
| Straight | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Flush | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Pair | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Nothing | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 |
| House Edge | 2.32% | 2.70% | 3.49% | 4.58% | 5.10% | 5.57% | 6.75% | 7.28% | 1.85% | 0.00 |
Three Card Poker Pair Plus Side Bet Pay Tables (With Mini Royal Flush)
| Hand | #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | #6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mini Royal | 50 | 100 | 200 | 50 | 50 | 80 |
| Straight Flush | 40 | 50 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Three/Kind | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 25 |
| Straight | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| Flush | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Pair | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Nothing | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 | -1 |
| House Edge | 2.14% | 4.20% | 4.38% | 5.39% | 7.10% | 7.73% |
Whenever you see the house edge rates rise above 5.00% and approach 10%, you should consider the bets as non-starters.
You can hit a few here and there, but the Pair Plus side bet can quickly lose its appeal. This usually happens when you realize those straight flush payouts only come 0.2% of the time.
Successful Hole Carding The Dealer Can Really Build A Healthy Player Edge
On a final note, the “flow” of live betting in an online casino is never set in stone. The best players are always on the lookout for any extra advantage they can find.
And at the Three Card Poker table, extra edges come whenever the dealer is lazy with their hole cards. A tired or impatient dealer will occasionally flash their cards during the deal. This additional information makes your Play / Fold decision easier.
If you are able to “hole card” the dealer, the house edge of 3.37% becomes a player edge of 3.48%. This is not a scam, so don’t worry about being taken advantage of when it happens.
Summary
Experienced online poker players in a carnival game often avoid three-card poker. However, there are several ways players can use skills to improve their odds of winning. The three card poker rules and strategies above can help you win more often.
Conclusion
Are you an avid gaming fan and want to know how to bet on online casino games? At Xgtiger, you’ll get the latest information on this year’s best casino games and a variety of gaming options, all in one place.
To start your online gambling journey, all you need to do is create an account on the site, deposit funds and you’ll be ready to bet on the best and most anticipated casino games.
Frequently asked questions
Since there are no community cards or shared cards of any kind in 3-card poker, the strategy is somewhat straightforward. The complete average hand in 3-card poker is queen-6-4. Therefore, the optimal strategy would be to play all hands greater than or equal to queen-6-4, and fold all hands worse.
