Three Card Poker

By Will Veda

Three Card Poker is probably the second most popular casino card game trailing only Blackjack. And in some gaming jurisdictions, it’s not trailing by much.   The reason is easy to answer, when the cards are flowing right in this game, the cash results can be phenomenal.  But like most casino games, this game can become quite cold, and when it is cold, pass the frosty mug to drown the sorrows. 

There are actually two games in Three Card Poker with the initial wagers being Ante and Pair Plus.  Players’ can play one or the other or both and at different amounts as long as they meet or exceed the table minimum.  The Ante bet is used to play against the dealer’s hand and similar to Caribbean Stud Poker, the dealer must qualify (with a Queen high) for the player to combat against him.  The Pair Plus bet is based on a payout table according to the strength of the hand with the dealer’s hand having no bearing whatsoever. 

Each player receives three cards that are poker-related only with three cards instead of five.  There are no Royal flushes, Four of a Kinds, Full Houses, or Two Pairs.  And in Three Card Poker, a Straight beats a Flush because it is harder to receive a three-card Straight than a three-card Flush.  The ranking is as follows: Straight Flush, Three of a Kind, Straight, Flush, One Pair, High Card. 

If the player places a Pair Plus bet, he automatically wins (no matter what the dealer has) on a pair or higher and based on the hand strength, the following pay table is used:

Straight Flush: 40 to 1
Three of a Kind: 30 to 1
Straight: 6 to 1
Flush 4 (sometimes 3) to 1
Pair: 1 to 1

If the player places an Ante bet and decides to continue, he must now “raise” by placing what is called the Play bet, which is equal to the Ante.  If the player decides that his cards are not strong enough to go into battle, he forfeits his Ante.  Keep in mind that the Pair Plus bet is no longer in action.  With the Play bet on the table, he compares his hand to the dealer’s hand. The possible outcomes vary based on the dealer’s hand. 

· If the dealer qualifies with at least a Queen, and the player has a higher-ranking hand, he wins even money (unless a Straight or higher, which will be covered shortly) on both the Ante and Play bets.

· If the dealer does not have at least a Queen, the player wins even money on the Ante and the Play bet is returned. 

· If the dealer qualifies and beats the player’s hand, the player loses both the Ante and Play bets. 

· If the dealer and the player tie, both the Ante and Play bets push.

There is also a pay table on Ante/Play for Straights or better that is paid whether the dealer qualifies or not.  If the dealer qualifies, the payout is based on the following plus the Play bet wins even money.  If the dealer does not qualify, the payout on the Ante is still as follows, but the Play bet is returned: 

Straight Flush: 5 to 1 (can sometimes be 4 or even 3 to 1)
Three of a Kind: 4 to 1 (can sometimes be 3 or 2 to 1)
Straight: 1 to 1  

As you will notice, the Ante pay table is not nearly as attractive as the Pair Plus pay table.  The Ante/Play segment is mainly for battling the dealer’s hand.  Because of this smaller payout possibility, you will see a lot of players playing only the Pair Plus bet without playing the Ante/Play segment. 

The best strategy is to always, always play the Pair Plus bet and if playing the Ante/Play segment, only raise (place the Play bet) if you have a Queen, a six, and a four.  I like to play blind when only playing the Pair Plus for more excitement.  When playing the Ante/Play, I use a mini-blind technique.  When I turn up my cards and see a King or an Ace as the first card, I do not even look at the other two cards knowing that I would be raising anyway.  If a Queen is my first card, I will peek at the following card to see if it is a six or higher; if not, I have to see my third card in hopes of having at least the Queen, six, and four.  If not, I will fold.  With this minimum Queen-high hand, I usually just pray that the dealer does not qualify so I can win my Ante. 

This is my favorite table game and every time I play or observe I witness at least one player receiving a Straight Flush or a Three of a Kind.  Flushes come quite often followed by a few Straights to usually keep a player at the table. 

Inventor, Derek Webb, sure came up with a winner here.  But, I once met him at Caesars Indiana pushing a new game, called Three Hand Poker that was so awful I’m not even going to write a chapter covering it.  All I remember about the game was that there were three rounds of building a five-card poker hand.  The first two rounds, the player received two cards each and had to play against the dealer each round.  The third round included the final card for the poker hand.  I watched the game for two hours and never noticed anyone winning anything of significance.  It was nearly impossible to win all three rounds.  The next day I was there, I noticed hardly anyone playing it.  Mr. Webb apparently is a very wealthy man and decided to milk it with his name on this new game. 

09/09/05