3 Card Poker

A form of poker that is a card game consisting of two parts

3 Card Poker is an Americanized version of a popular British card game called Brag, which is thought to date back more than three centuries  where it evolved from a game called Primero, which only used three cards. And three cards is what 3 Card Poker is all about. A popular game in both land and online casinos, 3 Card Poker actually consists of 2 games in one - Pair Plus and Ante and Play -  and you can bet on one or both games in each hand.

3 Card Poker Rules

Pair Plus is the simplest of the two 3 Card Poker games. All you have to do is place a bet on the Pair Plus field and wait to see what your hand is when your 3 cards are dealt. Click 'Deal' to have your hand dealt to you. With Pair Plus, the Dealer's hand is disregarded and you cannot raise or discard any of your cards. Your hand either wins or loses.

Pair Plus Pay Outs

Straight Flush 40:1
Three of a kind 30:1
Straight 6:1
Flush 4:1
Any Pair 1:1

Ante and Play is the more complex of the two 3 Card Poker games, but arguably the more entertaining. As in Pair Plus, with Ante and Play you place a bet on the Ante field. Click 'Deal'. After examining your cards, you have a number of options. One is that you can fold your hand, in which case you lose your Ante bet. (If you also have a bet on Pair Plus that will pay out, you would be wise not to fold). Another option is to 'Call' or 'Play' in which case you must place a bet (to the same value as your original Ante bet) on the Bet field. You have effectively paid to see the Dealer's 3 card hand. To qualify, the Dealer must hold a Queen or higher. If he does not qualify, your Ante bet wins 1:1, and your Call bet is returned.

Ante and Play Pay Outs if the dealer qualifies:

Player beats dealer - Ante and Play both win and pay out 1:1
Dealer beats player - Ante and Play both lose
Dealer ties player -  Ante and Play bets returned ( a push)

Plus, the Ante bet has an additional bonus which is not dependant on the dealer's hand:

Straight - 1x Ante bet
Three of a Kind - 4x Ante bet
Straight Flush - 5x Ante bet

Note that in 3 Card Poker Aces can be counted as either a high or a low straight and (unlike in regular poker where the opposite is true) a straight beats a flush on account of the fact that it is harder to make a straight with only three cards.

In terms of 3 Card Poker strategy, many 3 Card Poker pros believe the optimum strategy in Ante and Play is to raise if you are dealt a hand containing a Queen Six and Four or greater. The reason is that overall you stand to lose 8.66 percent of the Ante, but win 5.29 percent on the raise, which are pretty decent odds.