Three Card Poker Strategy

Three Card Poker is a popular casino table game in which the player tries to make a stronger hand than the dealer. The player is dealt three cards, and makes the best poker hand he can out of those cards. A straight flush is considered the strongest possible hand, and unlike in five card poker games, a straight actually beats a flush.

After you look at your hand, you can decide whether you want to fold or raise. If you fold, you forfeit your bet; if you raise, you compare your hand to the dealer’s hand. If you have the higher hand, you win the ante bet. How much you win on your ante bet depends on the type of hand you’ve made; while most wins are for even money, straights and higher hands qualify for additional bonuses. If the dealer qualified – which requires a queen-high hand or better – and you still beat the dealer, you’ll also win even money on your raise.

Most Three Card Poker strategy comes into play when deciding which hands to play, and which hands to fold. Many people have different Three Card poker strategies; they might raise anytime they have a queen-high or better (to match the dealer’s strategy), only raise with pairs and better, or raise with everything!

While none of these Three Card Poker strategies are bad, they’re also not the optimal strategy, and since perfect Three Card Poker strategy is easy to learn, there’s no excuse for not using it! You’ll get the best returns by raising with hands of Q64 or higher, and folding Q63 and lower.

Another way to utilize strategy when playing Three Card Poker is by finding the best pay tables and only playing when you’re getting the maximum payouts. There are many different pay tables for the “ante bonus,” and which pay table is being used on your table can make a huge difference in the house edge. If you want the best payouts possible, look for the following pay table:

Straight Flush: 5-1
Three of a Kind: 4-1
Straight: 1-1

Some pay tables also give an additional bonus for a “mini royal” – a suited AKQ. Again, you should look for the above pay table, but if it has the mini royal bonus on top of it, then that just makes it an even better table! If the game you’re playing doesn’t offer the above payouts, it’s probably a bad deal, even if it does offer the mini royal bonus.

It’s also worth talking about the Pairplus game that most people play during Three Card Poker. If your Three Card Poker strategy is to lose as little money as possible, you should avoid Pairplus, since it normally has a slightly higher house edge than the regular ante bet. However, this isn’t always true, and even when it is, the Pairplus bet does give you the opportunity for occasional huge wins when you hit a straight flush or three of a kind. The best Pairplus pay table is the following one:
Straight Flush: 40-1
Three of a Kind: 30-1
Straight: 6-1
Flush: 4-1
Pair: 1-1

If you can find this table, the house edge is just over 2%, making it a fairly good bet compared to most you’ll find in the casino.

Three Card Poker strategy may be simple, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore it. As with all casino games, following optimal strategy will make your wins bigger, and help limit the amount of money you lose when things aren’t going right.