Three Card Poker
Just what is it? Three Card Poker, Tri Card Poker or Tri Poker and why all the names for the same game? . . . Well, it all started out as a name protected casino table game called 3 Card Poker that became very popular. Then it seems that others wanted to offer the game without paying the royalties due so they just renamed it. . So whether it's called 3 Card, Tri Card or just plain Tri Poker, the poker rules are the same, the optimal playing strategy for how to play is the same and a lot of players love it.
Three Card Poker is Two Games in One: A seat at the 3 Card Poker table offers two separate games to play. You are usually allowed to play either one or both games at the same time, but some casinos will require you to play both.
The two games are "Three Card Ante/Play", where you compete against the dealer, and "Pair Plus" that has different bonus payouts for 3 card poker hands of one pair or better.
When both games are played at the same time, players may wager different amounts on each game.
The games are played with a standard 52 card deck. The cards are distributed to the dealer in groups of three by an automatic shuffling machine. The player's table layout is shown at the right. Poker rules and payouts are printed on the table at each player spot, just like this: . . (Note:) These are FULL PAYOUTS. Always look for these!
3 Card Hand Values: The first thing you will probably notice from the hand rankings list at the right is that a straight has a higher ranking than a flush. That's simply because there are fewer ways to make a 3 card straight than a 3 card flush. As in most poker games, aces play both high and low to a straight. An ace high straight flush is the highest hand you can get but unfortunately, this is just the highest straight flush and not recognized as a mini-royal flush with extra bonus considerations or anything of that sort.
Three Card Poker Rules
This game starts with the players placing bets in the "Ante", "Pair Plus" or both spots in the table layouts. The ante and pair plus wagers can be any amount within the posted table limits. The players and the dealer all get three cards, face down. The players all look at their hands and either fold by giving their cards back and losing their ante bet, or play by placing a bet, equal to the ante, in the "play" spot in the layout. Note that even if the player folds, pair plus wagers are still paid on any pair or better.The dealer then turns over his cards. If he does not have Queen High or better, he doesn't "qualify" to play and pays the active players even money on their ante bets and those with a straight or better are paid the additional ante bonus shown above. These players get a "push" on their play bets. If he does have a qualifying hand, those who cannot beat it lose their antes and their play bets, but can still win the ante bonus with a straight or higher. Those who can beat the dealer win even money on both their ante and play bets plus the ante bonus, if any.
Three Card Poker Strategy - Ante/Play
In Three Card, Tri Card Poker Ante/Play, the only thing the expert player needs to know is how high his or her hand should be to produce the best possible long term results, if played. The answer to that question is Q-6-4 or higher.High card only hands between Q64 through KQ10 are loss limit plays. These are hands with negative expectations. They will lose less if played than they will in ante forfeiture losses if they are not played. Ace high hands and better have positive expectations. The house advantage for Ante/Play, against the optimal strategy shown below is a comfortable 3.4% . . . . Not too bad for the player.*
Optimal Three Card Poker Strategy
Always Play Q-6-4 or Higher .. Never Play Anything Lower
Pair Plus "Non-Strategy" and Unequal Bets Play
Since the only decision the player has to make in Pair Plus is how much to bet, there is no optimal strategy involved. However, at full payout the low house advantage of less than 3 1/2% makes it about as attractive as any table poker game you can find. You can't bet five dollars and win a house here, but the payouts are very generous and you should get a pay hand of some sort about 25% of the time. This is a good game but you want to remember that the win/loss swings are much more volatile in Pair Plus than in Ante/Play.Most places allow you to make unequal bets on the two games. A conservative bet would be two units on Ante/Play and one unit on Pair Plus, or equal bets. A more aggressive approach is to place more on Pair Plus than on Ante/Play. Many good players prefer to keep their Pair Plus to Ante Play ratio on the conservative side and try to get a little ahead before they get aggressive and load up on the Pair Plus.
