Three Card Poker at WagerWeb
Practice Play
Three card poker also called tricard poker is a poker-based gambling game that has recently become somewhat popular in American casinos.
Three card poker is two poker games (pairplus and ante-and-play) in one. The player may bet on either one, both, and in different amounts. Both games are based on hands consisting of three cards. Before I go on here are the possible hands in three card poker, the number of combinations of each hand, and the probability of forming. Note that a straight is harder to form than a flush.
This is a simple poker game in which you get three cards and are paid according to their value. The dealer's hand is immaterial. There is no raising and no discarding, in fact no skill of any kind is involved.
Pairplus
Pairplus is a simple bet on the cards with a payout for all hands of a pair or better. Below are are probabilities and six examples of actual payout tables used by some casinos.
Probabilities - Three Card Poker |
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Ways to draw 3 cards out of 52 = 22100 |
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Hand |
Combinations |
Percentage |
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| Straight flush | 48 | 0.22% | ||||||
| Three of a kind | 52 | 0.24% | ||||||
| Straight | 720 | 3.26% | ||||||
| Flush | 1096 | 4.96% | ||||||
| Pair | 3744 | 16.94% | ||||||
| Queen high | 9720 | 43.98% | ||||||
| None | 6720 | 30.41% | ||||||
Payoff Tables for Pairplus |
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Hand |
Table 1 |
Table 2 |
Table 3 |
Table 4 |
Table 5 |
Table 6 |
|
| Straight flush | 40 to 1 | 40 to 1 | 35 to 1 | 50 to 1 | 40 to 1 | 40 to 1 | |
| Three of a kind | 30 to 1 | 25 to 1 | 25 to 1 | 30 to 1 | 30 to 1 | 30 to 1 | |
| Straight | 6 to 1 | 6 to 1 | 6 to 1 | 6 to 1 | 5 to 1 | 6 to 1 | |
| Flush | 4 to 1 | 4 to 1 | 4 to 1 | 3 to 1 | 4 to 1 | 3 to 1 | |
| Pair | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 | |
| House advantage | 2.32% | 3.49% | 4.58% | 5.10% | 5.57% | 7.28% | |
Ante-and-play
Normal ante-and-play gameplay
For ante-and-play, the player places an ante bet before receiving his cards. The player is then dealt his cards and after seeing them, the player can fold his cards and lose the ante bet, or raise by placing out a bet of equal money to the ante bet. If he chooses to play, there are three possibilities. The first is that the dealer does not 'qualify'. To qualify, the dealer must have a hand of a queen high or better. If the dealer does not qualify, the ante bet is paid out even money, but the play bet is simply returned. If the dealer does qualify, the player wins if his hand is of higher value than the dealer's, and gets paid out even money on both his ante and play bets. If the dealer's hand is of higher value, the dealer takes the Ante and Play bets. Poker Game Rules vary on what happens when the hands are of exactly equal value: some say that the player simply gets his money back, but others say that the player is paid even money on his bet.
The ante bonus
In addition to normal ante-and-play gameplay, there is a Poker bonus payout on the ante bet for especially good hands.
Ante Bonus Payouts |
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Hand |
Table 1 |
Table 2 |
Table 3 |
Table 4 |
| Straight flush | 5 to 1 | 5 to 1 | 4 to 1 | 3 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 4 to 1 | 3 to 1 | 3 to 1 | 2 to 1 |
| Straight | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 |
| House Edge | 3.37% | 3.61% | 3.83% | 4.28% |
These bonus payouts are paid only on the ante bet for any player who chooses to play poker, regardless of whether the dealer qualifies or whether the player wins or loses.
