1. How To Win In Three Card Poker
  2. Three Card Poker Tips And Tricks For Beginners
  3. What Is The Best Strategy For 3 Card Poker
  4. Three Card Poker Tips And Tricks To Win
  5. Three Card Poker Tips And Tricks Tips

The first step to devising any successful 3 Card Poker strategy is to familiarize yourself with the Pair Plus odds. There are 22,100 winning hands, or around 25.6% of the total possible combinations. In 3 Card Poker you win if you successfully produce a pair, flush, straight, three of a kind or straight flush. When Three Card Poker was invented, there was one available pay table for Pair Plus. You’d get 40-1 on a straight flush, 30-1 on three of a kind, 6-1 on a straight, 4-`1 on a flush and 1-1 on a pair for a house edge of 2.32 percent. That pay table is rare today, both in live casinos and online casinos. Top 7 questions when playing 3 Card Poker. Of course reading answers to the most popular 3 Card Poker questions are the best way to get ahead of your opponents. What are Some Tips Playing 3 Card Poker? The general guideline is you should ‘play’ all hands better than Queen, Six and Four. You should fold anything worse than those cards.

Crucial 3 Card Poker Tips for Winning


Card

Three Simple Cards, Oh So Fast

Tips

Three Card Poker is not about winning pots. It’s about winning as much money as you potentially can using the hands you determine to play.

The dynamics are different in 3 Card Poker since it’s just you versus the dealer. This game is more like a combination of blackjack and poker. The following techniques will give you an edge when playing 3 card poker.

How do you Play 3 Card Poker?

Before learning winning techniques, it is more important you get a brief overview of how to play 3 Card Poker.

First, the goal is to create the best poker hand with three cards. To start, you place an ante wager and/or a pair plus wager. This means you expect making at least a pair or better. Three cards are then dealt face down to each player including the dealer. At this point, you are only playing the dealer and NOT the other players at the table. After looking at your hand, you then determine to place another bet (this is the play wager, and is equal to the amount of your ante wager) to pit your hand against the dealer’s hand.

If you fold, the hand is over and the dealer will collect your ante wager and/or pair plus wager. If you place a play wager, all cards will be turned over to determine if you have a better hand than the dealer. If the dealer has a Jack or worse, your play wager is given back. If the dealer has a Queen or better, both the play wager and the ante are paid out at 1 to 1 if your hand beats the dealer. If the dealer’s hand wins, he keeps both the ante and play bets. The pair plus bet outcome is completely independent to what the dealer has.

Top 7 questions when playing 3 Card Poker

Of course reading answers to the most popular 3 Card Poker questions are the best way to get ahead of your opponents.

What are Some Tips Playing 3 Card Poker?

The general guideline is you should ‘play’ all hands better than Queen, Six and Four. You should fold anything worse than those cards.

What is The Lowest House Edge Bet?

You immediately learn the Ante bet returns the lowest house edge when playing 3 Card Poker. As a result, placing solely Ante bets and staying away from the Pairs Plus betting options will help you optimize your wins when playing 3 Card Poker.

When do I Raise my Ante Bet?

Only raise your Ante bet when you have at least a Queen, Six, and a Four (or any higher value hand) when playing the Ante bet option in 3 Card Poker. Similarly, fold any card combinations with a lower value.

What are ‘Pairs Plus’ Bet Winnings?

Three Card Poker Tips And Tricks

Most casinos fluctuate their payouts when you win the Pairs Plus bet option in 3 Card Poker. In either case, it is always the highest payout. Keep in mind if you come across a site or casino who offers cheaper payouts for the Pairs Plus bet, then that game entraps players to make income for the dealer (or house).

How Much Money do I Need in Reserve?

You will forcibly fold a possible winning hand simply because you do not have enough cash to continue to play your cards. In order to avoid this, you need to have plenty of cash in your bankroll when you play the Ante bet option in online 3 Card Poker.

What if I Tie The Dealer’s 3 Card Hand?

How To Win In Three Card Poker

A tie is when both you and the dealer get the same hand combo value when playing the Ante Bet. As a result, each separate casino will have separate rules. In most cases, the casino classifies a tie in 3 Card Poker as a push. The best case scenario is when a casino looks at your tie (with an Ante Bet) as a win!

What are 3 Card Poker Tournament Strategies?

Three Card Poker Tips And Tricks For Beginners

The goal of a 3 Card Poker tournament is for you to win as much as you can in the shortest amount of time. Consequently, many players use a higher risk strategy when playing 3 Card Tournament Poker. At this point, the best thing to do is place Ante Bets solely. Next, figure out how many rounds you can play in the tournament with your amount of bankroll.

Get Excellent Playing Experience Free of Risk

One final 3 Card Poker playing tip is to set up your own mock table and play for FREE. Just Google search for a ‘3 Card Poker Table image’ enlarge it, and print it out. Finally, you can get an excellent understanding of how to play this game without risk and embarrassment. Once you get comfortable perfecting your greatest strategy, you can then start using your real money!


You’ve played classic poker, Texas Hold ‘Em, aces and eights, deuces wild, bonus deuces wild – to summarize, you’ve played a lot of poker, and you’re looking for something new. Or, maybe you’ve never played poker, don’t really understand the complicated hands, are intimidated by competing against other players, and want to ease your way into the game. Either way, you need a poker game that’s easy to learn, quick to play, and fun through-and-through. Look no further – tri-card poker is the game for you.

Check out these tips and tricks to get started playing a fun twist on a classic game, and you could be stacking up chips before you can count to three.

Know the rules

First things first, you need to know that the hierarchy of winning poker hands is different in tri-card poker versus classic poker. Because the odds of getting certain hands are different with three cards instead of five, the order of winning hands is different as well. From highest to lowest, the order of hands in tri-card poker is:

  • Straight flush
  • Three of a kind
  • Straight
  • Flush
  • Pair
  • High card

Secondly, you need to know that players in tri-card poker are competing against the dealer instead of one another – a way of playing that’s much closer to blackjack than classic poker. However, this way of playing poker is helpful for people who aren’t very good at reading their opponents or bluffing. It allows players to get comfortable with the hands and the gameplay before competing against other players at a classic poker table.

There are two modes of play for tri-card poker, and both of them are easy to learn. One is known as Ante and Play, while the other is known as Pair Plus. Some casinos make the Ante and the Pair Plus optional, but most casinos make the Ante mandatory. After all the Ante and Pair Plus wagers have been placed, the dealer and players are each dealt three cards. Players may look at their cards while the dealer’s remain facedown.

Players that have placed the Ante wager have the choice to either place a Play bet or fold. If they decide to play, they must place a bet that exactly matches their Ante bet – no more and no less. After players decide their course of action, hands are shown and wagers settled. Easy, peasy.

In the Pair Plus mode of play, players are betting on the poker value of their own hand. They place the Pair Plus bet before the cards are dealt, and only win money if they have a pair or better. The payout for Pair Plus wagers is decided by a pay scale, which is based on the hand a player possesses. Most commonly, a pair pays 1:1 while a straight flush pays 40:1. Whenever a player places a Pair Plus wager and has less than a pair, the player loses the bet.

In tri-card poker, it is possible to play both the Ante and Play option and the Pair Plus mode at the same time. A player can wager both the Ante and Play bets to start the game, and once the cards are dealt the player will know whether or not he has won at least one of his bets if he has a pair or better. Then the player can choose to fold his Ante bet or place a Play bet based on his cards.

Pay attention to payouts

In tri-card poker, if the dealer doesn’t possess a queen or higher, he doesn’t qualify to play. When a player places a Play bet and the dealer has only a jack or lower, the player wins an even amount on his Ante bet and the Play bet pushes.

However, if the dealer qualifies there are several different outcomes. If the player has the higher hand, both the Ante and Play bets are paid. If the player and dealer have the same hand, both bets will push. And if the player has the lower hand, he loses both his Ante and Play bets.

Interestingly, if the player makes the Ante bet and possesses a straight or better, he receives an Ante bonus. This is paid out no matter what the value of the dealer’s hand is.

What Is The Best Strategy For 3 Card Poker

Study basic strategy rules

Three Card Poker Tips And Tricks To Win

Like pretty much every card game available in the casino today, there is a strategy you should follow for tri-card poker that will give you the most bang for your buck and reduce the house edge to the lowest it can possibly go.

For the Ante and Play option, know when to fold and when to play your hand. The general rule is that whenever you have a combination of Queen-6-4 or better, place a Play bet. If you possess anything lower, fold. Here are more strategy rules that players should generally follow while playing:

  • Make the play bet whenever the high card is an Ace or a King, regardless of the value of your other two cards.
  • If your high card is a Queen and your second highest is a 7 or higher, bet.
  • If your high card is a Queen and your second highest is a 6, only play if the third card is a 4 or a 5.
  • Do not play a Queen-high hand if the second highest is a 6 and the third card is below a 4.
  • Fold your hand if it is a Queen and a 5 or anything lower, no matter what the value of the third card is.
  • Do not bet on a Jack-high hand or anything lower, no matter what your other cards are.

By following these rules, you’re cutting the house edge to the lowest it can get while playing the Ante and Play option of gameplay, hovering around 3.37 percent. However, if you want to cut it down as much as possible and make the game a seriously easy no-brainer, playing the Pair Plus option only brings the edge down to only 2.32 percent.

Three Card Poker Tips And Tricks Tips

So, now that you know the basics of tri-card poker, do you think you’re ready to try it out? Head over to Planet 7 Casino to play our video poker games for free before you play for real money – follow these tips and tricks and you could be tripling your bankroll as easy as one, two, three.