Three Card Poker is an entertaining card game involving two independent bets: the Pair Plus bet and the Ante and Play bet. The player can choose to place a wager on either of them or even both of them before the dealer hands out the playing cards.

How to Play

The cards are dealt from a standard 52 card deck. The hands are ranked in a descending order, starting with Straight Flush as the highest value, then continuing with Three of a Kind, Flush, Pair and Nothing. You can see the Hand Ranking table for additional information.

Both the player and the dealer are dealt three cards to their hand.

Pair Plus

In the Pair Plus bet, everything that matters is the hand rank of the player’s hand. The dealer’s hand is out of the equation and has no impact on the game. The player wins the bet if he has a Pair or a better rank. The bet is lost if the player has Nothing at his hand.

The standard Pair Plus payout table is as follows:

Ante and Play

Before any cards are dealt, the player places a wager (Ante). When he/she has been dealt his hand of three cards, the player can choose to:

• Fold and lose his placed Ante bet

or

• Play and place a further wager that is equal to the initial Ante bet.

In case the player decides to play further, the dealer reveals his/her hand too. If the dealer has a Queen high or better, his/her hand qualifies. The following rank table gives insight into the result of comparing the player’s hand and the dealer’s hand if the dealer’s cards qualify:

If the player holds a Straight or better (Three of A Kind or Straight Flush), a bonus is paid. The bonus is tied to the Ante bet. In such a case, the dealer’s hand or whether the player wins or loses does not matter – a payout will be made so and so.

Bonus payouts in such cases might vary between casinos. You can find a typical payout table below:

Information on hand rankings

(sorted in descending order from highest ranking to lowest ranking)

 Straight Flush

Three cards in sequence of the same suit. An Ace can be counted as either high or low, depending on the player’s preference. Ties are broken by the highest ranking card in the hand.

Exception: 3 is used whenever there is a 3, 2, Ace Straight Flush sequence.

Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank. Ties are broken by the rank of the three cards.

Straight

Three cards in sequence. Ties once again are broken by the highest ranking card in the hand. The only exception once again is the 3, 2, Ace sequence, where 3 is used as the highest ranking card.

Flush

Three cards of the same suit. Ties are broken by the rank of the highest card. If there is still a tie, the rank of the second highest card will be applicable. In case a tie still persists, the rank of the third card will be applicable.

Pair

Two cards of the same rank and a third card of a different rank. Ties are broken by the rank of the paired cards. If there is still a tie, the rank of the unpaired card will be applicable.

Nothing

Three cards that are of different rank, suit and lack any sequence. In other words, Nothing is the weakest hand a player can have. Ties are broken by the rank of the highest card in the hand. If there is still a tie afterwards, the rank of the second highest card will be applicable. If the tie persists, the rank of the third card will be set in motion.