Three Card Poker, as the name implies, is a casino game where players are dealt three cards which forms a player’s poker hand. The best hand is a straight flush, then three of a kind, straight, flush, pair, and the worst hand is high card. There are also two different betting styles in three card poker, and you can bet in one or both of them.
Pairplus
The pairplus betting style for Three Card Poker is extremely simple. The player makes a bet, and then receives their hand. If they have a pair or better, they win. Below is a sample payout table for pairplus.
| Qualifying Hand | Payout |
| Straight Flush | 40 to 1 |
| Three of a Kind | 30 to 1 |
| Straight | 6 to 1 |
| Flush | 4 to 1 |
| Pair | 1 to 1 |
Ante and Play
In the Ante and Play betting style, the players face off against the dealer. The player makes an ante bet, and then receives their cards. The player then decides if they want to make a play bet. If the player folds, they will lose their ante and their pairplus bet if they made one. In all likelihood, the player will only fold if they cannot make a hand that will payout in pairplus, so losing the pairplus bet doesn’t matter. There are four possible outcomes if a player does make a play bet.
- The dealer doesn’t qualify, and the player wins even money on their ante bet and takes back their play bet.
- The dealer qualifies and the player wins, in which case the player will win even money on both the ante and play bets.
- The dealer qualifies and beats the player. The player loses both bets.
- The dealer qualifies and ties the player. Depending on the casino, the player can take their bets back or win outright.
Ante Bonus
Also during ante and play style, there is a bonus that is applied to the ante bet if the player has a very strong hand, such as a straight, a three of a kind, or a straight flush. The dealer’s hand doesn’t matter for this bonus, in fact, the player could be beaten by the dealer and still collect on the bonus. A sample Ante Bonus payout table is below.
Three Card Poker Strategy
There is no strategy for pairplus, as there are no choices for the player to make in that style of play. For Ante and Play style, the strategy is to make a play bet if you have queen high or higher, which is the dealer’s qualifying hand. However, a lot of experienced Three Card Poker players prefer to only make the play bet with queen high if they also have another good card in their hand, such as an 8 or better. This is to make it more likely for them to beat the dealer if the dealer qualifies.
Where to Play Three Card Poker
Most online casinos offer three card poker, so finding a place to play three card poker is just a matter of choosing an online casino that you like. We have reviews of Mac casinos to help you through this decision process. Here are some of my favorite ones:
