How to Play Three Card Poker: 7 Easy Steps

 This is an essential guide on strategies for 3 Card Poker play!

Poker remains one of the most versatile and intriguing casino games to play. No matter if you are playing poker in a brick-and-mortar casino or you've opted for an online or live casino, you are in for a fun ride. Almost all poker games, whether they are online or traditional, involve playing against opponents. In the 3 Card Poker game things are quite the opposite, here you are playing against the dealer or a pay table. What this means is that you shouldn't pay any vital attention to players' hands because the house has an edge built into the game's odds.

If you want to play 3 Card Poker at a classical casino, just find it in a table game pit right next to blackjack, roulette, or craps, and if you want to play 3 Card Poker online you need to find it in a menu of the game. Just like any other casino game, getting a relatively big payout in 3 Card Poker is possible, however, you need to get to the bottom of the rules and implement certain skills to top up your game. Hence, here are some of the easy steps you can try [3] out to upscale your 3 Card Poker game in a live, online, or traditional casino.

1. Learn the basic rules

The first thing to note is that 3 Card Poker is a three-card poker game that implies player-dealer relation. Here you are dealt with your cards and the dealer's cards are face down. Later, you can choose to see your cards and continue to play by matching your first bet that was indicated by placing more chips on top of your cards, but also you may choose to fold and leave the game. The pivotal thing to remember is that there are no exchanging or drawing cards like “hits” which you have in other games. All in all, it’s important to learn 3 Card Poker rules [4] to master the game with ease.

2. Know the hand rankings

If you wish to win in 3 Card Poker you need to have in your hand the highest poker-ranked cards. It’s of utmost importance to know that 3 Card Poker rankings are somehow different from standard poker. This means that in 3 Card Poker straights outrank flushes. All suits of cards have to have the same rank, and hands of cards would rank, from highest to lowest, in this way:

   

4. Understand the betting scheme

To place wagers in 3 Card poker you simply need to place your gaming chips on the righteous betting area of the poker table and know the table minimum and maximum wagering limits. There are three betting options: Ante, Play, and Pair Plus.

• Ante Play: here you place a bet first before the cards are dealt (you're player-dealer your hand against the dealer)
• Play: once you see your hand, you can place an additional bet equal to the initial bet amount. In order to "Play" and place a bet here, you must keep your cards face down and the bet amount on top of them
• Pair Plus: this is an options bet which you can place alongside the Ante before the cards are dealt. The air here is to make a hand of a pair or between with your hand (the dealer's hand is not important for this bet).

Therefore, every player will need to place an Ante wager, afterwards on the 3 Card Poker table you would have the option to place a Play wager but only after inspecting their hand that needs to equal to the Ante wager [5].

5. Get the gist of the dealing process

In 3 Card Poker, three cards are dealt face-down to every player in the hand and the dealer. If you opt for the Ante Play betting option, the goal is to try to beat the dealer so the other players are unimportant. The dealer will wait for each player to place their Ante wager, the cards are shuffled and handed to the player to the left of the player-dealer position. Also what’s crucial to note is that the stack will always be delivered face-down.

6. Spice up your playing action

Once the players get their cards, the time has come to start the game. In 3 Card Poker, the players have the option of playing their hand or discarding it. When the player chooses to discard its hand, then the dealer wins the player's initial Ante. Next, if the player decides to keep playing, they must follow the Play bet, and this bet amount has to match the Ante that the player used at the start of the game.

7. Get your winnings and payouts

The final step in the game would be for the dealer to reveal player cards, followed by their own. If you were to play at an online or live casino [6], this would be done automatically when all play or fold decisions are completed. If the player’s hand clarifies for payouts, the player-dealer can collect the Bonus/Pair Plus wager. Your Pair Plus wager pay would go like this:

Most casinos offer payouts for the Ante Bonus might look something like this but are subject to different payout structures:

Bear in mind that every casino is different, and most likely would have different house rules. For that matter, it's essential to inspect the house rules, especially if you are playing in an online casino, and know what's at stake for you before you embark on any entertaining casino game.