How to play a three-card poker
Three-card poker is a relatively young gambling option, which was originated only in 1994, where the process of the play is done between the player(s) and casino. Players do not compete with one another. Despite being young, some online casinos like Fastpay and Instantpay already offer you to play 3 card poker online.
Ante & betting
The three card poker free play presumes a pristine bet before a gambler sees cards. It’s a sort of payment for the allowance to enter into play. This initial bet is called ‘Ante’ (as a seeming variation of word ‘entre’, which’s ‘come in’, thus, an entrance fee).
When ante is done, a croupier gives all present gamblers 3 cards & takes three to him.
Next, there are possible 6 combination types: Straight flush (which is 3 suited cards in sequence), Three of a Kind, which is 3 cards of the same rank, Straight, which is 3 cards in sequence, Flush (3 suited cards), a Pair (2 cards being of the same rank) & High Card – the rest of possible combinations. Altogether, they make 100% of probability of the occurrence.
The gambler may make an additional bet – also before receiving cards on hands – that a certain combination or higher is going to be handed to him. This bet is called a ‘pairplus’ and it signifies that at least a pair will be received.
Also, when cards are received, an additional bet can be made, a cull, otherwise named simply as a bet, that a combination of cards a player has would be better than the one the casino has.
Three-card poker rating of hands
Three card poker hand rankings define how much money a player can receive.
There are the following occurrences (first number) and chances to win (in ante and pairplus: second & third number, respectively):
- Straight flush (0.22%/4 to 1/40 to 1)
- Three of a Kind (0.24%/3 to 1/20 to 1)
- Straight (3.26%/1 to 1/5 to 1)
- 3 card poker Flush (4.96%/no/4 to 1)
- Pair (16.94%/no/1 to 1)
- High Card (74.39%/no/no).
When the bet is also made, then additional winning is paid 1 to 1.
As a rule, all bets – ante, bet & pairplus – are made equal; no more, no less than ante.
The strategy in three-card poker
After ante bet is made and cards are received in live 3 card poker, a player looks at the cards and, if there is a High Card combination, then he loses. If there is any other combination and he did the pairplus bet, he may immediately show cards to collect a winning. If he has Straight, Three of a Kind, or Straight Flush, he may make a bet, otherwise, it would be wise to drop cards and make the money bet go to the casino. After this bet, he and a croupier open cards and define, whose combination is better. If a croupier wins, the money is taken by the casino, otherwise, if a gambler wins, he receives 1 to 1, 3 to 1, or 4 to 1 winning. Also, if a croupier sees that there is no winning combination in his cards, a player wins and receives money according to wager of bets made before.
You can play 3 card poker online real money, as there are 25.61% chances of winning if you bet at least pairplus all the time. An interesting wager of won money makes it exciting for you to play three card poker pair plus.
Now, what about the winning strategy?
As you can see, in this variation of the game, a player and casino cannot switch cards that they get. So, it makes it a game of luck. Still, you can count cards hoping for a nice combination to arrive. Also, if you are going to make bets when you receive a strong card combination, this will lower the benefit of the casino to 3.37%, whilst we all know that RTP of about 96.63% is a very promising return to player to begin to play in the first place.