Ante up. Beat the dealer’s 3-card hand or fold. Optional Pair Plus side bet pays straight flush 40:1.
| Pair Plus | Ante Bonus |
|---|---|
| Straight Flush 40:1 | Straight Flush 5:1 |
| Three of a Kind 30:1 | Three of a Kind 4:1 |
| Straight 6:1 | Straight 1:1 |
| Flush 4:1 | — |
| Pair 1:1 | — |
| Optimal strategy: play any Q-6-4 or better, fold otherwise. Dealer qualifies with Q-high+. House edge ~3.4% on ante/play, ~7.3% on pair plus side bet. | |
Three Card Poker bundles two games: an "Ante + Play" hand against the dealer and an optional "Pair Plus" side bet. The combined house edge is moderate (3.37% on Ante/Play with the standard paytable; 2.32% on Pair Plus); the game's appeal is the fast pace, the clear paytable, and the bonus payouts for premium hands.
Place an Ante. Optionally place a Pair Plus side bet. You and the dealer each receive 3 cards. After looking at yours, fold (forfeit Ante and Pair Plus) or "play" (place an additional bet equal to Ante). The dealer must qualify with Queen-high or better. If the dealer doesn't qualify, Ante pays 1:1 and Play pushes. If the dealer qualifies, hands are compared and the better wins. Pair Plus pays regardless of dealer hand: Pair 1:1, Flush 3:1 or 4:1, Straight 6:1, Three of a Kind 30:1, Straight Flush 40:1 (paytable varies).
Play (raise) any hand of Queen-6-4 or higher; fold everything below. This is the simplest professional strategy in any casino game — one line. Pair Plus is a separate decision: at 1-3-6-30-40 paytable, the side bet has ~2.32% house edge — playable but not great. At "1-4-6-30-40" it improves to 2.14%. At any paytable where Flush pays 3:1, edge is around 7.28% — skip. Always check the paytable before placing Pair Plus.
Q-6-4 is the optimal cut because: above it, your hand wins enough vs the qualifying dealer to make the additional bet profitable; below it, folding caps your loss at the Ante. The math has been brute-force-checked against all 22,100 possible 3-card hand combinations; Q-6-4 is the exact break-even point.
Three Card Poker was invented by Derek Webb in the United Kingdom in 1994 and licensed to U.S. casinos in 1997. It's now one of the most-played table games on Las Vegas Strip floors, often outpacing blackjack at midnight peak.
| Bet | Payout | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Ante bonus — Straight | 1:1 | Pays even if dealer wins |
| Ante bonus — Three of a Kind | 4:1 | |
| Ante bonus — Straight Flush | 5:1 | |
| Pair Plus — Pair | 1:1 | ~1 in 4 |
| Pair Plus — Three of a Kind | 30:1 | ~1 in 425 |
| Pair Plus — Straight Flush | 40:1 | ~1 in 460 |
Every game on placebets.ai uses virtual chips that reset whenever you clear browser data. There is no signup, no deposit, no withdrawal mechanism, and no monetary value attached to the chips shown on screen. Use the practice environment to drill three card poker's math and strategy without risk. Decide for yourself whether you ever want to play for real money — we'd statistically rather you didn't.