Three Card Poker is a casino table game where you compare three-card hands with the dealer, one on one. You don’t play against the other players.
Play Q-6-4 or better and fold anything lower. This rule is optimal play whatever the Pair Plus pay table.
How a hand runs
- Put out the ante. Side bets such as Pair Plus are optional
- You and the dealer each get three cards face down
- Look at your three cards and choose Play (add a bet equal to the ante) or Fold (give up and lose the ante)
- The dealer turns over three cards. With queen high or better, the dealer qualifies and the hands are compared
| Dealer | Ante | Play |
|---|---|---|
| Doesn’t qualify (jack high or lower) | Wins 1 to 1 | Pushes |
| Qualifies, you are higher | Wins 1 to 1 | Wins 1 to 1 |
| Qualifies, the dealer is higher | Loses | Loses |
| Qualifies, a tie | Pushes | Pushes |
Three-card hands rank differently from five-card poker: a straight beats a flush, and three of a kind beats a straight. With three cards, a flush is more common (1,096 combinations against 720).
The full rules are in the rules guide, “Three Card Poker”.
How to decide between Play and Fold
Three steps.
- Play any pair or better (including flushes and straights)
- If the top card is an ace or king, play. Jack high or lower, fold
- If the top card is a queen, compare the second card with 6: 7 or higher, play; 5 or lower, fold. If it is a 6, compare the third card with 4 (4 or higher, play)
| Three cards | Decision |
|---|---|
| A pair or better | Play |
| Ace or king high | Play |
| Jack high or lower | Fold |
| Q-7-2 | Play |
| Q-6-4 | Play |
| Q-6-3 | Fold |
| Q-5-4 | Fold |
Why Q-6-4
Folding always loses the ante (1). If playing loses less than 1 on average, playing is the smaller loss.
- If the dealer doesn’t qualify, the ante of a hand that played wins. That is the main reason to play
- If the dealer qualifies, a weak hand loses both the ante and the play bet (2)
| Hand | Average result of Play (per ante) | Fold |
|---|---|---|
| Q-6-4 | −0.993 | −1 |
| Q-6-3 | −1.003 | −1 |
With Q-6-4, playing loses slightly less; with Q-6-3, folding does.
Just above and just below the line, the difference is under 0.01. The big losses come from playing jack high or lower, and from folding a pair or better.
Even with the rule, the house edge stays
The house edge is the share of your bets the casino keeps on average.
| How you play | House edge (per ante) |
|---|---|
| Play Q-6-4 or better | 3.37% |
| Copy the dealer (play queen high or better) | 3.45% |
| Play every hand | 7.65% |
Example. Ante 10 for 100 hands and you put 1,000 on the ante in total. The average loss is 33.7.
Per total amount bet, including the play bets (element of risk), it is 2.01%.
The 3.37% is for a table whose ante bonus (paid when a hand that played makes a straight or better, whatever the dealer holds) pays straight flush 5, three of a kind 4, straight 1. With 5-3-1 it is 3.61%; with 4-3-1, 3.83%. The Q-6-4 rule is the same with every table.
Pair Plus has no decision, but the pay table changes the cost
Pair Plus is a side bet paid on your own three cards only; the dealer’s hand doesn’t matter. There is no decision, so it doesn’t change when to play or fold.
If you have both the ante and Pair Plus out and fold, you lose the Pair Plus bet too. But hands below Q-6-4 have no pair or better, so folding by the rule never gives up a Pair Plus win.
Pay tables differ by casino.
| Hand | 40-30-6-4-1 | 40-25-5-4-1 | 40-30-6-3-1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 40 | 40 | 40 |
| Three of a kind | 30 | 25 | 30 |
| Straight | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Flush | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Pair | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| House edge | 2.32% | 6.75% | 7.28% |
Look at the three of a kind, straight and flush rows. 30, 6, 4 is 2.32%; 25, 5, 4 is 6.75%; 30, 6, 3 is 7.28%. The table varies by casino, and many tables pay 40-25-5-4-1.
Example. With 10 on Pair Plus, the average loss per hand is 0.23 on 40-30-6-4-1, 0.68 on 40-25-5-4-1 and 0.73 on 40-30-6-3-1.
The 6-Card Bonus (a side bet paid on the best five-card hand from your three cards and the dealer’s three) stays even if you fold. Its house edge is 8.56–15.28% depending on the pay table, higher than the 3.37% on the ante and play bets.
Common mistakes
- Playing jack high. If the dealer qualifies, you always lose. Fold
- Playing every queen high. Fold Q-5-x and Q-6-3 or lower
- Changing when to play because of Pair Plus. Pair Plus depends only on your own hand, so the rule stays the same
Practice in the app
In Casino Edge’s Table games, Three Card Poker shows a verdict and the EV of both choices after each Play or Fold decision while you play at the table. “Play or Fold” in Training deals more hands near Q-6-4. Choose the Pair Plus pay table from the game menu.