Three Card Poker rules

Key points

• You play one-on-one against the dealer with three-card hands. Place an Ante, look at your three cards, then Play (add a bet equal to the Ante) or Fold (lose the Ante).
• The hands are compared only when the dealer has queen high or better (the dealer qualifies). If not, the Ante wins 1 to 1 and the Play bet is returned.
• With three cards, a straight beats a flush, and three of a kind beats a straight.
• If you Play a straight or better, the Ante Bonus is paid whatever the dealer holds (straight 1, three of a kind 4, straight flush 5).
• The house edge with best play is about 3.37% per Ante (at a table with a 5-4-1 Ante Bonus).

How a hand goes

1. Place an Ante. Side bets such as Pair Plus are optional
2. You and the dealer each get three cards face down
3. Look at your three cards and choose Play (add a bet equal to the Ante on PLAY) or Fold (give up the Ante)
4. The dealer turns over three cards. With queen high (no pair, highest card a queen) or better the dealer qualifies and the hands are compared
5. Bets are settled

Example. You bet an Ante of 10 and get Q-7-3. You Play and add 10. If the dealer has J-9-4, the dealer does not qualify: your Ante of 10 wins and the Play bet of 10 is returned.

Hand ranks

Three-card hands rank differently from five-card poker: a straight beats a flush, and three of a kind beats a straight.

• Aces are high. A-2-3 is also a straight (the lowest), and A-K-Q is the highest
• Hands without a pair are compared card by card from the top. Q-7-3 beats Q-6-5
• With three cards a flush is more common than a straight (1,096 against 720), so the straight ranks higher

The dealer qualifies

Hands are only compared when the dealer has queen high or better.

Example. Q-3-2 qualifies. J-T-8 does not.

Payouts

• The Pair Plus pay table differs from casino to casino, and so does its house edge: about 6.75% on 40-25-5-4-1, and about 2.32% on the original 40-30-6-4-1.

Ante Bonus: if a played hand is a straight or better, it is paid whatever the dealer has.

Pair Plus: paid on your own three cards only. Tables differ, and 40-25-5-4-1 is now described as the standard (it used to be 40-30-6-4-1 only).

40-25-5-4-1 lists the payouts for a straight flush, three of a kind, a straight, a flush and a pair, in that order.

If you bet both Ante and Pair Plus and then fold, the Pair Plus is lost too.

Sources

Checked: 2026-09-29 (the date every page was confirmed to open)

• Wizard of Odds “Three Card Poker”
• Light & Wonder “Three Card Poker Training Manual” (enclosed in the Washington State Gambling Commission approval document)
• N.J.A.C. 13:69F-20.10