Three Card Poker Strategy
You may have been told that there is no strategy involved in playing Three Card Poker – it’s just pure luck. Not exactly true. As always - with every game you play in a casino - the key to winning more lies in the way you leverage your bets.
When it comes to Three Card Poker, I prefer to play at a table that offers the 6 Card Bonus option. Most do, but not all.
The payouts shown on this page are common but may vary.
For example, most casinos have lowered Flush payouts for PAIR PLUS
wagers to 3-1 from 4-1, so that's what we show below. Double check the pay
tables wherever you are so that you're fully aware of what you're getting
yourself into.
The most reliable key to winning big when playing Three
Card Poker is the PAIR PLUS wager, which returns the following:
|
HAND |
PAYOUT |
|
Straight Flush |
40 - 1 |
|
Three-of-a-Kind |
30 - 1 |
|
Straight |
6 -1 |
|
Flush |
3- 1 |
|
Pair |
1 - 1 |
As an example, a Straight Flush will pay $200 for a $5
wager.
Know your minimums: Off-strip casinos usually require a $5
minimum wager while strip casinos or larger off-strip resorts average $10-15
but can certainly go higher. That's for the ANTE. PAIR PLUS, 6 Card, and Progressive side bet
minimums can vary, but the most common options are PAIR PLUS $5 and up, 6
Card $1-100, and Progressive - usually one dollar but occasionally
$5.
Note the ANTE payoffs below - decent returns
for Three-of-a-Kind or a Straight Flush but not to your maximum
advantage. When it comes down to it, we're gambling, right? Keeping that
in mind, side bets are where the real money is, but they can quickly drain your
bank if you don't offset them with a slightly larger ANTE bet. Remember, we’re
trying to leverage our bets to get the absolute most for our money.
Ante Bonus:
|
HAND |
PAYOUT |
|
Straight Flush |
5 - 1 |
|
Three-of-a-Kind |
4 - 1 |
|
Straight |
1 - 1 |
Some call the 6 Card Bonus wager a sucker bet, but I
feel like a sucker if I don’t play it. My bacon has been saved by the 6
Card Bonus more times than I can count.
Same goes with the progressive if offered. PLAY IT.
I was sitting at a TCP table at the Rio years ago when
Caesar's ran it. They offered a $100,000 payoff for a SIX Card Royal
(9-10-J-Q-K-A), upping that to a million bucks if the hand showed up in
diamonds. A lady next to me said she refused to play any side bet, calling them
rip-offs. She hit one of those hands a few minutes later. I don't recall what
the suit was, but she would have won at least $100 grand. I think it was
diamonds. All I remember for sure is the color drained from her face, and she
darted out of there without the money she would have won if not for her
stubborn ways. That's a story you don't want to tell your grandkids.
Minimums for the 6 Card Bonus wager can start as low
as $1, but many houses require a $5 minimum. They usually cap the bet at five
times the minimum. That tells me that there is added value in that wager for
players, or higher minimums would be permitted. As always, rules may vary by
casino.
Interesting fact: Generally, in TCP, a straight beats
a flush, but when it comes to 6 Card Bonus payouts, a flush beats
a straight, as is the case in regular poker.
6 Card Bonus Pay Table:
|
HAND |
PAYOUT |
|
Royal Flush |
1000 - 1 |
|
Straight Flush |
200 - 1 |
|
Four-of-a-Kind |
50 - 1 |
|
Full House |
25 - 1 |
|
Flush |
15 - 1 |
|
Straight |
10 - 1 |
|
Three-of-a-Kind |
5 - 1 |
ORIGINAL WAGER IS NOT RETURNED
They’re keeping that chip no matter what.
Progressive payouts apply to players hand only – not the 6 Card Bonus in combination with the dealer. Again, specific payouts may vary from one casino to another.
 |
My general preferences when I play:
$5-10 on PAIR PLUS, $5-15 on ANTE, $5 on 6
Card Bonus, and $1 on the Progressive button. Total initial
outlay: $26-31. That increases by the ANTE amount if I decide to PLAY the
hand. This is just one example.
Before the game gets fully under way, I have a decision to
make - look at my cards before I bet or play “blind”.
If I look at the cards, I can decide whether I think the
hand is strong enough to place a PLAY bet to back up my ANTE wager.
The PLAY wager must equal the ANTE wager. The dealer needs a
Queen or higher to qualify, or their hand is dead. If the dealer doesn’t show
at least a Queen, they don’t win, nor do they pay your PLAY wager. They
pay ANTE but PLAY is a push.
To play “blind” means I place the PLAY wager in
advance - again, the PLAY wager must equal the ANTE amount - the
dealer tucks my cards under or next to my chips, and I don’t look at them. This
is a good move to make if you don’t trust yourself to make the right
decision – to play or to fold - after you see the cards. Chances are the
dealer will not qualify. To stay in with a lousy hand or to play
blind is to risk your PLAY wager and take a chance the dealer won’t
qualify, or just go ahead and toss in all your chips right away. You may still
win if you played the 6 Card Bonus option, so its not yet a total loss.
The dealer needs at least a Q-2-2 to play, and you need at
least a Q-3-2 to beat that. In which case, you’d be paid for your ANTE
and PLAY wagers, but nothing else. You will often hear other players
(dealers, too) say that the general rule is to "stay in with Q-8 or
higher". I usually play with any Queen led hand.
With a $10 PAIR PLUS bet, $5 each on ANTE and PLAY, $5 on 6
Card Bonus and $1 Progressive, if your "less than a pair" hand
beats the dealers qualified hand – say an Ace-10-9 to the dealers Ace-10-8 (we
see these squeakers often), you would win technically – but would still be
down that round. You’d lose the $10 Pair Plus bet, win $5 for your ANTE
and $5 on your PLAY bet, while losing the 6 Card Bonus and Progressive
bets. Total loss for the round: $6.
If you had bet $10 on PAIR PLUS, ANTE, and PLAY,
you would be up $4. You would lose the PAIR PLUS bet, the 6
Card Bonus & Progressive, but you would win $10 each on ANTE and
PLAY. Do the math. If you find that I have made an error, please let me
know. (I'm writing this late at night by candlelight using only an abacus for
calculations, so I could be off a tad).
If the dealer had not qualified that round and you stayed in
with less than a pair, they would sweep away your side bets, pay the ANTE,
and the PLAY wager would push. Another loss of $6.
With that $6 loss in mind, it really is ideal to
wager a little more on ANTE than on PAIR PLUS. If you bet $5 on PAIR
PLUS, then make it $10 on ANTE, and so on up the ladder. Most of the
time you won't have a pair or better, so the dealer will take that bet. Quite
often, you WILL beat the dealer but without a pair. In that case, with your
larger ANTE bet, you will come out ahead by at least one chip. If your
bank is small this can quickly add up, as you must match your ANTE if
you decide to PLAY your hand.
In any case, the 6 Card Bonus option really helps.
Whether you fold or not, you have a chance at redemption if, say, the dealer
has any pair and one of your otherwise useless cards makes it a Three-of-a-Kind
- paying you 5-1. If you have two Hearts and a Club in an otherwise useless hand
and the dealer turns up a Heart flush – BAM! You also have a Heart flush with
two of your Cards. Pays you 20-1. And so on.
The Wizard of Odds will tell you to avoid PAIR PLUS,
because the house edge is lower on the ANTE and PLAY bets.
Technically true, but you’ll never win any meaningful jackpots that way, UNLESS
you land the Progressive jackpot, assuming there is one, or a major 6 Card
Bonus hand, like a Royal or straight flush. As of this writing, in Southern
Nevada, by way of example (because I play at these casinos the most), South
Point does not offer the 6 Card Bonus option, and M Resort
does not offer the Progressive. Check with your local casino and let us
know what you find or of any changes you notice where you play. Don't be afraid
to ask dealers, pit bosses, floor persons to explain a game to you - in
particular how THEY play it. It may be entirely different than what you're used
to.
Bottom line: Place the 6 Card Bonus and Progressive
bets, if available, every single time! It's MUCH better to play them and
not win, than for one of those to hit when you hadn't placed the wager. People
make interesting faces and say funny words when they learn they missed a big
payoff. You don't want to be in that boat.
UPDATE: A growing trend in some casinos is to offer a
different version of Three Card Poker than what many of us have grown
accustomed to. I was told that it was created to avoid paying royalties to the
originator of the game. Maybe,
but there's more to it than that. Longer odds, anyone?
In this version, the Progressive bet is paid only on a hand
featuring an entirely different set of two "community" cards dealt to
the side of the dealer's original cards, together with the players three cards.
The minimum bet here may be more than the $1 Progressives we're accustomed
to. There is no 6 Card Bonus, and they call the wager we know as PAIR PLUS
the "PLAYER BONUS".
Squares where the two side cards would be placed are
highlighted in the box below. The final two cards are revealed only after every
other card has been turned face up.
I am NOT a fan of this game. The payoffs can be high, but the odds are longer than ever. If you've played it, what do you think? Maybe you'll change my mind.
Alternate Three Card Poker Progressive Payouts
The Progressive meter above is not like others that pay
based on your original three cards. The payoffs only materialize for hands
consisting of your original three cards and two extra cards dealt to the side
of the dealer's three cards. The dealer's cards do not come into play.
Below is video of a Three Card Poker "Mini
Royal" win, consisting of the A-K-Q of Hearts. (Spades would have paid the
top Progressive jackpot, which varies).
Let's break down the payoffs:
$10 Straight Flush wager (40-1) = $400
$1 Progressive wager (500-1) = $500
$5 6-Card Bonus wager for the 5 card straight (10-1) =
$50
$5 Ante bonus (5-1) = $25
TOTAL WIN = $975
UPDATE: A few months later THIS happened. On Valentines Day, no less:
Thanks for reading and for watching.
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