What is Three Card Poker?
Three Card Poker is a casino table game that brings the excitement of poker to the casino room floor. In Three Card Poker, players try to make the best possible poker hands from three cards they’re been given, hoping to beat the dealer. There are special bonuses for making a very big hand, as well as a popular side bet called Pairplus that makes the best hands especially lucrative.
Three Card Poker may be an extremely popular game in casinos today, but it hasn’t always been around. In fact, Three Card Poker is one of the newest table games to hit the casino scene. It was invented in 1994 by Derek Webb, who also marketed the game under names like Brit-Brag and Casino Brag. By 2010, it had become the most popular proprietary casino table game in the world, having made more money for both the creator and casinos than any other such game.
What makes the game so popular?
Three Card Poker has a combination of simplicity, large payouts, and just a little bit of strategy, meaning that it’s exactly what most casino gamblers are looking for. It’s both a fun game, and one that (under the right pay table) has one of the lower house edges in the casino.
The simplicity of the game comes from the rules. Almost everyone knows how poker hands are ranked, so while the payouts take a little time to learn, it’s easy to know if you won or not – all you have to do is compare your hand to the dealer’s! There’s only one part that can trip up a new player here; unlike in most poker games, a straight actually outranks a flush in Three Card Poker.
When you win at Three Card Poker, the payout can be huge. On the regular ante bet, big hands pay a bonus that increases your winnings well beyond the normal even money payout. Straight flushes usually receive an additional 5-1 bonus on top of the money you get just for winning!
But the big wins don’t stop there. Most players also play the Pairplus game, which is even simpler than the ante bet. On this bet, the dealer doesn’t even matter; the only thing you have to worry about it whether or not your hand can make a pair or better! If it does, you’ll win based on the rank of your hand. Payouts range from even money for a pair, to as much as 40-1 or more for a straight flush!
Yet, despite how simple the game may sound, there is room for some strategy in Three Card Poker. After you look at your hand, you must choose whether to raise or fold. If you raise, you have to make a second bet just as large as your ante bet; if you fold, you lose immediately, but don’t risk a second bet in the process. While many players use different strategies to decide whether to raise or fold, it’s worth remembering that the best strategy for the player is to raise when you have Q64 or better, including any hand where you have a pair or better.
All of these factors make Three Card Poker one of the most popular gambling options in both brick and mortar and online casinos today. It has also spawned a number of variants, such as California Three Card Poker (played in some casinos near Los Angeles) and Prime Three Card Poker (available in the United Kingdom). Each of these games adds a slight twist to the game, but keeps the fundamental gameplay of Three Card Poker the same. With popularity at an all-time high, and new versions of the game also picking up steam, it’s a safe bet to say that Three Card Poker will be a mainstay at casinos for decades to come.