Three Card Poker Online | Free 3 Card Poker Games |
Most of the time new casino games are nothing more than variants of more traditional gambling games. New poker variants spring up almost constantly, especially now that poker has become such a significant part of the national zeitgeist. Three card poker, like Caribbean Stud and Let It Ride, has made a place for itself in the casinos around the world. Lots of games don’t make it, but three card poker, with its fast play, easy rules, and relatively low house edge (2% to 4%), is definitely a casino game success story worth telling. Three Card Poker is also sometimes called Tri-card poker, or Tricard poker.
Three Card Poker is actually 2 games in 1. One game is called Ante/Play and the other Pair Plus. Three card poker, both online and offline, use standard poker hand rankings with a couple of exceptions. For one thing, a three of a kind beats a flush and a straight, and a 3 card straight beats a 3 card flush. You get to choose whether you want to play Pair Plus, which is similar to Let It Ride and involves no competition with the dealer or other players, or you can play Ante/Play, which, like Caribbean Stud, involves competing against the dealer. You also have the option of playing both!
The Pair Plus game is amazing simple, almost as simple as playing a slot machine. Neither game involves any skill at all. Pair Plus hands just pay out based on what kind of three card poker hand you receive, according to the following pay schedule:
- Straight Flush pays 40 to 1
- Three of a Kind pays 30 to 1
- Straight pays 6 to 1
- Flush pays 4 to 1
- Pair pays even money
In Ante/Play, your cards are compared with the dealer’s hand. After you see your cards, you can either place an additional “Play” bet, or you can fold and lose your original bet, the “Ante”.
The dealer turns over his cards after everyone at the table looks at their cards and makes their decisions. She must have a queen or higher in order to “qualify”. If the dealer does NOT qualify, then all Ante bets are paid out at even money. Play bets get returned, and they deal another hand.
If the dealer DOES qualify, the player’s hand gets paid off 1 to 1 for both the Ante and the Play bets, IF the player has the better hand. If the dealer has a better hand, the player loses both the Ante and the Play bets. There are also bonus payouts for big hands, and these bonuses get paid even if the dealer doesn’t qualify, and even if the dealer wins the hand. These are paid out as follows:
- Straight flush pays 5 to 1
- Three of a kind pays 4 to 1
- Straight pays 1 to 1
Three card poker is a fast game, and it’s fun to play. It’s not the best bet in the casino from a house edge perspective, but compared to some of its “cousins” like Caribbean Poker and Let It Ride, it’s pretty doggone good indeed. You’re not going to make a professional three card poker player, but you can have a lot of fun playing it, if you understand the rules and don’t have big expectations of winning tons of money.
Kiwi Casino offers a version of three card poker that’s called “poker three”, but this is definitely the same game. Give Kiwi Casino a try, by the way. They have great software, fair payouts, and an excellent customer service team.
Be sure to visit our free three card poker tips page, which is part of our free gambling tips collection.
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