Lost City Poker Angels Rotating Header Image

Three Card Poker Rules

Three card poker is an excellent casino game where the player plays against the house. Since it’s a house game they obviously have the advantage against you, but this doesn’t mean you can’t win money playing the game. The objective of the game is to be able to beat the dealer’s three card poker hand, but there are some other rules you need to learn as well which we’ll look at.

To start the FullTiltPoker com game you need to put out an ante bet which is usually $10 minimum and $300 maximum. Once you place your ante bet out the dealer will deal you three cards and themselves three cards face down. You can then look at your hand and decide whether or not you think you have a chance at winning. If you think you’re going to win then you need to make another bet which is the same size of your ante bet. If you don’t want to play the hand then you can fold and you’ll lose your ante bet.

If you make the second bet to go to the showdown against the dealer they will then flip there hand over to see what they have. The dealer needs at least a queen high in order for the second bet to qualify for payment. If the dealer’s hand doesn’t qualify then you will still be paid 1:1 on your ante bet and the second bet will be given back to you. If the dealer has a hand that does qualify then you will need to see if your hand beats there hand. If your hand wins then you get paid even money on both bets you made in the hand.

If you have a straight or better for your three card poker hand then you also get a bonus paid out to you. The amount you will get paid out for hands above a straight will vary between casinos, but it can definitely payout very nicely. There is also a bonus area you can play in three card poker which pays out whether you win or lose the hand. You will need at least a FullTiltPoker.net pair or better in order to win the bonus, but it’s definitely worth it to play the bonus slot.

The only downfall of three card poker is that when you have a good hand the dealer will typically not qualify which means you barely make any money unless you have been playing the bonus. If you aren’t going to be playing the bonus then you need to play another game because you’ll be hard pressed to make any profit without the bonus payments.

A good little strategy to use when you’re running badly on PokerStars.com is to pay the second bet on some hands to see if the dealer even qualifies. A lot of time the dealer won’t even qualify which means you could be getting paid 1:1 on your ante bet every time. Of course you risk that the dealer does qualify, but the odds are with you that the dealer won’t qualify which is why it’s a good risk.