What is Three Card Poker?
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Three Card Poker is a casino table game where you’re dealt three cards and compete against the dealer’s three-card hand. You can also bet on the quality of your own hand regardless of what the dealer holds. It’s one of the most popular table games in both land-based and online casinos.
How the game works
You place an Ante bet and optionally a Pair Plus side bet before cards are dealt. Both you and the dealer receive three cards face down. You look at your hand and decide to either fold (losing the Ante) or Play (placing a Play bet equal to the Ante). The dealer needs at least queen-high to qualify. If the dealer doesn’t qualify, the Ante pays 1:1 and the Play bet pushes. If the dealer qualifies and you beat them, both bets pay 1:1 plus an Ante Bonus on strong hands.
Pair Plus side bet
Pair Plus pays based on the strength of your three-card hand regardless of whether you beat the dealer. A pair pays 1:1, a flush pays 4:1, a straight pays 6:1, three of a kind pays 30:1, and a straight flush pays 40:1. The house edge on Pair Plus is around 7% — higher than the main game but appealing for the potential payout on strong hands.
Ben Barber got into the gambling industry through the poker rooms of London in the early 2000s. After building up a solid grounding in casino, sports betting and poker, he made the move to Malta where he spent close to a decade writing for some of the biggest affiliate networks in the region. A few years ago he relocated to Bali, which shifted his focus toward website strategy and affiliate marketing. The casino side never really left, though. He still writes reviews, how-to guides and in-depth pieces on everything from slots and live dealer tables to crypto casinos and sweepstakes sites. His approach is fact-first: help players understand how online gambling actually works before they deposit a cent.