Three Card Poker Basics

Three card Poker is a fast paced game which is easy to learn for the novice card player.

This game is played with a 52 card deck and is played between a dealer and a single player.

The player and dealer are each dealt 3 cards which are placed face down. The object of the game is for you to get a higher three card poker hand than the dealer. An important rule that people must remember when playing three card poker is regarding the hand ranks.
In three card poker a straight is higher than a flush because there are fewer ways to make a 3 card straight than a 3 card flush.

There is little strategy and absolutely no bluffing involved in this game, which is why I said at the beginning that it is a game for the beginner. The main decision in this game comes when the player first looks at the cards he is dealt. Here he must decide whether to fold or to raise.
In three card poker a raise means you are paying to see the dealer's cards.

The minimum hand you must have before raising is at least an ace high with either a king or queen, otherwise one should fold. There is a twist in this form of poker though, whereby the dealer can have a higher three card poker hand than you and still lose the game. It works as follows, the dealer must have a queen high hand or better, or his hand does not count for the game.
So theoretically if you are dealt a hand with just a ten in it you could still win the hand. For this twist to happen though, you will have to raise the dealer, so think carefully before raising with a weak hand.

Stanley Majors is an experienced online poker journalist who writes articles on a range of poker topics.

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Stanley Majors