Three Card Poker
Three Card Poker, also known as tri-card poker, is the American version of the British game called Brag. Brag is a fast-moving betting game using only three cards. It started over three hundred years ago as a game known as Primero.
As Brag evolved, it became known as Post-and-Pair. This game made it to the United States and was named Casino Brag and Brit-Brag. Eventually the game evolved to what is known today as Three Card Poker.
To start a Three Card Poker Game, the player places an ante bet before receiving his cards. The player is then dealt his cards and after seeing them, the player can fold his cards and lose the ante bet, or make a raise by placing out a bet of equal money to the ante bet.
If the player chooses to make a raise, there are three possibilities. The first is that the dealer does not "qualify". The ante bet is paid out even money, but the play bet is simply returned. To "qualify", the dealer must have a Queen high hand or better.
The second is that the player's hand is of higher value than the dealer's. The player then gets paid out even money on both his ante and play bets.
The third is that the dealer's hand is of higher value. The dealer then takes the player's Ante and Play bets.
A 3 of a kind hand is normally paid 4:1. There are roughly 22,100 ways to draw 3 cards out of a 52 card deck. The following table shows the probabilities of drawing each poker hand.
| Hand | Combinations | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Straight Flush | 48 | 0.22% |
| Three of a kind | 52 | 0.24% |
| Straight | 720 | 3.26% |
| Flush | 1096 | 4.96% |
| Pair | 3744 | 16.94% |
| High card | 9720 | 43.98% |