How to play Three Card Poker: the Ante, Play, Pair Plus and 6 Card Bonus bets, hand rankings and odds, the Q-6-4 strategy and the house edge of every common pay table.
Three Card Poker: Rules, Pay Tables, Strategy and House Edge
UltraGambler earns a commission if you sign up through some links on this page. It never changes our ratings. 18+. How we make money
Quick answer: Three Card Poker is a casino table game where you play three cards against the dealer’s three. You place an Ante, look at your cards, then either fold or make a Play bet equal to your Ante. The dealer needs a queen high or better to qualify. With the best strategy (play Q-6-4 or better, fold anything worse), the Ante and Play bets carry a house edge of 3.37%. The optional Pair Plus bet ranges from 2.32% to 7.28% depending on the pay table, so check it before you sit down.
| Three Card Poker at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Cards | One 52-card deck |
| Main bets | Ante, then Play (equal to the Ante) or fold |
| Side bets | Pair Plus and 6 Card Bonus (optional) |
| Dealer qualifies with | Queen high or better |
| Best strategy | Play Q-6-4 or better, fold worse |
| House edge, Ante and Play | 3.37% of the Ante (2.01% of everything you bet) |
| House edge, Pair Plus | 2.32% to 7.28%, depending on the pay table |
| Invented | By Derek Webb in 1994; now owned by Light & Wonder |
How to play Three Card Poker
- Place your Ante. You can also add a Pair Plus or 6 Card Bonus bet if the table offers them.
- Look at your three cards. The dealer gets three cards face down.
- Fold or play. Fold and you lose your Ante. Play and you put down a Play bet equal to your Ante.
- The dealer reveals. If the dealer doesn’t have a queen high or better, your Ante pays 1:1 and your Play bet is returned.
- Compare hands. If the dealer qualifies and you win, the Ante and Play both pay 1:1. If the dealer wins, you lose both. A tie returns both bets.
On top of that, a straight or better earns an Ante Bonus whatever the dealer holds, and the side bets are settled on your own cards.
Top-Rated Casinos
18+. T&Cs apply. Check that online gambling is legal where you live.
Three Card Poker hand rankings and odds
With only three cards, the order is different from normal poker: a straight beats a flush, and three of a kind beats a straight. That is because they are rarer. Of the 22,100 possible three-card hands:
| Hand (best first) | Example | Combinations | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 9-10-J of hearts | 48 | 0.22% |
| Three of a kind | 7-7-7 | 52 | 0.24% |
| Straight | 4-5-6, mixed suits | 720 | 3.26% |
| Flush | 2-8-K, all clubs | 1,096 | 4.96% |
| Pair | Q-Q-5 | 3,744 | 16.94% |
| High card | A-9-4, mixed suits | 16,440 | 74.39% |
So about one hand in four (25.6%) is a pair or better. For the five-card order used in most other poker games, see our poker hand rankings.
How does Three Card Poker pay?
The Ante and Play bets pay even money, and the dealer’s qualifying hand decides what happens to the Play bet:
| Result | Ante | Play |
|---|---|---|
| You fold | Loses | No bet |
| Dealer doesn’t qualify | Pays 1:1 | Returned |
| Dealer qualifies, you win | Pays 1:1 | Pays 1:1 |
| Dealer qualifies, tie | Returned | Returned |
| Dealer qualifies and wins | Loses | Loses |
The Ante Bonus is paid on your Ante whatever the dealer has. The usual table pays 5:1 for a straight flush, 4:1 for three of a kind and 1:1 for a straight. Some casinos use lower 5-3-1 or 4-3-1 tables, which raise the house edge, so look for 5-4-1.
A worked example
You bet £10 Ante and £10 Pair Plus at a 1-4-6-30-40 table, and get 4-5-6 in mixed suits: a straight. You play, adding a £10 Play bet. The dealer has K-J-3, so qualifies and loses. You win £10 on the Ante, £10 on the Play, £10 Ante Bonus (1:1) and £60 on Pair Plus (6:1): £90 profit on £30 staked. If the dealer had shown only J-9-2, the Play bet would have been returned, but the Ante, Ante Bonus and Pair Plus would still pay: £80 profit.
When should you fold in Three Card Poker?
Fold any hand worse than queen-6-4. Play everything else. In practice that means:
- Always play a pair or better, and any hand with an ace or a king.
- Queen-high hands: play Q-6-4, Q-6-5, Q-7-x and higher; fold Q-6-3, Q-5-4 and lower.
- Fold jack high or lower.
With this strategy the Ante and Play bets lose 3.37% of your Ante over time. Because you often add a Play bet, that works out at 2.01% of all the money you put on the table (the “element of risk”). No strategy changes the side bets, which are settled on your cards alone.
Pair Plus pay tables and house edge
Pair Plus pays if your three cards make a pair or better, whatever the dealer has. Casinos choose from several pay tables, and the difference is big:
| Pair | Flush | Straight | Three of a kind | Straight flush | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1:1 | 4:1 | 6:1 | 30:1 | 40:1 | 2.32% |
| 1:1 | 4:1 | 6:1 | 25:1 | 40:1 | 3.49% |
| 1:1 | 4:1 | 5:1 | 30:1 | 40:1 | 5.57% |
| 1:1 | 3:1 | 6:1 | 30:1 | 40:1 | 7.28% |
Only the full 1-4-6-30-40 table keeps the house edge below 3%. A flush paying 3:1 instead of 4:1 more than triples the house edge.
6 Card Bonus pay tables
The 6 Card Bonus makes the best five-card poker hand from your three cards and the dealer’s three. It pays from three of a kind up to 1,000:1 for a royal flush, but its house edge is much higher than the main game:
| Royal flush | Straight flush | Four of a kind | Full house | Flush | Straight | Three of a kind | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1,000:1 | 200:1 | 100:1 | 20:1 | 15:1 | 10:1 | 7:1 | 8.56% |
| 1,000:1 | 200:1 | 50:1 | 25:1 | 20:1 | 10:1 | 5:1 | 10.22% |
| 1,000:1 | 200:1 | 50:1 | 25:1 | 15:1 | 10:1 | 5:1 | 15.28% |
Even the best of these keeps more than 8% of what you bet, so treat it as an occasional bit of fun, not part of your strategy.
Is Three Card Poker a good bet?
It is a mid-range game. The Ante and Play bets (3.37%) cost more than blackjack with basic strategy or the Banker bet in baccarat, but a full-pay Pair Plus (2.32%) is good value, and the game is quick to learn. It is cheaper than Caribbean Stud Poker (5.22%) and Let It Ride (3.51%) but dearer than Pai Gow Poker (1.46%) or Ultimate Texas Hold’em (about 2.19% of the Ante). Our list of casino games with the lowest house edge compares them all. Three Card Poker is a different game from 3 Card Rummy, where the lowest point total wins.
No betting system changes these numbers, and a run of folds doesn’t make a good hand “due”; see the gambler’s fallacy.
Who invented Three Card Poker?
Derek Webb invented the game in the UK in 1994 and marketed it through his company Prime Table Games. Shuffle Master bought the rights in 1999. Shuffle Master (later SHFL Entertainment) was bought by Bally Technologies in 2013, Bally by Scientific Games in 2014, and Scientific Games renamed itself Light & Wonder in 2022, which owns the game today.
Where to play Three Card Poker online
Online, look for Three Card Poker in a casino’s table-games or live-dealer lobby; see our guide to live dealer casinos. Our top-rated casino, 1win (9.9/10), has large table-game and live lobbies; search them for Three Card Poker, and use the promo code Ultragambler if you sign up. Check the Pair Plus pay table in the game rules before you bet. Online gambling isn’t legal everywhere, so check your local laws first, and set a limit with our gambling budget calculator.
Play table games at 1win
18+. New players only. T&Cs apply.
How we checked this
- Rules, dealer qualifying and payouts: the Wizard of Odds, the Maryland regulator’s rules and Pagat.
- Hand combinations and odds: the Wizard of Odds and Wikipedia.
- Q-6-4 strategy, the 3.37% house edge and 2.01% element of risk: the Wizard of Odds, Pagat and the Las Vegas Advisor.
- Pair Plus and 6 Card Bonus pay tables and house edges: the Wizard of Odds, the Las Vegas Advisor and the manufacturer’s rules filed with the Washington State Gambling Commission.
- History: Wikipedia, the Las Vegas Sun (1999) and Pagat. The worked example is our own maths.
Figures last checked: 9 October 2026. If gambling stops being fun, our responsible gambling guide lists ways to get help.
Three Card Poker FAQs
What is the best strategy for Three Card Poker?
Play any hand of queen-6-4 or better and fold anything worse. That keeps the house edge on the Ante and Play bets at 3.37%.
Does a straight beat a flush in Three Card Poker?
Yes. With three cards there are 720 straights but 1,096 flushes, so the straight is rarer and ranks higher.
What does the dealer need to qualify?
A queen high or better. If the dealer doesn’t qualify, your Ante pays 1:1 and your Play bet is returned.
Is Pair Plus a good bet?
Only at the full 1-4-6-30-40 pay table, where the house edge is 2.32%. At 1-3-6-30-40 it rises to 7.28%.
What is the house edge in Three Card Poker?
3.37% on the Ante and Play bets with the best strategy, 2.32% to 7.28% on Pair Plus, and 8.56% or more on the 6 Card Bonus.
Top Online Casinos
18+. T&Cs apply. Check that online gambling is legal where you live.
