3 cards, 2 plays, 4 wins
... WOW!
19 May 2003
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
In a recent column, you mentioned a game called
Three Card Poker. I guess my questions are, what
is it and how do you play? Kerry D.
Three Card Poker, with the right paytable (ya
had better check out next week's column), is a
fast and exciting poker game that offers two
ways to play and four different ways to win. Got
that? The three-card format makes the game
quick, and darn easy to learn and play.
Three Card Poker is played on a Blackjack-style
table with a 52-card deck. Unlike the contest in
regular poker, Three Card poker players compete
against the dealer, or against a posted payout
schedule, not against other players (for
simplicity's sake, schedule = dealer).
In front of each player are three betting areas:
a Pair Plus circle, an Ante circle, and a Play
square. Players can either wager that their hand
will outrank dealer's hand, or they can wager
that their hand will consist of a pair or higher
(Pair Plus).
Betting on a pair is a simple matter of making a
Pair Plus wager. You know immediately whether
you have won in Pair Plus as soon as you scan
your hand. With Pair Plus, there is no raising
or discarding, and the dealer's cards don't
count for squat (oops! wife says not to use that
word). OK so they are immaterial. How's that?
Payoffs on Pair Plus wagers are made according
to this schedule, regardless of the dealer's
hand:
Straight flush: 40 to 1
Three of a kind: 30 to 1
Straight: 6 to 1
Flush: 4 to 1
Pair: Even money 1 to 1
Betting against the dealer's hand uses the Ante
circle. You put some money there, get your
cards, frown and smile, and then decide whether
to challenge. If YES, plop down some green in
the Play Square, equal to the amount you put on
Ante; or if NO, fold, losing your Ante as well
as any additional Pair Plus wager that you may
have made.
The fate of your Ante and Play wagers depends on
the dealer's cards. But there's a hitch‹lucky
for you! The dealer's cards have to "qualify"
with a Queen high or better. If your hand is
better than the dealer's, you win even money on
your Ante wager as well as on your Play wager.
If the dealer's cards do not qualify, you win
even money on your Ante wager, no matter how
terrible your cards are. Unfortunately in that
case, your Play wager is returned without a
payoff, even if you got a kick-butt hand. But
wait, there's more! as they shout in the
infomercials. If you call in the next twenty
minutes... hypnotic, isn't it?
If the dealer's hand fails to qualify or beats
your hand, you may still have a chance at vast
riches: A hand with a straight or better
qualifies for an Ante Bonus payoff. Ante Bonuses
are paid on the Ante wager, but not on the Play
wager, according to this scheme:
Straight: pays 1 to 1
Three-of-a-kind: pays 4 to 1
Straight flush: pays 5 to 1
The only playing decision involved in Three Card
Poker is whether to make the Play wager or fold.
As for strategy, it's as simple as Queen-6-4.
Anytime you have a Queen-6-4 or higher, follow
your Ante with a bet. If it's lower, FOLD. How
easy is that, Kerry?
On the surface, not only is the game easy, but
it also has a low house edge (2.01%). Yet, you
will want to read this rocket next week, as I
expose how the casino can pillage your pocket by
altering the payoff schedules in their favor.
"In their favor"? How odd.
Gambling quote of the week: "Hold'em is known in
some circles as seven card crack." -- Andy Bellin
|
