Four Card Poker 101
7 September 2004
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
I just saw a new game called "Four Card Poker."
I do not believe you have written anything on
the game yet. Is the game anything like Three
Card Poker? Also, any chance of a quick summary
of the game? Dominic B.
The game, Dominic, is akin to Three Card Poker,
but as the name signifies, you use four cards
instead of three. Other key differences are that
there is no dealer qualifying hand, and the
player can raise up to three times his ante. Oh
yeah, the kicker, the dealer gets one extra card
to form his best hand.
The object of the game is for the player to form
a four-card poker hand higher than, or equal in
rank to the dealer's hand. Players use their
best four of five cards dealt against the
dealer's best four of six cards.
There are three ways to play. The game allows
the player to wager against the dealer, to wager
on the value of his own hand against a paytable
with a bet called Aces Up (see below), or to
wager both against the dealer and on the value
of his own hand.
After each player at the table places an initial
"ante wager" in a designated area of the layout,
the dealer deals both the player and the dealer
five cards face down. A sixth "dealer" card is
then revealed face up.
After each player examines his cards, he or she
then has the option to fold the hand and forfeit
the ante wager, or to place an additional "play
wager" ranging from an amount equal to the
player's ante bet up to three times the ante
wager.
After all betting decisions have been made; the
dealer will turn over his cards and select the
best four of six cards, then compare that best
four-card hand to each player's best four-card
hand. If the dealer's hand is higher, the player
loses both the Ante and any raise wagers. If the
ranking of the player's hand is higher than, or
equal to, the dealer's hand, the happy player
wins and is paid even money on both the ante and
the play wagers. The following is the ranking of
hands from lowest to highest: high card, pair,
two pair, straight, flush, three-of-a-kind,
straight flush, four-of-a-kind. To boot,
Dominic, players who place an ante wager and a
play wager win a bonus payout on the ante wager
for three specified high value hands: 25 to 1
for four-of-a-kind, 20 to 1 for a straight
flush, and 2 to 1 for three-of-a-kind.
Four Card Poker also features an optional side
wager (similar to the Pairplus in Three Card
Poker) called the "Aces Up wager." If the
player's hand contains a pair of Aces or better,
the player wins the Aces Up wager. The Aces Up
bet can be placed independently or in
conjunction with the ante wager and play wager.
Its outcome is determined independently of the
outcome of the player's ante wager and play
wager. Players receive Aces Up payouts
regardless of the dealer's hand. Payout odds for
a winning Aces Up bet range from a minimum of 1
to 1 for a pair of aces up to 50 to 1 for
four-of-a-kind.
A simple, yet effective basic strategy is to
fold with less than a pair of deuces, raise one
unit with a pair of threes through a pair of
nines, and raise three units with a pair of tens
or greater.
Yo, Dom, two reasons why I'm not a fan of this
game. First, I ain't givin' an extra card to
anybody, face up or not, and worse, it crosses
my two percent casino edge threshold. Look for
more on the odds of the different wagers, plus
strategies unlike the one above that ignores the
dealer's upcard in a future column.
Gambling quote of the week: "A drunken monkey
can be as successful at slots as a sober
Einstein." Bob Dancer, gaming author
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