Three Card Poker is a fast, house-banked poker game where your three-card hand plays against the dealer’s. With the simple Q-6-4 strategy, the main Ante and Play game has a house edge of 3.37%, and the best Pair Plus pay table cuts the edge on that side bet to 2.32%. You can play it online as a computer-dealt game or with a live dealer, and the pay table you find matters more than anything else you do.
Three Card Poker at a glance
| Invented by | Derek Webb, 1994 |
|---|---|
| Rights holder | Light & Wonder (Shuffle Master brand) |
| Main bets | Ante and Play, plus optional Pair Plus and 6 Card Bonus |
| Basic strategy | Play Q-6-4 or better; fold anything worse |
| House edge | Ante bonus game 3.37%; Pair Plus 2.32% (best common table); 6 Card Bonus 6.74% to 15.28% |
| Online versions | Computer-dealt (RNG) and live dealer |
| Last checked | November 2026 |
How to play Three Card Poker
- Place an Ante bet. You may also place the optional Pair Plus and 6 Card Bonus side bets.
- You and the dealer each get three cards. The dealer’s cards stay face down.
- Look at your hand and either fold, losing the Ante, or make a Play bet equal to the Ante.
- The dealer needs queen high or better to qualify. If the dealer does not qualify, the Ante pays even money and the Play bet pushes.
- If the dealer qualifies, the better hand wins. A winning hand pays even money on both Ante and Play; a losing hand loses both.
Side bets are settled on your own cards (or, for the 6 Card Bonus, on the six cards on the table) no matter what the dealer holds.
Three-card hand rankings and odds
With only three cards, a straight is harder to make than a flush, so it ranks higher. Out of 22,100 possible hands:
| Hand | Combinations | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 48 | 0.22% (about 1 in 460) |
| Three of a kind | 52 | 0.24% (about 1 in 425) |
| Straight | 720 | 3.26% (about 1 in 31) |
| Flush | 1,096 | 4.96% (about 1 in 20) |
| Pair | 3,744 | 16.94% (about 1 in 6) |
| High card | 16,440 | 74.39% |
About one hand in four is a pair or better, which is why Pair Plus pays out often.
Q-6-4: the only strategy you need
Make the Play bet with queen-six-four or better and fold anything weaker. Q-6-4 is the borderline hand: playing it loses slightly less than folding, while playing Q-6-3 loses slightly more. The rule holds no matter which Ante bonus table the casino uses.
- Play: any pair or better, any king or ace high, Q-6-4, Q-7-2, Q-8-3 and so on
- Fold: Q-6-3, Q-5-4, J-10-8 and anything lower
Two shortcuts cost you. Copying the dealer, playing any queen high or better, raises the house edge to 3.45%. Playing every hand raises it to 7.65%.
Pay tables and house edge
Ante bonus
The standard Ante bonus pays 5 to 1 on a straight flush, 4 to 1 on three of a kind and 1 to 1 on a straight, whatever the dealer holds. With this table and Q-6-4 strategy, the house edge is 3.37%.
Pair Plus
Pair Plus pays on a pair or better in your own three cards. Small changes to the table move the edge a lot:
| Straight flush / Trips / Straight / Flush / Pair | House edge |
|---|---|
| 40 / 30 / 6 / 4 / 1 | 2.32% |
| 35 / 33 / 6 / 4 / 1 | 2.70% |
| 40 / 25 / 6 / 4 / 1 | 3.49% |
| 35 / 25 / 6 / 4 / 1 | 4.58% |
| 50 / 30 / 6 / 3 / 1 | 5.10% |
| 40 / 30 / 5 / 4 / 1 | 5.57% |
| 40 / 30 / 6 / 3 / 1 | 7.28% |
Watch for tables that raise the straight flush to 50 to 1 but cut the flush to 3 to 1. The bigger top prize looks better, but the edge more than doubles to 5.10%.
6 Card Bonus
The 6 Card Bonus pays on the best five-card hand you can make from your three cards and the dealer’s three, up to 1,000 to 1 for a royal flush. It is the most expensive bet on the table:
| Royal / SF / Quads / Full house / Flush / Straight / Trips | House edge |
|---|---|
| 1,000 / 200 / 100 / 20 / 15 / 9 / 8 | 6.74% |
| 1,000 / 200 / 100 / 20 / 15 / 10 / 7 | 8.56% |
| 1,000 / 200 / 50 / 25 / 20 / 10 / 5 | 10.23% |
| 1,000 / 200 / 50 / 25 / 15 / 10 / 5 | 15.28% |
If you skip one bet at the table, make it this one.
Playing Three Card Poker online
Online Three Card Poker follows the same rules as the table game. The main differences are speed, names and pay tables.
- Speed: a computer-dealt game has no shuffling, chip handling or other players, so you can play far more hands per hour. More hands means more money wagered against the house edge. You set the pace, so there is no reason to rush.
- Names: some online versions use other names, such as Realtime Gaming’s Tri Card Poker. Many of the same slot makers that build online slots, NetEnt among them, also build RNG table games, so check the rules page for the version you open.
- Pay tables: online games publish their pay tables in the help or rules screen. Compare them with the tables above before you play. Some online versions leave out the 6 Card Bonus, which is no loss.
- Stakes: online tables usually take much smaller bets than live tables in Las Vegas and other casino cities, where minimums vary by casino and time of day.
Live dealer Three Card Poker
Live dealer versions stream a real dealer and real cards from a studio. Evolution’s live Three Card Poker, for example, uses the standard rules: Ante with optional Pair Plus and 6 Card Bonus bets, a dealer who qualifies with queen high, and an Ante bonus on a straight or better that pays only if you make the Play bet. Live games run at the pace of a real table, which suits players who want fewer hands per hour.
Where you can play legally
In the US, licensed online casinos operate only in the few states that have legalized online casino games. The offshore sites in our online casino reviews are not licensed by US state regulators, so check a site’s licence, payout record and table rules before you deposit.
Bonuses and table games
Casino bonuses come with wagering requirements, and most sites count table games at a reduced rate or exclude them entirely. If you mainly play Three Card Poker, read the terms before you accept a bonus, because it may take far more play to clear than the headline suggests.
History of Three Card Poker
Poker player Derek Webb designed Three Card Poker in 1994. After casinos in Reno, Las Vegas and Atlantic City turned it down, it got its first placement at Grand Casino Gulfport in Mississippi. Webb received a US patent in 1997, and in 1999 Shuffle Master bought the rights outside the British Isles. Shuffle Master is now a brand of Light & Wonder, which still licenses the game to casinos.
Three Card Poker became one of the most successful new table games ever. If you like it, Caribbean Stud Poker, Let It Ride, Four Card Poker and Ultimate Texas Hold’em are other poker-based games played against the house.
Three Card Poker FAQ
What is the house edge in Three Card Poker?
With the standard 5-4-1 Ante bonus and Q-6-4 strategy, the house edge on the Ante and Play game is 3.37%. Pair Plus ranges from 2.32% on the best common table to 7.28% on the worst, and the 6 Card Bonus runs from 6.74% to 15.28%.
What is the best strategy?
Play Q-6-4 or better and fold anything lower. No other decisions are needed.
Why does a straight beat a flush?
With three cards there are 720 ways to make a straight and 1,096 ways to make a flush. The rarer hand ranks higher.
Is the 6 Card Bonus worth it?
No. Even the best version has a house edge of 6.74%, about double the main game, and common versions run 8.56% to 15.28%.
Is online Three Card Poker fair?
Games at state-licensed US online casinos are tested and regulated. Offshore sites are not licensed by US state regulators, so you rely on the operator and its foreign licence.
Gamble only what you can afford to lose. In the US, the National Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-MY-RESET (call or text).