Rules in one minute
Three Card Poker is two independent wagers that happen to share a table. Ante/Play is a hand against the dealer: post the Ante, see your three cards, then either fold the Ante or place an equal Play bet to go to showdown. The dealer needs Queen-high or better to qualify, which happens on 69.59% of hands; when the dealer does not qualify, the Play bet pushes and the Ante pays even money. Pair Plus ignores the dealer entirely and pays on your own hand, from a pair upward.
Every hand, counted
Three cards from a 52-card deck make 22,100 possible hands. This site counts all of them rather than quoting probabilities
| Hand | Combinations | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 48 | 0.2172% |
| Three of a kind | 52 | 0.2353% |
| Straight | 720 | 3.2579% |
| Flush | 1,096 | 4.9593% |
| Pair | 3,744 | 16.9412% |
| High card | 16,440 | 74.3891% |
The table explains the ranking quirk that trips up newcomers: with three cards there are only 720 straights against 1,096 flushes, so a straight beats a flush: the reverse of five-card poker, and derived here from the counts, not asserted.
What the bets cost
Ante/Play runs at about 3.37% of the Ante with correct strategy; that figure is derived here, by playing every hand against every dealer hand: 407 million evaluations, giving 3.3730%. Pair Plus we do derive, per pay schedule: the original 40-30-6-4-1 table costs 2.32%, and the reduced 40-30-6-3-1 table most casinos now deal costs 7.28%: one unit off the flush payout more than triples the price.
Strategy is one sentence
Play any hand of Q-6-4 or better, fold everything worse. That is the whole optimal strategy for Ante/Play, no charts, no counts. Hands better than Q-6-4 win more by playing than they lose by folding the Ante; hands worse do not. You will be dealt a pair or better 25.6% of the time.
How it compares
Against the other carnival games: cheaper than most sic bo bets, more expensive than baccarat's banker bet at 1.06% or blackjack played correctly, and in the same band as Ultimate Texas Hold'em. The speed matters more than the edge: three-card rounds resolve fast, so the hourly cost runs higher than the percentage suggests.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Why does a straight beat a flush in Three Card Poker?
- Because with three cards a straight is rarer: 720 straights against 1,096 flushes out of 22,100 hands. Rankings follow rarity.
- What is the house edge in Three Card Poker?
- Ante/Play costs about 3.37% of the Ante with correct play. Pair Plus depends on the pay table: 2.32% on the original schedule, 7.28% on the reduced one most casinos deal today.
- What does Q-6-4 mean?
- Play any hand at least as good as Queen-Six-Four high; fold anything worse. That single rule is the complete optimal strategy for Ante/Play.
- How often does the dealer qualify?
- 69.59% of hands. When the dealer fails to qualify, your Play bet pushes and the Ante pays even money.
Hand frequencies and Pair Plus returns on this page are counted by enumerating all 22,100 three-card hands. The Ante/Play house edge is derived too, as of August 2026: it means comparing every one of the 22,100 player hands against all 18,424 dealer hands that can follow, just over 407 million evaluations. It comes out at 3.3730% of the ante, and the published Queen-6-4 threshold is confirmed exactly, with no exceptions in either direction. Pay tables vary by casino; read the felt.
The 6 Card Bonus. The third bet on the layout uses the dealer's three cards as ingredients rather than opposition, so it can be computed exactly: it costs 8.5614% and pays on 7.28% of hands.