How the game runs
You post an ante, see your three cards, and choose to fold or to make a Play bet equal to the ante. The dealer then reveals.
The dealer needs queen high or better to qualify. If the dealer does not qualify, your ante pays even money and the Play bet pushes. If the dealer qualifies and you win, both bets pay even money.
How often the dealer qualifies
Counting all 22,100 three-card hands, the dealer holds queen high or better 69.59% of the time and fails to qualify 30.41% of the time.
That roughly three-in-ten chance of a free ante win is why folding marginal hands is worse than it looks: you forfeit the ante and give up the chance the dealer simply has nothing.
The one rule
Play any hand of Q-6-4 or better. Fold everything else.
That single line is the whole of correct strategy. Compare your hand to Q-6-4 card by card: a queen with a seven plays, a queen with a six and a five plays, a queen with a six and a three does not.
Playing every hand more than doubles the cost, to about 7.65% of the ante against 3.37%. Folding too much costs more than correct play too, because of that 30.4% of hands where the dealer would have failed to qualify, and past a point more than playing everything: playing only king-high or better costs 4.99%, ace-high or better 15.05%, and pairs only 38.84%.
The ante bonus
The ante bonus is paid on the ante whenever you make the Play bet, even if the dealer beats you, and only on a straight or better. Pennsylvania and Maryland both require one. Every hand it pays on is a hand correct strategy plays anyway, so the bonus changes what the game costs without changing a single decision: the usual 5-4-1 table returns 5.29% of the ante, and without it the game would cost 8.66% rather than 3.3730%.
The tables a casino may choose (58 Pa. Code § 649a.12(b), and while it lasts § 649b.4, temporary, set to expire 23 August 2028; Maryland’s rules, chapter 12 B, read on 28 October 2026), with what Ante/Play costs on each when played correctly:
| Straight flush | Trips | Straight | House edge (of the ante) | Pennsylvania | Maryland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 5 | 1 | 2.9205% | D (temporary, set to expire 23 August 2028) | – |
| 5 | 4 | 1 | 3.3730% | A | A |
| 5 | 3 | 1 | 3.6083% | B | B |
| 4 | 3 | 1 | 3.8255% | C | C |
Both states also allow a version that ties the two bets together, in one of three forms the casino chooses: Pair Plus only with an ante at least as large as it; Pair Plus only with an ante at least half as large; or both bets compulsory, one up to five times the other (58 Pa. Code § 649a.7(e); Maryland chapter 7 G). Its ante bonus (§ 649a.12(c); Maryland chapter 12 C) pays the ace, king and queen of one suit apart from the other straight flushes:
| A-K-Q of spades | A-K-Q, other suits | Other straight flush | Trips | Straight | House edge (of the ante) | Pennsylvania | Maryland |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3.6038% | A | – |
| 50 | 50 | 8 | 6 | – | 4.7485% | B | its only table (chapter 12 C) |
| 50 | 10 | 6 | 3 | – | 6.3956% | C | – |
The Pennsylvania Code prints a straight payout only for the first of these, and Maryland’s one table of this kind has no straight line, so the other two are priced with nothing paid on a straight. If a casino’s version of them did pay 1 to 1 on a straight, they would cost 1.49% and 3.14% instead. Pennsylvania also lets a casino add a line for an ace, king and queen of one suit to the usual tables, at no less than 5 to 1 (§ 649a.12(g)); there are 4 such hands in 22,100, so at that minimum the line is worth at most 0.02 points.
The 3.3730% Ante/Play house edge is derived here, not quoted. It means comparing all 22,100 player hands against every one of the 18,424 dealer hands that can follow, just over 407 million evaluations, and it was the last attributed figure on this site. The solve also tests the published strategy rather than assuming it: the optimal decision was computed for each starting hand independently, and the resulting play set is exactly the hands at Queen-6-4 or better, with no exceptions in either direction. That rule is correct as universally stated, which is not something this site has been able to say about every published rule it has checked.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the strategy for three card poker?
- Play any hand of Q-6-4 or better and fold everything else. That single rule is the whole of correct strategy.
- How often does the dealer qualify?
- 69.59% of the time, counting all 22,100 possible three-card hands.
- What happens if the dealer does not qualify?
- Your ante pays even money and the Play bet pushes, so you win one unit regardless of your own hand.
- Is Ante/Play better than Pair Plus?
- On most schedules yes, at 3.3730% of the ante against 7.28% for a reduced Pair Plus.
Corrected on 18 October 2026: this page said playing every hand costs roughly a point more than correct play. Enumerated against all 18,424 dealer hands, the 7,200 hands below Q-6-4 cost 4.28 points more, 7.65% of the ante in all.
Corrected on 19 October 2026: the sentence on folding under “The one rule” said folding too often costs more than always playing. It depends on how much: playing only king-high or better costs 4.99% of the ante, less than always playing, while playing only ace-high or better costs 15.05%.
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.