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 costs roughly a point more than correct play; folding too often costs more still, because of that 30.4% of hands where the dealer would have failed to qualify.
The ante bonus
Most tables pay a bonus on the ante for a strong hand regardless of the dealer: typically 1:1 on a straight, 4:1 on trips and 5:1 on a straight flush. It is paid even if the dealer beats you, and it is why the Ante/Play bet is cheaper than Pair Plus on most schedules.
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.
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.