3-card Poker

This is basically two games in one, and you can bet on either or both. As the name suggests, 3-card poker is played in hands using three cards, and hands tend to be similar to 5-card ones with the obvious exception of those requiring four or more, changed as follows:
All flushes and straights are now with three cards

Two pair, four of a kind and full house are not applicable.

In the Pairplus game, the payout is based only on the hand you are dealt. There is no dealer involved, and you are paid depending on what you get. There are also a variety of payouts depending on the individual table, and you should check the sign that will be up for the different payoffs.

The payoffs will be in the ranges below:

 

YOUR HAND	HOUSE PAYS
Straight flush	Between 35:1 and 50:1
Three of a kind	Between 25:1 and 33:1
Straight	Between 5:1 and 6:1
Flush	Between 3:1 and 4:1
Pair	1:1

• If you choose to play to play an Ante game, you begin by wagering on the ante. When your three cards are dealt, you may either raise by putting an additional bet on top of the ante, or fold, losing your ante and any pairplus bet you might have.
   
• If you raise, the dealer has three cards dealt. If he does not have at least a queen high, he cannot play and the ante wins at 1:1, and the additional bet is returned.
   
• If the dealer can play, and you win, both the ante and the played bet win at 1:1, and there is a chance of an additional bonus (below).
   
• If the dealer can play, and they win, you lose both bets.
   
• If the dealer can play, and the hand is a draw, both bets push to the next round.
   
• Bonuses for certain hands are shown in the table, but again depend on the table you're playing at:
  
   

When should you raise the ante?

Again, there isn't a right answer to this. Raise the ante when you're confident of having a good hand, definitely, but when is it a good idea to raise when you don't even have a pair?

Don't forget, there are only three cards in the hand, so the chance of getting a playing hand is lower in three-card poker than other variations, and should the dealer get lower than a Queen, he won't be able to play anyway, so you win by default in that situation.

Many players will play if they get a Queen high with any other cards, and this is a fair tactic as they have a relatively high chance of the win. However, I wouldn't advise playing with anything less than a combination of a queen and a nine - that gives you a good chance of winning even if the dealer does get a queen, since the nine is quite a high card.

Of course, the choice is yours - lose the ante or risk losing twice as much?