Three Card Poker Rules and Strategy
by Jean Real

This week Superior Casino treats its players with a guide and tips to one of the world’s favorite casino games: Three Card Poker. This game originated in the UK under the name of Brag, a three-card betting game that was played at a fast rate. The game evolved over the last three hundred years and when it was brought to the United States the British game was influenced by Poker, eventually creating a blend between both of them.

Three Card Poker is essentially two games in one, Pair-Plus and Ante. Some casinos oblige the player to make both bets but at Superior Casino it’s completely up to the player. Placing the bet only on the Pair-Plus will increase the speed of the game since you are simply betting on getting a Pair or better poker hand. If your hand does not have a pair, flush, straight, three-of-a-kind or straight flush, the bet is lost.

Pair-Plus bets will win according to this paytable:

Straight Flush
40:1
Three of a Kind
30:1
Straight
6:1
Flush
4:1
Pair
1:1

The Ante game consists of beating the dealer with a stronger three-card poker hand. The dealer is dealt three cards face-down. Players place an Ante bet to see their three cards. To play the game to its end the player must place a second Play bet for the same amount as the Ante bet. If the player feels his or her hand is not strong enough to beat the dealer’s, the player may fold and only the Ante bet is lost. Having a stronger poker hand will pay 1:1 for the Ante bet. The payout is the same for the Play bet, but applies only if the dealer has at least a Queen. If the dealer does not have a Queen kicker or a better hand, the Play bet is returned when the player wins.

Ante bets have an additional bonus payout for the following poker hands:

Straight Flush
5:1
Three of a Kind
4:1
Straight
1:1

There is no strategy for Three-Card Poker if only the Pair-Plus bet is placed. For the Ante bet, the strategy is extremely simple. Mathematical calculations have revealed that the player must only place the second Play bet if dealt at least a Queen, six and four (Q/6/4). Raising the bet on any hand over that, including a Q/7/3 (a 7 kicker is better than a 6), will increase the player’s chances of getting the best results at Three Card Poker.

Don’t waste another minute, log in now to apply your new ThreeCard Poker strategies and tips.

Charles Jay on Blackjack
NOT-SO-SWEET SIXTEEN

With the Sweet 16 of the NCAA basketball tournament upon us, it’s a reminder that having a 16 dealt to you at the blackjack table is decidedly not very sweet. In fact, it’s a horrible hand to have, since you can easily “bust” (go over 21) with a hit, and it’s not very advantageous to stand with it.

So if you’re sitting in a game and get a 16, how are you going to handle it?

Suffice it to say that this is a hand which is probably misplayed by a most people. On a psychological level, you may in fact be scared to hit a 16. That’s understandable, since in all likelihood you’re going to break 21. But there is a hard reality, which is that the best way to help yourself here is to hit the hand, that is, against the so-called “pat” upcards that run from the seven through the Ace (it goes without saying, at least we think, that you will stand against anything from a two through six as the dealer’s upcard, because those are generally bad cards for the dealer). If you think about it for a second, the dealer has to play by strict house rules in the casino which require him to hit on a total of 16. And if you notice, he winds up making hands to beat you, to the point where there is a house advantage to blackjack. That is no coincidence, believe me.

You need to operate on that principle too. Hitting hands is the best way you have at your disposal to make hands, and when you are playing against a dealer who is most likely going to make a hand for himself, there’s no way you can preserve your bankroll in this case while employing a “no bust” strategy. Experts also call that a “no-win” strategy.

Let’s take the example where you’re going against the dealer’s weakest “pat” upcard – the seven. If you stand in this situation, you are going to win 26% of the time and lose 74%. If you hit, you’ll win only 27%, which is only a small improvement but an improvement nonetheless. More importantly, you’re going to wind up losing less, to the tune of 67.5% (with the rest being pushes). So by hitting the hand, you are, for the most part, making an attempt to SAVE some of your bankroll.

As an addendum to this discussion, let’s make sure we’re very clear as to what to do in one particular situation – when you have a 16 and the dealer is showing a ten (or ten value card, like a Jack, Queen or King).

That puts you into one of the tougher spots a blackjack player can find him/herself. There is virtually no chance at all to win the hand. The necessary point of focus here is how you’re going to LOSE LESS on the hand. More so than some of the others, this is a very close call. Let’s say you took the posture that you were always going to stand on this hand. That strategy would bring you a defeat 77% of the time, which constitutes roughly the number of times the dealer is going to be pat with a ten showing. Hitting the hand will obviously leave you busting out quite a bit, and you will win 2.7% less. But you will also LOSE 3.1% less, making it a slightly better decision to hit the 16 here. Minimize your losses when you can.

Because it counts for something.

I’ll tell you one instance where you can indeed get a “Sweet 16.” It’s when you are dealt a pair of eights. In this case, they are indeed “Elite Eights,” because you will always split them. It’s a much better opportunity, especially if you can take advantage of doubling down after splitting.

That counts for something too.

Try it for yourself at Superior Casino.

Blackjack
WHY DO YOU PLAY DIFFERENTLY WHEN THE DEALER HAS A TWO SHOWING?
By Charles Jay

When the dealer has a 5 or 6 showing, the player has, basically, a very easy decision to make. If, let’s say, you’re the player, and you’ve got a bad hand, you stand, banking on the hope that the dealer will bust. If you’ve got a good hand, depending on the nature of the hand, you will stand (if you are pat), double, or split. The 5 and 6 are the worst upcards the dealer can have, and if the opportunity presents itself, you have to get as much money on the table as possible to take advantage of your position.

But how do you approach the situation if the dealer has a two showing? Standard rules of the Basic Strategy (i.e., the set of playing rules that outline what to do in every player vs. dealer situation) dictate that there are two sides to the hitting/standing decision chart – the “low” cards (2 through 6) and the “high” cards (7 through Ace). An imaginary line is drawn between these two groups; for example, with those hands commonly known as “stiff” hands (12 through 16) you would usually hit against the high cards, and stand against the low cards. There is also no soft doubling against the high upcards.

There is one notable exception, however, and that is when the dealer is holding a two on top. The two is indeed in the “low card” group, but because it is the lowest of the low, it is the hardest to play against. A dealer with a five showing will bust 43% of the time, and with a six it will happen only 42% of the time. When a dealer has a two as his upcard, he will bust only 35% of his hands. Now the difference may not seem like a lot, but it really is when taken in this context – when we conceive theory in the game we speak in terms of how much each strategy decision will work out in the LONG run, since, of course, anything can happen in the SHORT run. Looking at it this way, the seven or eight less breaks per hundred hands add up big time over the course of a great many hands. It is a plain fact (and a pain fact too, as we allow for the validity of that typo) that the dealer with a two on top will usually have to draw two ten-value cards to bust out; anything less and the chances are considerable that his hand will be pat.

The strongest dealer upcards, in order, are the Ace, ten-value cards, nine, eight, and seven. Next in line is the two, and it is in fact such a respected and feared upcard that many count systems do not even include the two as a low card for the purposes of determining the plus-minus value of cards, preferring to leave it neutral instead, along with the 7,8, and often times, the 9 (”neutral” meaning, of course, that it is of equal value to both player and dealer).

To deal with the relative strength of the two, some subtle exceptions in the Basic Strategy are, of course, in order. For instance, when presented with a 12 against the dealer’s two, the player will always take one hit. This play is also appropriate when the player has a three, by the way. Remember to take ONLY ONE HIT in this situation, though. Any denomination, even the lowest value (an Ace) would add up to at least 13, and, when this three-card is plugged into the Basic Strategy, the correct move is to stand against stiff upcards.

Also, the player’s nine is doubled on the 3 through 6 upcards, but not against the two, however, because the nine is simply not a strong enough hand to make it mathematically feasible. And please – never, EVER double any soft hand against the dealer’s two. Let a signal go off in your head when this situation arises.

Practice and learn how to deal with a dealer’s upcard of two. It may be a small card, but can figure BIG in some important decisions if not played correctly.