PAIR PLUS ODDS

When you place a Pair Plus bet at live casinos or online casinos, you will win whenever your three cards include the following broad combinations:

* Pair
* Flush
* Straight
* Three of a Kind
* Straight Flush

Fun Fact: Did you know there are 22,100 Three Card Poker combinations? And, your card order doesn't factor into the equation. As you can tell, there are fewer possible hands with rare combinations like a Straight Flush and Three of a Kind. But, as you progress towards more common hands such as a Straight, Flush, Pair, and No Pair, the number of possible hands increases dramatically.

Below, you will find the numbers of combinations for each specific hand:

Please note: Flushes are much more prevalent than Straights. That's the reason why Straights pay substantially more than Flushes. When you play Pair Plus, there is a clear correlation between the rarity of hands and their payouts. Certain casinos may also include a Mini Royal as the highest-paying hand combination. It's worth more than a Straight Flush! The Mini Royal features a suited Ace, King, and Queen.

Can you tell that there are Four Mini Royals – Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts, and Spades. When the Mini Royals are paid separately, there are four fewer combinations in the Straight Flush total. At casinos that pay Mini Royals separately, the frequency of Pair Plus hands tends to look like this:

Whether casinos pay Mini Royals separately or not, these winning hands comprise 25.6% of the total. No sensible Three Card Poker player would participate in the game when winnings only occurred 25% of the time if the probability of big rewards didn't exist.

With Pair Plus, you can enjoy substantial rewards with a Straight Flush or Three of a Kind. Sometimes, casinos will offer a Mini Royal. Payouts tend to vary from one casino to the next. All of them begin with a payout of 1:1 for a Pair. The best hand – a Straight Flush – is typically associated with a payout of 40:1. Three of a Kind is worth 30:1. When players form Mini Royals, these payouts are 50:1, 100:1, or 200:1; they are substantially more significant than those for conventional paying hands.

Consider this: A Straight Flush that pays out 40:1 means that if you place a bet of C$10 and you're dealt a Straight Flush, you will win C$400 in winnings and keep your C$10 original bet. Not too bad. But it pales in comparison to a 100:1 payout for a Mini Royal. These bets will pay C$1,000 on a bet of C$10. Plus, you get to keep your C$10 wager too!

The big-paying hands in Three Card Poker don't pay nearly as much as in 5 card poker, but the big hands occur much more frequently. Five Card Poker Royal Flushes appear once every 649,740 hands; they are relatively infrequent. Now, let's look at the frequency of each paying hand in Pair Plus poker games.

The above table lists each possible combination of paying hands in Three Card Poker Pair Plus games. At the bottom, you have a Pair which occurs once every six hands. Next up is a Flush which occurs once every 20 hands. Next, a Straight occurs once every 31 hands, and Three of a Kind occurs once every 425 hands. Finally, the Mini Royal pays out once every 5,525 hands at the top of the Paying Hands Schedule. As alluded to earlier, the lower the frequency of occurrence, the greater the overall payout.

At inception, Three Card Poker featured a paytable for Pair Plus. Players would receive 40:1 for a Straight Flush, with a payout of 30:1 for Three of a Kind, 6:1 for a Straight, 4:1 on a Flush, and a payout of 1:1 for a Pair. The overall house edge was 2.32%. Nowadays, those paytables are a rarity – whether you're playing at a land-based casino or an online casino. Below is a sampling of paytables and associated house edges you can expect:

At live casinos, you are most likely to find the paytable associated with column D. This column features the following payout schedule:

* A Pair – 1:1
* A Flush – 3:1
* A Straight – 6:1
* Three of A Kind – 30:1
* Straight Flush – 40:1

In several online casinos, players tend to find operators with a 6-3 paytable and other schedules that pay 5:1 for Straights and 4:1 for Flushes.
Fun Fact: In some online casinos, you may find Three Card Poker with a 6:3 paytable and others that can pay 5:1 for Straights and 4:1 for Flushes.

If opportunity presents, your best bet is a 5:4 paytable. The reason is that Flushes tend to occur more frequently than Straights. Therefore, you'll benefit more when you have a 4:1 payout rather than a 3:1 payout on Flushes and a 6:1 payout rather than a 5:1 payout on Straights.

In Pair Plus poker games, the objective is not to beat the dealer. Plus, you can do nothing about the cards you're dealt in Three Card Poker. So pretty much the only thing you have control over is the payout combination you choose in terms of paytables.

TAKEAWAYS

• An estimated 25.6% of poker hands form winning combinations of a pair or better.

• Paytables vary between casinos, but they tend to start at a payoff of 1:1 for a pair.

• When you compare pay tables, it's best to pick a payoff schedule with bigger payoffs for the most frequently occurring hands. That means games with a 5:4 payout on Straights and 4:1 payouts on Flushes have an inherently lower house edge than a 6:1 payout on Straight and a 3:1 payout on Flushes.

HOW DO THE ANTE-ODDS WORK?

The Ante-Play is a combo bet that your hand will beat the dealer's hand.

You may recall from Chapter 1 that Three Card Poker begins with an Ante-bet. Once you've seen your cards, you can decide whether you wish to fold your hand or make your play. If you choose to play, you will place a bet equal to your Ante. If you make a bet and the dealer doesn't have a Queen, King, or Ace, the dealer will not play. You will get a 1:1 payout on your Ante wager. Your bet will push, irrespective of whether your hand beats the dealer's hand. If the dealer happens to be holding a Queen, King, or better, the dealer plays. At this point, the player must beat the dealer to win the hand.

If you beat the dealer, you will be paid 1:1 on the Ante and Play bet. If you lose, then the dealer takes the Ante and the Bet. The hand ranking chart is the same as Three Card Poker. Topping the list is the Mini Royal and the Straight Flush. Next in line is Three of a Kind, followed by a Straight, a Flush, and finally a Pair. When it comes to beating the dealer, hands with a Pair or Better are automatically ranked by the highest card in the three-card poker hand.

* If your high card and the dealer's high card are identical, the tie is broken by the second-highest ranking card.

* If your high and second highest cards match the dealer's high and second-highest cards, then the third-highest card breaks the tie.

* If all three of your and the dealer's cards have the same value, then the three-card poker hand is a tie, and your bets will be returned.

Here are some examples of dealer hands and player hands. The winner is displayed in the third column.

ANTE-PLAY STRATEGIES

Place a bet with the Ante-play combination when you're holding Queen-6-4 or better. If your hand is any weaker than that, fold. Put differently, bet on any pair or better. If you've got a winning combination on the Pair Plus paytable, you can make the identical bet in the Ante-Play combo – that's how easy it is. However, if you're not holding a pair or better, place the play bet whenever your high card is a King or an Ace. It doesn't matter what value your other two cards are.

For example, if you are holding a Jack or lower high card, you should fold irrespective of the value of your other two cards.

However, if you don't have a pair or better, and your highest-ranking card is a queen, your decision is then based on your second and third cards. Follow this basic strategy if you want some hot tips for making the play bet. It applies to hands that don't have a pair or better, and the high card is a Queen.

• Place a bet on a Queen-high hand if your second-highest card is a 7 or higher, no matter what your third card is.
• Place a bet on a Queen-high hand if your second-highest card is a 6 only if your third card is a 4 or a 5.
• Always fold a Queen-high hand if your second-highest card is a 6 if your third card is a 2 or a 3.
• Always fold a Queen-high hand if your second-highest card is a 5 or lower, no matter what your third card is.

Below is a sampling of hands that straddle the line. If you don't have a Pair or Better and the highest card you have is a Queen, you must defer to your second card, perhaps even your third card. Next, we will look at the bet or fold the hand:

THE HOUSE EDGE AND THE ANTE BONUS

If you want to determine the house edge, you need to consider an additional part of the game. The Ante Bonus is paid every time your Three Card Poker Hand has a Straight, Three of a Kind, or even a high-ranking Straight Flush.

Bonuses are paid out on your Ante. The Play Bet is not taken into consideration with the rewards. You'll win the ante bonus if you have a top-tier hand, even if your hand doesn't beat the dealer's hand.

Below, you'll find a table with typical pay tables for the ante-bonus and the house edge for Ante-play combinations of cards.

The 5-4-1 payoff is the best paytable. It was initially built into the game and remains the bedrock of the Ante Bonus and the Ante-Play combos.

You'll notice the house edge as a percentage of the Ante at 3.37% and the house edge as a percentage of the Ante-bet total at 2.01%. The former sets the baseline for your average losses. If you are the type of player who always opts to Ante C$5 per hand, your losses average to just under C$0.17 per hand. Over 100 hands at C$5 Antes, playing the Queen-6-4 basic strategy, expect an average loss of C$16.85.

This particular strategy also includes a play bet equivalent to your Ante, about 67% of the time. If you begin with C$5 Antes, then 100 hands later, you will still average approximately C$16.85 in losses, but your Ante-play wagering will amount to C$840 +. Now let's continue to the house edge as a percentage of the Ante-bet total at 2.01%. This reflects the percentage of wagering that the house expects from your play.

Because of this, Three Card Poker Ante-play combos serve as one of the best casino bets you can make. Recall that you have a house edge of less than a percent with Blackjack basic strategy; much the same is true with craps players playing the pass-plus-odds combination bets. In baccarat online and in person, the house edge on the player bet is 1.24%, and the house edge on the banker bet is 1.06%. That makes baccarat a much more favourable game to play in terms of the house edge.

The Good News - Three Card Poker Ante-play betting has a significantly lower house edge than many different games, including:

* Craps one-roll bets – 2.78% – 16.67%
* Caribbean Stud Poker – 5.22% Ante & 2.6% of total betting action
* European Roulette/French Roulette – 2.70%
* American Roulette – 5.26%

As you can tell, the house edge in Three Card Poker presents favourably to players. You have a chance of winning, and here are some pretty significant payouts that you can hit when the right combinations form.

Best of luck!

 TAKEAWAYS

• Basic strategy for the ante-play combination requires you to bet on Queen-6-4 or better and to fold on anything less.
• Hands that do not include a pair or better are decided first by the high card, with ties broken first by the second-highest card and then by the third-highest card.
• The house edge of 2.01% on the ante-play combination can be as low as 2.01%.

POP QUIZ

1. Is it necessary to beat the dealer if you want to win Pair Plus poker games?
2. Assuming that payoffs in other Pair Plus outcomes are equivalent, is it favourable for poker players when Straights pay 6:1, Flushes pay 3:1, or when Straights pay 5:1 and Flushes pay 4:1?
3. Let's talk and rankings for a moment: In Ante-play situations, which is the ranking hand: Queen-6-4 mixed suits, or Jack-10-7 mixed suits?
4. What is the basic strategy in making the Play Bet in Ante-Play situations?
5. How much will you be paid if you decide to Ante C$5 and then place a Play Bet of C$5 and beat the dealer?

POP QUIZ ANSWERS

1. You don't have to beat the dealer to win Pair Plus games. You'll get a payoff for a pair or higher!
2. Remember that Flushes are much more frequent than Straights to answer this question. That means you should play when Straights pay 5:1 & Flushes pay 4:1 as opposed to 6:1 payouts on Straights and 3:1 payouts on Flushes.
3. The ranking hand in Ante-play situations indicates that Queen-6-4 is better than Jack-10-7 of mixed suits. If you're not holding a Pair or Better, then hands are ranked according to the highest-value hand, the second-highest value hand, or the third-highest in hand (if ties exist).
4. For the play bet in Ante-play, the basic strategy requires players to place a bet on Queen-6-4 or better. You fold anything weaker than that.
5. If you decide to Ante C$5 and place a Play Bet of C$5 and beat the dealer, you will be paid C$10. That is C$5 on the actual bet and C$5 on the Ante. Be advised you retain both of them when you win.

Written by John Grochowski