Three Card Poker Rules

[BlodiaInc]

I have played Three Card Poker at the Borgata in AC as a ploppie... just hoping I hit that straight flush (have hit a 3 of a kind with $50 down)...

I heard that there's a Three Card Poker strategy mentioned in Beyond Counting involving holecarding.... however... my question is this... and got me thinking....

When I sit down and play Three Card with friends all the time, I've gotten a peek MANY times at what they are holding... so are you even allowed to look at other player's hands? Because, it would seem that you would be able to use this information to your advantage...

[shadroch]

Other players hands are meaningless. You are playing one on one against the dealer.Seeing the dealer has a low card means you have three cards to beat his two cards.Think of the board game Risk,where the attacker uses three die and the defender two. Same advantage to the player when he sees the dealers card and its low. If the dealers card beats your hand,its a huge advantage to know that and fold.

[BlodiaInc]

I mean knowing the dealer holecards would be obviously the optimal situation, but has anyone done research on... if you can see other player's cards, that limits the possibilities of what the dealer can hold... is there a way to use that to your advantage?

[21forme]

Grosjean's Beyond Counting has a big section on 3CP. The section on counting other player's cards is somewhat convoluted and in reality not very useful. Seeing the dealer's hole card is very useful and can give you a 3+% edge. There are people that take advantage of this, and as a matter of fact, last week I had dinner with a guy who runs a 3CP team. All they care about is the dealer's hole card. I'm not at liberty to comment any further.

[callipygian]

It's difficult and doesn't give you enough of an advantage because you can only make play decisions, not betting decisions.

[BlodiaInc]

Originally Posted by callipygian

It's difficult and doesn't give you enough of an advantage because you can only make play decisions, not betting decisions.

gotcha... i'll just keep plopping away =)... until i learn to hole card =)

[callipygian]

Originally Posted by BlodiaInc

gotcha... i'll just keep plopping away =)... until i learn to hole card =)

I forget exactly what the numbers were, but there's three sets of rules that are common. One pays the highest for flushes and straights (off of the top of my head, it's 6:1 and 4:1), one pays high for flush but low for straights (6/3), and one pays low for both (5/3).

As I recall the worst game is actually pretty bad in terms of EV, as in worse than roulette. The highest payoff is a decent game (~2% or so) but rare.

And really stretching my memory, I don't believe the basic strategy changes with any payout - just play Q6 or higher.

Edit: Just remembered, straights should be rarer than flushes, so it's straights that have the higher payout.

[BlodiaInc]

Originally Posted by callipygian

I forget exactly what the numbers were, but there's three sets of rules that are common. One pays the highest for flushes and straights (off of the top of my head, it's 6:1 and 4:1), one pays high for flush but low for straights (6/3), and one pays low for both (5/3).

As I recall the worst game is actually pretty bad in terms of EV, as in worse than roulette. The highest payoff is a decent game (~2% or so) but rare.

And really stretching my memory, I don't believe the basic strategy changes with any payout - just play Q6 or higher.

Edit: Just remembered, straights should be rarer than flushes, so it's straights that have the higher payout.

Yeah, I know what the numbers are...

I play Three Card Poker when I feel like throwing money away... I have a gambling problem =)

[shadroch]

Only place I know of with the original 40-30-6-4-1 payoffs is The Pioneer in Laughlin. With those payoffs,it is almost a decent game. Anything less and its a Carny game.

[ccl]

i cant remember where i was playing but there is a casino in oregon has the 40-30-6-4-1 payout as well, so its findable, just not too common

chris