Poker is one of the first table games that visitors of Las Vegas want to play. However, they are many times surprised to learn poker comes in different varieties — Texas hold em, Omaha, and yes, 3-card poker. What makes 3-card poker different? How do you play that? Those are all god questions and what we’re going to attempt to solve during this article for you. Here’s an easy guide to play 3-card poker while in Las Vegas:
Three-card poker is a form of stud poker, which differs greatly from the most well-known Texas Hold’em or 5-card poker games. The game features three exciting ways to play and four unique ways to win!
3 card poker rules state that you may bet against the dealer, bet on the value of your own hand, or bet on both. With fewer cards involved, bettors only need three consecutive cards to make a straight and flush draw. Conversely to what most bettors will recognize in Texas hold ’em a straight is a higher hand than a flush. As well as that, betting against the dealer can be quite beneficial, as you can receive bonus payouts. This differs from Texas hold ’em, where you’re playing against other players on the table.
When it comes to Vegas and any casino game, you don’t have to look far to find what you want. The likes of 3 card poker in Las Vegas isn’t a stretch for anyone. You could go to any of the big casinos like the Venetian or Caesars Palace and find what you’re looking for or go to any of the smaller casinos.
In terms of knowing the best place to play 3 card poker in Vegas, we cannot really direct our readers in one particular direction. What’s best is to take a look at the various bookmakers in the city of lights and decide which one suits your preferences.
There are many ways to play poker offline, we’d first point our readers in the direction of our list of online betting sites, which features the very best offshore gambling providers. There you’ll find a range of great providers offering casino betting—as well as for games like blackjack and video poker, which you can find in our guide.
For American bettors, there are other options available, not just offshore bookmakers. This is especially true in legal gambling states like Nevada, where bettors can find land-based sportsbooks that offer gambling through mobile betting apps.
For those that are interested in online wagering, we’d advise taking a look at the likes of Bovada as one of the best offshore bookmakers around.
Now let’s take a look at how to play 3 card poker in Vegas or online, as this is the most important thing. Firstly, let’s take a look at the point of the game; which is to get a three-card poker hand with a value higher than the dealer.
Now we’ll briefly cover the ranks of hands in order. Let’s take a look at the rank of hands (Highest to Lowest):
Something that’s important to be aware of with 3 card poker, is when you compare two hands that are identical, the hand that features the highest-ranking card shall be considered the highest-ranking hand. So a king beats a 9, for instance.
Each player must make an ANTE wager in order to take part in the game. There is an additional bet known as a “pairs plus”. Each player and the dealer are then dealt three cards face down. The player must then make a decision, which is to either fold or play. To play a wager must be placed, equal to that of the ANTE. After all the players have folded or continued to play their hand, the dealer will then turn their cards and pay out where necessary.
This is where payouts are made, so if the dealer has a higher value hand, the ANTE and play bets lose. If it’s a tie, then the bets are pushed. If the player has the higher value hand, then the player will be paid even money and the ante will be paid at even or at the odds matched to the strength of the hand.
Here we’ll briefly describe the various types of bets that can be made in three card poker.
Place an ANTE (initial wager) bet to play against JUST the dealer. After reviewing your three cards, you then have two options. You can fold, place an equal wager to play. If your hand beats the dealers’ hand with a queen or better, you will win both wagers. If the dealers’ hand doesn’t feature a Queen High or Better, your ANTE wager wins 1 to 1. A tie would result in a push, as you’d expect.
To carry out this kind of wager, bet on just the pair plus spot on the table, where you’ll play your hand value only and not against the dealer’s hand. If your hand contains a pair of better, then you win.
The final bet type is to bet on both your hand and the dealers. In order to do this, place a pair plus and an ANTE wager against the posted pay out and against the dealer. This wager works as such, if the player has placed an ANTE wager and a pair plus wager but doesn’t win on the play wager, the player forfeits the other two. It’s a risky wager!
Well, bettors have the choice of playing at one of the many casinos residing in Las Vegas, or they can find an online bookmaker where they can play.
Definitely. It’s a skill-based game, meaning those bettors that have more experience playing 3-card, or poker in general, will have far more chance of making it profitable.
In many ways it’s similar, but others it really isn’t. The principal rules of poker loosely apply, but 3-card is a unique game with unique card rankings.
We have mentioned some of the best bookmakers available to US-based players in this article, as well as pointing our readers in the direction of our guide. We would advise choosing one of these. But as for which is best, that’s down to the individual.
There are constantly new casinos popping up in Las Vegas, as well as the classic casinos that are recognized across the globe. It’s down to the individual bettor in Vegas to decide which takes their fancy, as all of them provide 3 card poker.
