Casino 3 Card Poker Tips

Casino.org’s Poker Freeroll Verdict Freeroll poker is great because it gives players the chance to practice their skills in a way that using free play, fake money does not. Three Card Poker, or 3 Card Poker, has rapidly become a casino standard. In the United States, it’s the most popular of recently developed poker-based table games, and it’s becoming a player favorite at online casinos, too. It’s an easy game to play, but a little knowledge, skill and strategy are needed for the maximum shot to win.

Usually, when someone mentions poker, we think about one of the game variations played against other players. Whether it’s Hold’em, Omaha, or some other variant, and whether you play it in a poker room or at home, your goal is to win chips off of other players at the table.

However, casinos have come up with several games that have its roots in popular poker variants, but are played against the house instead. Like all other table games, these have an inherent house edge so your skills can only help you so much. 3-Card Poker is one of the most popular options in this group.

3-Card Poker is a very simple and straightforward game that doesn’t force you to make any complicated decisions. It’s a great choice if you’re just looking to blow off some steam or have a bit of fun in the casino pit as the house edge is around 2%, provided you stick to the rather simple basic strategy for the game.

3-Card Poker Rules

While there can be several players playing at the table at any given time, your only goal in 3-Card poker is to beat the dealer. Whether you win or lose in a hand has nothing to do with what other players are dealt or what decisions they make.

To start with, you’ll place the Ante wager and, optionally, the Pair Plus wager.

Once all bets are in, the dealer will give all players three cards, face down, and they’ll take three cards for themselves, also face down, so you won’t know what you’re up against.

Once you’ve had a chance to check your hand, you’ll decide whether you want to keep on playing or fold. If you fold, you’ll give up on the chance to win the hand and the dealer will collect your ante bet.

If you want to play on, you’ll need to place the Play bet, which is equal to the size of the Ante bet. After all players have made their decisions, the dealer will turn over their hand and there will be a showdown.

Payouts in 3-Card Poker

When you get to a showdown, your hope is to have beaten the dealer’s qualifying hand. If they have a hand that’s Queen-high or better and you beat them, you’ll get paid even money on both your Ante bet and your Play bet.

If their hand is Jack-high or worse, the dealer doesn’t qualify, and you’ll only get paid even money on the Ante bet, while the Play bet is pushed back to you (i.e., no profit or loss).

There are also bonus payouts if you win the Ante bet with a straight or better.

The Pair Plus bet is optional and it’s not tied to the outcome of the hand. You’re basically betting that you’ll get dealt a pair or better. If that happens, regardless of whether you win or lose the actual hand, you’ll get paid on the Pair Plus bet according to the separate payout table, which usually looks something like this:

• One pair: 1 to 1
• Flush: 4 to 1
• Straight: 5 to 1
• Trips: 30 to 1
• Straight flush: 40 to 1

Playing 6-Card Bonus

Another type of side bet usually available in 3-Card Poker is the 6-Card Bonus wager. For this one, you’ll need to combine all six cards, your own and the dealer’s, to make a hand.

Payouts for 6-Card bonus start from three of a kind and go up to a 6-card straight flush (9 through Ace of the same suit), which usually pays 1,000 to 1.

In some casinos, there is also a progressive jackpot that can be won if you get lucky and make the 6-card straight flush in diamonds, often paying six-figure amounts.

This 10% Progressive on 3 Card Poker was struck by a Straight Flush for $9,684 jackpot. #commercecasinopic.twitter.com/yuteu3FEeA

— Commerce Casino (@CommerceCasino) June 22, 2019

Basic 3-Card Poker Strategy

You don’t get to make many decisions in any individual hand of 3-Card Poker. The only thing which you have control over is whether you’ll continue in a hand or not once you receive the three cards.

As the general rule of thumb, if your hand is Q64xx or better you should continue. Otherwise, you should fold and give up your Ante bet. By sticking to this strategy, you’ll ensure the house doesn’t have the bigger edge than 2%.

Of course, like with almost all table games, side bets have worse odds than the actual game, so they’re a bad idea from the purely mathematical perspective. On the other hand, they definitely make 3-Card Poker a much more exciting and dynamic game with the potential for big scores, so it boils down to what you’re looking for when you sit down to play.

Either way, 3-Card Poker is a fairly reasonable table game that’s not hard to learn and you can play a decent number of hands without digging too deep into your wallet. Plus, if you go on a bit of a lucky run and get dealt a few strong hands, you can still win big without risking crazy amounts of cash.

Other Posts You'll Enjoy

• Three Alternative Card Games to Poker

  Another great article for the Cardplayer Lifestyle poker blog from a guest contributor.

• The Benefits of Playing Table Game Versions of Poker

  While poker-themed table games at casinos tend to be scoffed at by poker purists, they can still provide a welcome respite when you're just looking…

• Poker Rooms Should Start Spreading Wild Card Games

  We at Cardplayer Lifestyle think it's high time some innovations be made in live poker rooms, namely the introduction of wild card poker games. Check…

• Auction News: Playing Cards, Cheating, Poker Literature, and More

  Many fans of poker are also fans of collecting. If that statement describes you, you'll probably love to know all about the upcoming auction of…

• Give Wild Card Poker Games a Chance

  Tired of Texas Hold'em? Only Omaha for you? Simply sick of Stud? Cardplayer Lifestyle recommends you add some spice to your poker sessions by trying…

• A Comprehensive Guide to Chinese Poker

  You may or may not have heard of Chinese Poker and Open Face Chinese Poker, but either way, the rules and what the games are…

Table Of Contents

Are you looking for the best blackjack strategy to maximise your winning odds when you play online? You'll love these tips.

Finding a way to get higher chances to win at blackjack shouldn't be so hard.

The basic strategy is the best way to play blackjack — and when you combine it with some strategy tips on bankroll management and what to do after you win, you have really reached the maximum you can.

In other words, if you are looking for the best blackjack betting strategy to increase your chances to win, you'll love this guide.

In the parts that follow you will find:

• And lots more

We also put together a collection of the best bonuses to play online. This way, you can use those freebies to test the blackjack basic strategy and all the tips in this article.

Play 3 Card Poker Casino

Register a FREE account and claim your bonus to play online blackjack!

What this guide is NOT

• A collection of tips to win at blackjack
• A list of systems that promise to make blackjack profitable
• The illusion that you can beat the game

Blackjack is a gambling game where the casino has an advantage. It doesn't matter what approach you take or what blackjack strategy you follow. In the long run, the casino always wins.

Why Follow a Blackjack Betting Strategy?

Let's face it - we have all been there. We have all looked for the best and the most effective strategy to win at blackjack after we lost our first hands online.

With the right blackjack strategy it's possible to increase your winning chances, and that's because blackjack isn't a gambling game like roulette, video poker, or slots.

If you follow the basic betting strategy and you learn how to use the information you have at your disposal, you can reach optimal play giving yourself the best chances to win include in the game.

Professional players have worked hard to 'solve' the game of blackjack and find how to play each hand to get the best winning odds.

Casino 4 Card Poker

They analysed how the number of decks in play affects your chances to win and how you can make the best decision based on the cards you see on the table.

• That's what they call the 'blackjack basic strategy. A list of dos and don'ts where you find exactly how you are supposed to play each and every hand you are dealt.

This is the best strategy for blackjack.

The goal of the blackjack basic strategy isn't to help you win at blackjack every time you play. That's impossible. Instead, it is to help you maximize your winning chances and to minimize your losses.

That's also the goal of this guide. We don't list all the strategies for blackjack out there. Instead, we focus only on the best blackjack strategies that are known to work and should help you get better results when you play.

Starting from the tips and tricks included in our cheat-sheet.

READ ALSO: How to play online blackjack with friends.

What Is the Blackjack Basic Strategy?

Knowing how to manage your money is as important in blackjack as it is in all gambling games. A correct 'bankroll management' is essential when you play — regardless of the blackjack strategies you apply to your games.

Knowing how to bet (and how much) and how to select the right game when you play online blackjack for real money is extremely important.

Once you have those basics covered, you can move into the basic blackjack strategy and learn how you are supposed to invest your money once the dealer gives you the initial two cards.

As soon as the cards reach you and the dealer opens one of their cards, you have to make your first choice. In a game of blackjack, that means you need to pick one of these options:

• Stand
• Hit
• Double
• Split
• Surrender

Do you know why the basic blackjack strategy is also considered to be the best way to discover how to win at blackjack? Because it uses basic logic.

Would you hit if your first two cards gave you 20 points? Of course not.

Casino Three Card Poker

Would you stand if your starting hand was worth five points? Not a chance.

While these choices are very simple on hands like the ones I use in my example, things get (a lot) more complicated with different cards on the table.

Let me give you a few examples.

• How do you play soft 17 in blackjack?
• When do you hit on a 16?
• What to do with 15 in blackjack?

This is where the basic blackjack strategy comes in to help you get the best chances to win.

This collection of tips shows you the optimal play for every blackjack hands, calculating your winning odds in combination with the dealer's open card.

The basic strategy to win at blackjack has nothing to do with concepts like card counting or any of those tricks some 'clever' players adopt to beat the house.

This is a simple-to-use guideline that shows you exactly how you are supposed to play every possible hand of blackjack. Use it to know when it is recommended to hit, to stand, or to do something else.

Key:
S = Stand
H = Hit
Dh = Double (if not allowed, then hit)
Ds = Double (if not allowed, then stand)
SP = Split
SU = Surrender (if not allowed, then hit)

A Blackjack Cheat Sheet

To make things even easier for you and help you follow the best betting strategy whenever you play blackjack, we created a quick cheat-sheet with the basic strategy explained in full.

Download the blackjack cheat-sheet (it's free) and print it or save it on your mobile phone to keep it always with you when you play.

The blackjack basic strategy cheat-sheet is 100% legal and you can use it both when you play online and at a brick-and-mortar casino.

A Conservative Blackjack Strategy

Don't play high-stakes games unless you feel ready for them and you have enough money to spend on online games.

If you are reading this blackjack strategy guide and you are a beginner, you should be afraid of high-stakes games.

When you spend too much money on your games, you risk getting the opposite of what you want. You play to have fun and to find out how to get more chances to win at blackjack - and you end broke and frustrated.

The best way to play blackjack is to start with what I call a conservative approach. Because finding the right way top handle betting in blackjack is key to long-term fun.

Like many blackjack strategies suggest, you should increase the stakes only when things go well and any potential losses are compensated by the money you have already won, not the one you might win if you get lucky.

In other words, raise your bet every time you win.

Many players believe wins and losses come in streaks. They think you might lose five or six times in a row — but when you win…you are not going to do it just once.

Obviously, that's not true.

Blackjack is a gambling game and there are no patterns for you to exploit or streaks that you can use to win more money every time you play.

There are, however, smart betting strategies like the basic blackjack strategy that can help you increase the chances of a victory.

With that in mind, a conservative blackjack strategy works like this:

• Start from the lowest bet (e.g. $1)
• Increase your bet by 1 unit only after you win
• Go back to the original bet after you lose

When you use this blackjack strategy, you need to go back to the original bet as soon as you lose one hand. This is the best way to be in control of your money and end a gaming session in the black.

All you need to do is to make the right choices (use the basic strategy) and raise your stakes little by little - but only when you win.

READ ALSO: Bets sites to play live dealer blackjack online.

An Aggressive Approach to Blackjack: the Martingale Strategy

The Martingale betting strategy sits at the opposite side of the spectrum. This is the perfect blackjack strategy for those players who:

• Play blackjack to win a lot of money
• Can afford to lose a lot of money
• Don't fear the swing of big losses

In other words, this is the perfect blackjack strategy for big spenders but isn't one that you should try if you are still a beginner who is looking for ways to learn how to play blackjack.

The Martingale blackjack strategy is expensive. This is a blackjack system that will help you win often - but only when I have a lot of money to invest on your games.

If you can't spend at least $500 on your games - the Martingale is not the best blackjack strategy for you.

But if you do — continue reading to discover how to use this betting strategy to increase your chances to win.

In short:

The Martingale strategy is the exact opposite of the conservative approach to betting in blackjack we have just seen.

When you follow this strategy, you need to double your bet every time you lose. Which, in case of a losing streak, can become very expensive very quickly.

The rationale of this audacious blackjack betting strategy is that you will need only one win to go back to square one and recoup all your losses in one hand.

The caveat is: your bankroll needs to be deep enough for you to play and play until that one win comes.

Again, this isn't a betting strategy for beginners. If you decide to try it, make sure your bankroll covers at least 10 consecutive losses from the hand #1.

1-3-2-6 Blackjack Betting System

The 1-3-2-6 blackjack betting strategy is not as exciting as the Martingale strategy, and that's a good thing. This betting strategy doesn't require a huge bankroll and is a lot more suitable for players looking for a way to have better chances to win at blackjack without investing a fortune in the game.

The numbers in the strategy's name indicate the way you should bet after you win a hand of blackjack.

You first winning is the trigger that starts the sequence while your first losing hand is the one that ends everything.

This blackjack betting strategy is built to get the most value out of winning streaks. If you are lucky enough to use it at the beginning of a four-hand winning streak, you are in for a treat.

Casino 3 Card Poker Tips

READ ALSO: How to play blackjack for beginners.

How to Win More Often at Blackjack: A Few Important Tips

We all want to win at blackjack every time we play, but we also know that's impossible.

What is possible, however, is to maximise your chances to win and get better winning odds when you play blackjack online. All it takes a few simple tips.

Follow them carefully, as these blackjack tips are as important as the best blackjack betting strategy.

• Don't spend money on the 'insurance'. The insurance bet is a money-draining option created to confuse beginners. All the best blackjack strategies fail to mention is for one simple reason: no real blackjack player will ever spend their money on it.

• Think about the house edge. Like we said when we went through some of the game's best betting strategies, you can't expect to win at blackjack every time you play.

  Like all other casino games, the house edge is what makes sure that the casino has an advantage over the players in the long run. With that in mind, the next of our blackjack tips is one that can make a great difference for you.

• Set a budget and abide to that. Experienced blackjack players know that you need to set a losing and a winning limit before the first hand is dealt.

  Stop playing as soon as you hit one of them. If you lose and hit your lower limit, take a break and end your session.

  If you win and you hit your highest limit, collects your winnings and leave the table. You can continue to play if you want, but you'll need to set a new bankroll and establish new limits first.

• Don't miss the rules sheet. Trust me, there are more blackjack variations that you will ever play. All of them are based on the same core gameplay — but adopt rules that could break you if you aren't ready for them

  One of the best parts of playing online is that the rules are always available at the table. If you are not sure you know everything about the game you want to play, click on the 'info' icon and read the rules.

• Choose 3:2 over 6:5 payout. Different casinos have different payout policies - and not all of them are great for you.

  Make sure you read the payout table before you begin to play a hand of real money blackjack and always choose the games with the 'regular' 3:2 payout. These are a much smarter choice compared to the 6:5 payout blackjack games you find at some online casino sites.

Use Bonuses to Find Your Favourite Blackjack Strategy

Now that you know what are the best blackjack strategies, there is only one thing left: play a few games online to find out which one works best for you.

Here's what you should fo to get the best results:

1. Base all your decisions on the basic blackjack strategy
2. Pick the betting strategy that suits your bankroll
3. Follow all the blackjack strategy tips above to maximise your chances to win

To help you find the right games and the right betting strategy, we created a list of the best blackjack bonuses on the market.

All the sites you find in the list are licensed, pay winnings fast, and offer lots of blackjack games. Pick the ones with the best offers, register an account (it's always free), and sit at the blackjack table to start an epic battle with the dealer!