Key facts
- You make an ante, see three cards, then either fold or place a play bet equal to the ante. The dealer needs queen high or better to qualify.
- Optimal strategy is one line: play Q-6-4 or better, fold anything worse. Our exact calculation puts the cut-off between Q-6-4 (play) and Q-6-3 (fold).
- With the Queensland ante bonus (1, 4 and 5 to 1), the ante and play game has a 3.37% house edge on the ante, or 2.01% of everything you bet, in our calculation.
- The ACT's approved ante bonus pays less (1, 3 and 4 to 1), which lifts the edge to 3.83% of the ante.
- Pair plus is a separate bet: 3.49% house edge on the Queensland paytable, but 7.28% on the ACT paytable, in our calculation.
Three card poker in one minute
Three card poker is a house-banked game where your three cards play against the dealer's three. You decide once per hand: fold and lose your ante, or match it with a play bet and see if you beat the dealer. Play Q-6-4 or better and the game costs you about 3.4% of your ante on Queensland rules. That is the whole strategy; everything else on this page is the maths behind it.
There is also an optional side bet, pair plus, that pays on your own hand and ignores the dealer completely. Its price varies a lot between rule books, as the tables below show.
How a round works
The steps below follow schedule 12 of the Queensland Casino Gaming Rule. The ACT's approved rules for Casino Canberra use the same structure.
- Bet. Place an ante. You may also place a pair plus bet.
- Deal. You and the dealer each get three cards face down, from a single 52-card deck.
- Decide. Look at your cards. Fold (you lose the ante and any pair plus) or place a play bet equal to your ante.
- Dealer qualifies? The dealer's hand needs queen high or better. The Queensland layout must carry the words "dealer only plays with queen or higher".
- Settle. If the dealer does not qualify, your ante pays 1 to 1 and your play bet is returned. If the dealer qualifies, the higher hand wins both the ante and the play bet at even money. Equal hands stand off.
- Bonuses. The ante bonus pays on a straight or better, and pair plus pays on a pair or better, whatever the dealer holds.
One rule worth knowing: in both rule books casino staff must not advise you how to play, beyond making sure the rules are followed. You need to bring the strategy with you.
Three card poker hand rankings and odds
With only three cards, the usual order flips in one place: a straight beats a flush, because straights are rarer. Ace counts high in A-K-Q and low in A-2-3, which Queensland ranks as the lowest straight.
| Hand | Example | Hands out of 22,100 | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 7-8-9 of hearts | 48 | 0.22% |
| Three of a kind | Q-Q-Q | 52 | 0.24% |
| Straight | 10-J-Q, mixed suits | 720 | 3.26% |
| Flush | K-9-4 of clubs | 1,096 | 4.96% |
| Pair | 8-8-K | 3,744 | 16.94% |
| High card | Q-7-3 | 16,440 | 74.39% |
For the five card order used in Texas Hold'em and most other games, see our poker hand rankings guide.
The paytables: Queensland and the ACT differ
Both rule books pay the ante and play bets at even money. The bonus payouts are where they part ways.
| Hand | Ante bonus, QLD | Ante bonus, ACT | Pair plus, QLD | Pair plus, ACT |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 5 to 1 | 4 to 1 | 40 to 1 | 40 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 4 to 1 | 3 to 1 | 25 to 1 | 30 to 1 |
| Straight | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 | 6 to 1 | 6 to 1 |
| Flush | nil | nil | 4 to 1 | 3 to 1 |
| Pair | nil | nil | 1 to 1 | 1 to 1 |
Queensland pays the ante bonus whether or not your hand wins and whether or not the dealer qualifies. The ACT pays it only if you have placed a play bet, which you always would with a straight or better anyway.
Three card poker odds: the house edge on every bet
We worked out every combination exactly: all 22,100 player hands against the 18,424 dealer hands that can be dealt from the remaining 49 cards, with the best play or fold decision for each hand.
| Bet (with optimal play) | Queensland paytable | ACT paytable |
|---|---|---|
| Ante and play, edge on the ante | 3.37% | 3.83% |
| Ante and play, edge on all money bet | 2.01% | 2.28% |
| Pair plus | 3.49% | 7.28% |
You play 67.4% of hands, so your average total bet is 1.67 times the ante. The two edge figures above describe the same game: the first divides your expected loss by the ante, the second by everything you put on the table.
Worked example. At a $10 ante on Queensland rules, your expected loss is about 34 cents per hand. Over 100 hands that is about $33.70. Add a $10 pair plus bet every hand and the expected cost of those 100 hands rises by about $34.90 on the Queensland table, or by about $72.80 on the ACT table. Same bet name, more than double the price. For how these percentages turn into dollars across any game, see our explainer on the house edge.
Why Q-6-4 is the line
The dealer qualifies 69.6% of the time. When you fold you lose exactly 1 unit, so a hand is worth playing when its average result after a play bet is better than minus 1. Our calculation gives these values for each unit of ante:
| Your hand | Average result if you play | Fold loses | Decision |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q-8-7 | minus 0.89 | 1.00 | Play |
| Q-6-5 | minus 0.99 | 1.00 | Play |
| Q-6-4 | minus 0.99 | 1.00 | Play, just |
| Q-6-3 | minus 1.00 (slightly worse) | 1.00 | Fold |
| Q-5-4 | worse again | 1.00 | Fold |
The gap is tiny at the border, so the simpler alternatives are worth pricing:
| Strategy | House edge on ante, QLD | House edge on ante, ACT |
|---|---|---|
| Play Q-6-4 or better (optimal) | 3.37% | 3.83% |
| Play any queen high or better | 3.45% | 3.90% |
| Play every hand, never fold | 7.65% | 8.11% |
Mimicking the dealer (play any queen or better) costs you less than a tenth of a percent. Never folding more than doubles the cost. If you want one rule to remember, Q-6-4 is it.
Pundit tip: the ante bonus is the reason your ante game is cheaper in Queensland. Without any ante bonus at all, the ante and play game would have an 8.66% edge in our calculation.
Three card poker compared with similar games
Three card poker shares its fold or raise structure with Caribbean stud poker, which uses five cards, a 2x bet and an ace-king qualifier. That game costs more: about 5.2% of the ante on Queensland's paytable. Among dealer-qualify games, the cheapest in our calculations is casino holdem at about 2.2% of the ante.
Playing three card poker in Australia
You can play three card poker at licensed casinos, where the state or territory regulator approves the rules: Victoria's regulator lists 3 Card Poker among the games it has approved for Melbourne's casino. Online it is a different story. Three card poker is a casino-style game, and under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 those games cannot legally be offered online to people in Australia. Playing is not an offence for you, but an offshore site gives you no Australian protection if it keeps your money. Our page on online poker in Australia covers the legal side in full.
Set a limit before you sit down. If the game stops being fun, free and confidential help is on our gambling help australia page.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best strategy in three card poker?
Play any hand of queen, six, four or better and fold anything lower. In our exact calculation a Q-6-4 is worth playing by a fraction of a cent per dollar, and Q-6-3 is not. Any pair or better is always played.
What are the odds in three card poker?
Of the 22,100 possible three card hands, 74.4% are high card, 16.9% a pair, 5.0% a flush, 3.3% a straight, 0.24% three of a kind and 0.22% a straight flush. The dealer qualifies with queen high or better 69.6% of the time.
Is pair plus a good bet?
It depends on the paytable. On the Queensland table (flush 4 to 1, three of a kind 25 to 1) we calculate a 3.49% house edge. On the ACT table (flush 3 to 1, three of a kind 30 to 1) it is 7.28%, more than double.
Why does a straight beat a flush in three card poker?
Because with three cards a flush is easier to make. There are 1,096 flushes but only 720 straights among the 22,100 hands, so the rarer straight ranks higher, exactly as both the Queensland and ACT rule books list it.
Can you play 3 card poker online in Australia?
Not legally from an Australian licensed site. Online casino games such as three card poker cannot be offered to people in Australia under the Interactive Gambling Act 2001. It is played in person at licensed casinos.
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