The hot table game is finally live. Live 3 Card Poker is giving two the same experiences of Las Vegas casino games; playing with the dealer and winning based on good cards. Recently, a lot of players have been winning well in live casino games, which include this variant of poker card game. How this 3-card poker card game is played and how does it differ from the original version of the game? The 3-card poker is based on its name poker. As an interested player, you need to understand the rules of the game first before betting for real money.
The rules of the game
The 3-card poker game is played face up between the player’s and dealer’s hands. The three cards are dealt with by both the dealer and the player after putting all the ante wagers. The players can fold or continue playing the game by placing a play wager, which is equal to the Ante wager. The hands are exposed and then the wagers are resolved. The dealer’s hand should be Queen high or better to continue playing. Once the dealer doesn’t play, both dealer’s and the player’s hands are compared. When the player’s hand loses, the ante and play wagers will be lost. When the player’s hand wins, both the ante and play wagers get paid 1:1. Once the hands are tied, no action is done on either wager.
Understand the wagering
Live Dealers for 3 Card Poker are real people that you can talk with through camera. Playing live lets you feel that you are in a real-world casino. In the 3-card poker games, there are two different wagers, ante and pair plus wagers.
- Ante wager is an initial wager placed by the player before the cards are dealt with to compete with the dealer.
- Pair plus wager is a bet that the hand of the player will be a pair/better.
Note: The pair plus wager wins once the hand of the player has a pair of twos. The payoffs will apply whatever the dealer’s hand has; since the pair plus wager is not about competing against the hands of the dealer. Most of the casinos are offering an ante bonus. It is paid on the ante wager for a better or a straight. The standard ante bonus paytable is paying according to the following:
- Straight plus (5-1)
- Three of a kind (4-1)
- Straight (1-1)
Both ante bonus and pair plus wager pay, whether the dealer’s hand is beaten.
Ante play vs. play plus
The Original Game of three-card poker was played in the physical casinos until the evolution of online casinos was introduced. Thus, variants of the game appeared, which were created by game developers modifying some of the themes while keeping the gameplay original. In the ante-play option, a player will match up the hand against the dealer’s hand. Many players today are betting on both the pair plus and on the ante-play, any pair or better wins. Some players may ask about the best way to split the bet between the mentioned two options or bet both.
On ante-play, it has differences on the house edges. The edge has 3.37% or 2.01% of total action. On a pair plus, the house edge is 7.8%. With this, it is assumed that the pair plus is paying the following:
- Straight plus (40-1)
- Three of a kind (30-1)
- Straight (6-1)
- Flush (3-1)
- Pair (1-1)
When checking the original paytable, you will have Flushes get paid 4-1 rather than 3-1. Thus, if you are a three-card poker player, you need to know this since it still applies in the live version of the game.