Free Three Card Poker
The casino table game, played against the dealer for chips that are worth nothing, with the one decision it asks of you checked every hand.
Play chips
1,000
No real money, no prizes, nothing to buy.
One deck · shuffled every hand
25 chips down, and 25 more if you play.
- Pair Plus pays, to 1:
- Straight flush 40 · Three of a kind 30 · Straight 6 · Flush 3 · Pair 1
- Ante Bonus pays, to 1:
- Straight flush 5 · Three of a kind 4 · Straight 1
Session coach
Last round
Nothing played yet. After each of your hands the coach says what the round cost and what decided it.
Decide the cost before you start
Gambling is entertainment with a price, like a concert ticket. The useful question is not how much you might win but how much the evening is allowed to cost. Pick that number first, and treat reaching it as the end of the session. You can set one below and the coach will hold you to it.
Next bet
25 chips at a 3.37% house edge: an expected cost of 0.8 chips.
- Hands played
- 0
- Chips bet in total
- 0
- Bets raised after a loss
- 0
Where the result came from
- House edge, on average
- 0
- Decisions on strategy
- None yet
- Your off-strategy plays
- 0
- Luck
- 0
- Result
- 0
The report fills in as you play. See the odds on every bet at this table
Set a session limit
Your leaks
None recorded. A spot you play off the best strategy is listed here so you can practise it, and drops off once you get it right three times running. The list is kept in this browser only.
This table is for practice and entertainment only. How to keep gambling safe
Strategy coach
Every play or fold is checked against the Q-6-4 rule, the correct play for this game. The cards decide whether a hand wins. The decision is the part you control.
This session
- Hands played
- 0
- Decisions on strategy
- None yet
- Net chips
- 0
- Expected in total
- 0
- Expected, Ante and Play
- 0
- 0 in Antes at 3.37%
- Expected, Pair Plus
- 0
- 0 bet at 7.28%
Expected is each bet's house edge taken on the chips you put on it. The Ante figure assumes every decision follows the rule, so playing off it costs more. A short session swings well away from both in either direction.
Built by Alexander Korsager · last updated October 3, 2026 · corrections
- House edge on the Ante, played by the Q-6-4 rule
- 3.37%
- House edge on Pair Plus at this pay table
- 7.28%
- Of hands the rule plays, folding the rest
- 67.4%
- Of hands the dealer qualifies on
- 69.6%
01 / 03
One decision, checked every hand
Three Card Poker is a casino table game, not a poker room game.
You play one hand against the dealer, there are no other players to read or bluff, and nothing is raised or called. It shares hand rankings with Texas Hold'em and little else: you get three cards, the dealer gets three, and you make a single choice between putting up a second bet to play or folding.
Dealer
You
- Play
- A second bet, always equal to the Ante
- Fold
- Gives up the Ante
No other players, no raises, no draw. This choice is the only one the game asks for.
That choice is solved.
Play Q-6-4 or better and fold anything worse, and the Ante costs about 3.37% of itself on average, which is the lowest it goes. The coach checks each play or fold against that rule and says what the right call was and why, while the cards are still in front of you.
King high
Play
Queen-6-4
Play
Queen-6-3
Fold
Jack high
Fold
The rule plays 67.4% of the 22,100 possible hands and folds the other 32.6%.
It is deliberately honest about what practice buys.
The rule does not beat the game, it only keeps the cost down, and the optional Pair Plus bet has no decision in it at all. The session panel prices the two separately, because at this pay table Pair Plus costs 7.28% of every chip put on it.
- Ante, played by the rule3.37%
- Pair Plus here, flush pays 3 to 17.28%
No decision in it: the cards pay or they do not.
- Pair Plus where a flush pays 4 to 12.32%
A table this one does not deal, for comparison.
House edge as a share of the chips on that bet. The Ante figure assumes every decision followed the rule.
02 / 03
Rules at this table
| Hand | Pays | Of 22,100 hands |
|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 40 to 1 | 48 |
| Three of a kind | 30 to 1 | 52 |
| Straight | 6 to 1 | 720 |
| Flush | 3 to 1 | 1,096 |
| Pair | 1 to 1 | 3,744 |
Optional, and paid on your own three cards alone. Anything less than a pair loses it.
| Hand | Pays | Of 22,100 hands |
|---|---|---|
| Straight flush | 5 to 1 | 48 |
| Three of a kind | 4 to 1 | 52 |
| Straight | 1 to 1 | 720 |
Paid on the Ante whenever you play a straight or better, whatever the dealer holds.
- One 52-card deck, shuffled before every hand.
- You and the dealer get three cards each. The dealer's stay face down until you decide.
- Hands rank, from the top: straight flush, three of a kind, straight, flush, pair, high card. A straight beats a flush here.
- Bet the Ante to be dealt in. Then either make the Play bet, which always equals the Ante, or fold.
- Folding gives up the Ante and any Pair Plus bet.
- The dealer needs queen high or better to qualify. If the dealer does not qualify, the Ante pays 1 to 1 and the Play bet is returned.
- If the dealer qualifies, the higher hand wins: Ante and Play each pay 1 to 1 when yours is higher, both lose when it is lower, and both are returned on a tie.
Each spot takes 5 to 500 chips, and the table only takes an Ante you can also cover a Play bet for.
- P
- Play
- F
- Fold
- Enter
- Deal
FAQ
- Is this Three Card Poker game played for real money?
- No. The table uses play chips that have no value, cannot be bought, and cannot be cashed out or exchanged for anything. If you run out, you are handed another stack for free. There is no account and nothing to download.
- Is Three Card Poker the same as Texas Hold'em?
- No. Texas Hold'em is played against other players, with shared cards, several rounds of betting and bluffing. Three Card Poker is a house-banked casino table game: you play your three cards against the dealer's three, nobody else's hand affects yours, and the only decision is whether to play or fold. The odds are fixed by the rules, and they favor the house.
- When should I play and when should I fold?
- Play any hand of Q-6-4 or better, which means any pair or better, any ace high or king high, and queen high down to queen, 6, 4. Fold everything else. The rule plays 67.4% of hands and folds the other 32.6%. The coach grades the decision, not the outcome: a correct play can still lose the hand.
- Is the Pair Plus bet worth making?
- It is the more expensive bet on this table. At the pay table dealt here, where a flush pays 3 to 1, Pair Plus costs 7.28% of the chips on it, against 3.37% of the Ante for the main game. A table that pays a flush 4 to 1 brings that down to 2.32%, so the pay table printed on the felt matters more than anything you do. There is no skill in the bet either way.
How this game works
Every hand is dealt from one 52-card deck, shuffled in your browser with a Fisher-Yates shuffle so that every ordering is equally likely. Nothing about the deal depends on your bets, your balance or your results. Hands are ranked the three-card way, where a straight beats a flush because it is rarer: of the 22,100 possible hands, 720 are straights and 1,096 are flushes. The pay tables are read from the same module the Three Card Poker odds tool prices, so the game and the tool cannot disagree.
The coach applies the Q-6-4 rule, which is the standard correct play for this game. The dealer qualifies on 69.6% of hands, and a hand below the cutoff does not win often enough against those to be worth a second bet. The Ante's 3.37% house edge is the published figure for the standard game played by that rule, as cited on the odds tool. Spread over every chip the Ante and Play bets put down it is about 2.01%. The Pair Plus figure of 7.28% is computed from the exact count of each hand and this table's payouts.
The expected figures in the session panel are those two edges taken on the Antes and the Pair Plus bets you have made, and nothing more. The Ante figure assumes every decision followed the rule.
Limits
- The Q-6-4 rule uses only your own three cards. It is not a system for reading the dealer, and it does not turn the game in your favor.
- Pay tables vary by casino. Pair Plus here pays a flush 3 to 1. Other tables pay more or less, and each one has its own house edge.
- Some casinos add side bets that this table does not deal, such as 6 Card Bonus or a progressive.
- Play chips do not feel like money. Decisions that are easy here are harder with a real stake on the table.
This is a practice game for adults. It has no real-money play and links to none. Three Card Poker played for money has a house edge on every bet, and no amount of practice removes it.
Gambling can cause serious harm. The National Problem Gambling Helpline is free, confidential and open 24/7, call or text 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738), or chat at ncpgambling.org/chat.
03 / 03
Go deeper
- Three Card Poker odds Exact hand frequencies, and the house edge on every pay table.
- Poker hand odds How often each five-card poker hand comes up, by exact count.
- House edge comparison What this game costs next to every other game in the casino.
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