Four card poker is a relatively new casino game similar to three card poker, invented by Roger Snow and owned by ShuffleMaster [1].
The player makes an ante bet and may also make an ‘Aces Up’ bet.
Five playing cards are dealt to the player who has to make the best four-card hand possible.
The dealer is dealt five cards face down, and one card face up, a total of six cards. He also he has to make the best four-card hand.
After seeing his cards and the dealer’s face-up card, the player can opt to fold, in which case he receives nothing, or play, by betting between one and three times his ante.
The best four-card hands for player and dealer will be compared according to the following ranking (from best worst):
four-of-a-kind
straight flush
three of a kind
flush
straight
two pairs
pair
high card
If the player has three-of-a-kind or better, he will receive a bonus based on the ante wager as follows: three-of-a-kind: 2 to 1, straight flush 20 – 1, four of a kind 25-1.
The Aces Up bet is resolved independently of the dealer’s hand, purely on the rank of the player’s payout. The specific payout depends on the payout in use, with payouts for a pair-of-aces (pays even money on the Aces Up wager) or better.
The dealer has an advantage in having an extra card from which to select the best four, and the fact that if the player folds, he will lose his ante, even if his hand was better than the dealers. The player gets return from the bonus bet payment and from the ability to raise by more than one unit one the hand is good.
Strategy for when to raise and fold is fairly complex, but with optimal play the ante + play bet has a house edge of about 3.36% of the initial bet [2].
Three Card Poker also called Tricard poker is a poker-based game that has recently become somewhat popular in American casinos. It actually consists of two separate games, Pairplus and Ante and Play. The players can choose to play either or both of the games.
Pairplus
Pairplus is a simple bet on the cards with a payout for all hands of a pair or better. Below are six examples of actual payout tables used by some casinos.
Payoff Tables for Pairplus
Hand
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
Table 5
Table 6
Straight flush
40 to 1
40 to 1
35 to 1
50 to 1
40 to 1
40 to 1
Three of a kind
30 to 1
25 to 1
25 to 1
30 to 1
30 to 1
30 to 1
Straight
6 to 1
6 to 1
6 to 1
6 to 1
5 to 1
6 to 1
Flush
4 to 1
4 to 1
4 to 1
3 to 1
4 to 1
3 to 1
Pair
1 to 1
1 to 1
1 to 1
1 to 1
1 to 1
1 to 1
The house advantage on Pairplus with the payout tables above ranges from 2.3% to 7.3%.
Ante and Play
Normal Ante and Play gameplay
For Ante and Play, the player places an “ante” bet before receiving his cards. With this information, the player can fold his cards and lose the ante bet, or raise by placing out a bet of equal money to the ante bet. If he chooses to play, there are three possibilities. The first is that the dealer does not ‘qualify’. To qualify, the dealer must have a hand of a Queen High or better. If the dealer does not qualify, the ante bet is paid out even money, but the play bet is simply returned. If the dealer does qualify, the player wins if his hand is of higher value than the dealer’s, and gets paid out even money on both his ante and play bets. If the dealer’s hand is of higher value, the dealer takes the Ante and Play bets. Rules vary on what happens when the hands are of exactly equal value: some say that the player simply gets his money back, but others say that the player is paid even money on his bet.
The Ante Bonus
In addition to normal Ante and Play gameplay, there is a bonus payout on the ante bet for especially good hands.
Ante Bonus Payouts
Hand
Table 1
Table 2
Table 3
Table 4
Straight flush
5 to 1
4 to 1
3 to 1
5 to 1
Three of a kind
4 to 1
3 to 1
2 to 1
3 to 1
Straight
1 to 1
1 to 1
1 to 1
1 to 1
These bonus payouts are paid only on the ante bet for any player who chooses to play, regardless of whether the dealer qualifies or whether the player wins or loses.
Chinese poker is a card game that has been played in the Asian community for many years. It has begun to gain popularity in the broader world of game players because it has all the features of a good gambling game:
It is easy to learn.
Anyone who knows the rank of Poker hands can begin playing after a few minutes of instruction.
There is a large element of luck, so that a beginner has a real chance of winning, even against experienced opponents. Also, it is plausible for poor players to attribute bad results to their cards rather than their plays.
There is still enough skill in the game that experts have a significant advantage when playing poor players.
Although it is basically a four player game, it plays well with 2, 3, 5, or even more players. It is fun to play. Unexpected results and interesting hands are common.
Playing a Hand
In Chinese Poker, each player receives a 13 card hand from a standard 52 card deck. He then has to divide his cards into three Poker hands, two containing five cards each and one three card hand. The only restriction is that both five card hands must outrank the three card hand (Note: straights and flushes do not count in the three card hand). The higher ranking of the five card hands, called the Back hand, is placed face down on the table in front of the player. Then the other five card hand, called the Middle hand, is placed face down in front of the Back hand. Finally, the three card hand, called the Front hand, is placed (again face down) in front of the middle hand. When all four players have set their hands, the cards are turned face up and the deal is scored.
Scoring
Many variations of scoring are in common use. Refer to the external links for more information.
Pai gow poker, or double-hand poker, is an Americanized version of Pai Gow, in that Pai Gow Poker is played with playing cards using poker hand rankings while Pai Gow is played with Chinese dominoes.
The game is played with a standard 52-card deck, plus a single joker. It is played on a table set for six players plus the dealer.
Each player is playing against the banker, who may be the casino dealer or one of the other players at the table.
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to create two poker hands out of the seven cards in your hand: A five-card poker hand and a two-card poker hand. The five-card hand must rank higher than your two-card hand. The two-card hand is often called the hand “in front” or “on top”, and the five-card hand is called the hand “behind” or “bottom”, as they are placed that way in front of the player when he is done setting them.
The Deal
The cards are shuffled, and then dealt to the table in seven face-down piles of seven cards, with four cards unused, regardless of the number of people playing.
Betting positions are assigned a number from 1 to 7, starting with whichever player is acting as banker that hand, and counting counter-clockwise around the table. A random number from 1 to 7 is determined (either electronically or manually with dice), and the deal begins with that assigned position and proceeds counter-clockwise.
One common way of using dice to determine the dealer starting number is to roll three six-sided dice, then count betting spots clockwise from the first until the number on the dice is reached.
If a player is not sitting on a particular spot, the hand is still assigned but then placed in the discards with the four unused cards.
Hand Rankings
The only two-card hands are one pair and high cards; no straights, flushes, and so on. The joker plays as a bug: that is, in the five-card hand it can be used to complete a straight or flush, if possible; otherwise it is an ace. In the two-card hand, it always plays as an ace. Five-card hands use standard poker hand rankings, with one exception: in most Nevada casinos, the hand A-2-3-4-5 ranks above a king-high straight, but below the ace-high straight A-K-Q-J-10. In California & Michigan, this rule doesn’t apply. The A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest possible straight.
Determining a Win
If each of your now-separated hands beats the banker’s corresponding hand, then you win your bet. If only one of your hands beats the banker, then you push. If both of your hands lose to the banker, then you lose.
On each individual hand, ties go to the banker (for example, if your five-card hand loses to the banker and your two-card hand ties him, you lose). This gives the banker a small advantage. If you foul your hand, meaning that your low hand outranks your high hand or that there are an incorrect number of cards in each hand, there will be a penalty, either re-arrangement of the hand according to house rules or forfeiture of the hand.
In casino-banked games, the banker is generally required to set their hand in a pre-specified manner called “house way”, so the dealer does not have to implement any strategy in order to beat the players. When a player is banking, he is free to set the hand however he chooses. However, the player has the option of “co-banking” with the house, and if this option is chosen, the player’s hand must also be set the house way.
California casinos typically charge a flat fee per hand, such as 50 cents or one dollar, to play, win or lose. Other casinos take out of winnings a 5% commission. While this seems high, it should be noted that a hand of Pai Gow poker takes a long time to play compared to, say, blackjack, and there are many pushes, so the house doesn’t collect that 5% as often as it would collect the house percentage on other games.
Caribbean Stud Poker differs slightly in the United Kingdom, and most parts of Europe, from the US. The game is officially known as “Casino Five Card Stud Poker”, and not all casinos have the jackpot prize. Those which do have the prize, usually the large chain groups, officially call the game “Casino Jackpot Five Card Stud Poker”. In both instances, the game is commonly referred to as “Casino Stud Poker”.
The basic rules are the same in the UK as the US, although the payouts differ – the maximum bet is generally £100 on the ante and £200 on the raise, and all payouts are paid on the raise, meaning the maximum payout can potentially be £10,000 (a Royal Flush pays at the same odds, 50:1, as a Straight Flush).
Casinos offering the jackpot generally have the card shuffled by a card shuffling machine – the cards are then removed and dealt out by the dealer, or croupier. Independent and small casinos generally have the croupier shuffle the cards by hand.
British casinos do not use the chip dropper system; instead, a £1 chip is placed on a small plastic circle on the table, which lights up. The croupier then presses a button on a panel infront of them, which keeps the lights lit up once the chips are removed. The dealer removes the chips, and can then tell which players are playing the jackpot game and which are not.
If the dealer does not show an Ace/King, hands playing the jackpot must be turned over, face up, and shown to the dealer and table. If the player is not playing the jackpot prize, the cards are not shown.
Caribbean stud poker is a casino table game with rules similar to five card stud poker. However, unlike standard poker games, Caribbean stud is played against the house rather than against other players (and, like most such games, it cannot be beaten in the long run). There is no bluffing or other deception. For these reasons, most poker players do not consider it to be a form of poker. (They do not necessarily feel that it should not be called poker, but means merely that they will not refer to it as simply “poker”. For instance, a gambler might say “I played poker” if he played seven card stud, but probably would not if he played Caribbean stud.)
The following rules are typical of U.S. casinos, but some of the details (the payouts and limits) vary from casino to casino.
To play, every player places his ante on the layout where indicated; all ante wagers must be placed prior to the dealer announcing “No more bets“. Each player and the dealer will then receive 5 cards, face down. The dealer will turn over one of his cards, then push the cards toward the players, after which the players may look at their cards. They may only look at their own cards, and may not discuss what they have with any other player at the table.
Players have the option to play or fold; if they choose to play, they place their bets (twice the amount of their respective ante) in the bet box. If they choose to fold, they forfeit their ante. After all the players have made their decisions, the dealer reveals his hole cards. The dealer only plays with an ace/king or higher; he then compares his cards to the players’ cards (individually, right to left), and the best poker hand wins.
There are some major rules in Caribbean Stud Poker that must be observed at all times while playing:
Only one hand per player. Players cannot hold or wager on multiple hands at the table.
Players choosing to play the Progressive Payout feature are responsible for ensuring their $1 wager has been inserted into slot and the “Indicator Light” is ON.
Players may not exchange or communicate information regarding their hands to other players or the dealer. Player violation will result in a dead hand and forfeiture of all wagers.
Incorrect amount of cards to the player constitutes a dead hand (or push) for that player only.
The decision of the table/casino supervisor is final.
If the dealer is dealt four cards of the five-card hand, the dealer shall deal an additional card to complete the hand. Any other misdeal to the dealer shall result in all hands being void and the cards shall be reshuffled.
Each player shall be required to keep the five cards in full view of the dealer at all times. Once each player has examined his or her cards and placed them face down on the layout, they may not touch the cards again.
If a hole card is exposed prior to the dealer announcing No More Bets, all hands shall be void.
If a player’s cards beat the dealer’s cards, the player will receive even money (1-1) on the ante, and the following on his bet (with a maximum payout of $5,000 U.S. Dollars per hand on each bet wager):
Royal flush
100 to 1
Straight flush
50 to 1
Four of a kind
20 to 1
Full house
7 to 1
Flush
5 to 1
Straight
4 to 1
Three of a kind
3 to 1
Two pair
2 to 1
One pair or less
1 to 1
If the dealer does not have at least ace/king, all bet wagers will be void, and players will receive even money on their ante bet only. If the dealer’s cards beat a player’s cards, the dealer collects both the ante and bet.
In addition, in Caribbean stud poker, players can also bet on their poker hands and win the “progressive feature”; this is done by dropping a 1.00 dollar gaming chip into the chip acceptor on the table after placing the ante. Players with a flush or higher win, regardless of the outcome of their table bets:
Royal Flush
100% of Progressive Meter
Straight Flush
10% of Progressive Meter
Four-of-a-Kind
$500
Full House
$100
Flush
$50
Winning progressive payout hands are paid in accordance with the amount on the meter when it is the player’s turn to be paid. However, if more than one player at a table has a royal flush progressive payout hand, each player shares equally in the amount on the meter when the first player with a royal flush is to be paid.
Three Card Poker also called Tricard poker is a poker-based game that has recently become somewhat popular in American casinos. It actually consists of two separate games, Pairplus and Ante and Play. The players can choose to play either or both of the games.
