Three-card Poker -- for any reader who may have forgotten -- is a poker-based game that uses just three cards per hand and is played on a blackjack table using a 52-card deck. The differences from standard poker are: no further cards are drawn, and players do not compete against each other, but against either the dealer, or against a posted payout schedule.

It’s not only the easiest poker game, but by using a very simple strategy, the house edge drops as low as 2.01%.

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by Mark Pilarski

Video poker is based on the classic game Five Card Stud, which challenges players to compose the best possible five-card hand. The player is dealt five cards with the option of discarding any or all of them for replacement with newly dealt cards. Although video poker and Five Card Stud are kissing cousins, good video poker players don’t necessarily make for good poker players, and vice versa.

There are many important differences, Gary, between video poker and its table game relative. For starters, video poker payoffs are based on a scale, paying players for hands as low as a pair of tens or Jacks all the way up to a Royal Flush.

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by Mark Pilarski

Let It Ride is a variation of five-card stud poker where the player wagers on a poker hand consisting of three cards in the player's hand and two community cards in the dealer’s hand.

Play begins with each player making three bets of equal denomination in spaces labeled (1), (2) and ($). The dealer then gives each player three cards, and two community cards are dealt face down. After seeing his or her first three cards, each player has the option of pulling back their first bet, or, as the game is eponymously named, saying “Let it ride.”

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Dear Mark: What do you think is the most important decision recreational Texas Hold’em players have to make to be successful at the game? Is it what limit to play on, playing tight versus loose, something else? Andy I.

Poker is a unique game in that it allows you to use the laws of probability to maximize the value of your decisions. All Hold’em players begin each hand with this choice: With these two hole cards, should I stay, or should I fold?

You choose at this moment whether to invest money in your hand or not.

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Poker CakeDear Mark: You description of smart “tight” play while playing poker doesn’t jibe with what we see on television. What I see is player after player making “all in” moves with lousy opening hands. Wouldn’t your advice be more appropriate for us small time players to follow the pros, instead of your recommended conservative play? David F.

On television poker, some players at the final table play opening hands that, most, if not all, books on poker would recommend they fold. That coverage, showing the guts-and-glory hands, is to keep you watching the plethora of poker on the telly, but in fact, the pros are playing plenty more hands than you are viewing, and a whole lot more conservatively than the “all in” Jack/four off-suit cowboys you cite. 

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Dear Mark: I love Three Card Poker. My husband says that the only bet I should make when playing the tables is on the Pairs Plus.  Do you have any ideas on that? Also, I hear that Three Card Poker has the best odds behind craps. Is that true? Mary Jo H.

Ah, yes, he clearly speaks with love. Three Card Poker is an exciting poker game that offers two ways to play and four different ways to win. The game is quick, and a snap to learn. No hidden risks to worry about, no troubling calculations.

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Dear Mark: In some casinos that offer Pai Gow Poker, the dealer deals a second hand that is offered to the player. Exactly what is it, and is it worth playing? Billy F.

 That second hand you observed, Billy, is called “the Dragon,“ It’s an additional hand that each player in turn has the option of playing. Essentially, it gives the player the ability to play two positions rather than one. It could also be a community hand for all to play, should someone want to make an additional bet. It is not a required wager, rather a bonus bet.

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Dear Mark: For years I have always played a low pair before the flop, but on one of the television poker shows they said that wasn’t always smart, yet they didn’t give a detailed reason why. What are your thoughts of playing a low pair, such as 2’s or 3’s? Perry H.

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Dear Mark: I happen to be a very tight player when it comes to playing Texas Hold’em. When I get a real decent starting hand like Kings or Aces, I get a little overly excited and bet heavily, which throws bluffing right out the window.  Any ideas on how I can throw off fellow players? Chip B.

Hey, Chip, plenty of players, when getting a two-card starting hand of Kings or Pocket Rockets, froth at the mouth like a diseased coyote. Most players, like yourself, tend to raise, then re-raise with either of these hands. But once you are identified as a very tight player, folding most of the hands you’re dealt, and then all of a sudden you pull a Pickett’s Charge, obviously you ain’t bluffing nobody.

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Dear Mark, Your column stated that when there is more than one royal flush in a game that the hearts would be the highest. What order would follow? Ken

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