Three-card poker gaining popularity at casinos

Everyone knows good things come in threes: the Holy Trinity, the Three Stooges and of course, the Three Amigos.

It's no surprise, then, that a growing number of Bay Area card rooms and casinos are embracing a variation on traditional poker that involves - you guessed it - three cards instead of five.

Three-card poker offers decent odds and stellar payouts for certain "bonus" hands. It's also a nice alternative for novice gamblers who enjoy poker, but aren't comfortable worrying about five cards on every hand.

Like Pai-Gow poker, three-card consists of two separate games: a traditional ante-and-play game, plus a bonus payout game.

In the ante-and-play game, a player must make a minimum bet (usually $5) to receive cards, after which he or she is dealt three cards apiece. Once the player sees these cards, he or she has two options: fold and lose the ante bet, or raise by placing out a bet of equal money to the ante bet.

Players who raise the ante bet compete with the dealer (or dealer-banker, in those card rooms where it is illegal to run house-backed games) head-to-head. To qualify for the game, the dealer must have a hand of queen-high or better; if not, all ante bets are paid out at even money and the play bets are returned.

If the dealer does qualify, players win when their hands are of higher value and they get paid out even money on both the ante and the play bets.

The bonus payout game is separate and entirely optional. Players who bet in the bonus circle and have raised the ante bet are rewarded for hands of three-of-a-kind or better. These bonuses are paid out regardless of whether the dealer qualifies or whether the player wins or loses.

It's like hitting a mini-jackpot, and payouts usually begin at 3-to-1 for a flush.

At the newly renovated 101 Casino in Petaluma, three-card poker runs at least one table every night. Weekend nights are three times as busy, says Mabel Conti, a shift supervisor.

While bonus prizes don't offer true odds (in which case payouts would be higher), players do receive 6-to-1 payout for a straight, 30-to-1 for three-of-a-kind, and 200-to-1 for a royal flush, says Conti. That means a $5 bet in the bonus circle would pay out $150 in the case of a set.

"You don't have to know a lot about poker to play this game and win," she says, noting that the maximum bet is $200. "You get three cards, they are what they are and that's it."

Three other Northern California gaming floors to offer three-card poker: River Rock Casino in Geyserville (Sonoma County), Cache Creek Casino in Brooks (Yolo County) and Thunder Valley Casino in Lincoln (Sacramento County).

San Francisco Chronicle

News Added: 12 June, 2008

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