3 card poker

Can anybody explain the workings of 3 card poker, and should I play ?

http://wizardofodds.com/threecardpoker

This is the other site of the Wizard. Have fun. I'd also recommend that you play one of the free games before playing it for real.

Three-card poker is a "baby's" game. It's mindless fun, if you're a beginner. Soon, you will get sick of losing your money and move on to the "real man's" games of Blackjack and Craps :)

Basically you are dealt three cards and must make a poker hand out of those three cards only. You can choose to bet your hand or fold (you have already put up an ante). Straight is higher than a flush in this game. If you beat the dealer, you get paid on your bet. If you beat the dealer and she has a queen or higher, you get paid on the ante as well.

Almost everybody plays the "pair plus" which is a generally horrible bonus bet that (short) pays you for getting various hands like three of a kind and straight flush.

Should you play? I would say no. But lots of people find it fun, and I can't say you shouldn't gamble at all, since the point is to have fun.

It's not the worst table game out there, but it is mindless: simply raise on a Q-6-4 or better. Look for the best table on the pairs plus (1-4-6-30-40), bonus (1-4-5), HA 2.32%. Stay away from 1-3-6 games as they will have a HA at about 7% and will really kill your bankroll.

Because you only get a pair or higher 25.6% of the time, expect to go down alot in this game. You will only get a flush or better on about 8.5% of hands.

The HA on the regular game is 3.37% with an element of risk of 2.01%.

So on a $10 table with pairs plus and the ante, at 30 hands per hour, expect to lose: .0232 x 300 + .337 x 300 = $17.07/hr.

If I need some mindless fun I will play this game but only for a limited time.