3 Card Brag

3 Card Brag is a game played here at England. Since this being a card game I was hoping if there were any counting system or strategy for this game so that I can win all my friends money :D :D

Quote: danielcahill

3 Card Brag is a game played here at England. Since this being a card game I was hoping if there were any counting system or strategy for this game so that I can win all my friends money :D :D

Welcome.

Counting works for games where multiple rounds are played between shuffles.

My understanding is that 3 Card Brag is not dealt in this way. The cards are dealt, the round is played, the cards are gathered up and shuffled, and then the next round is played.

There might be other options, but I wouldn't look to counting to gain an edge. I would consider many of the "other options" to be cheating (by exerting a control over a shuffle, effecting a stacking of the deck - or even something more base), and I do not recommend them in any game for stakes. The few options that do not require exerting a control would be extremely difficult and highly unreliable.

I don't know much about this game but thought it was more of a home gambling game and somewhat related to what we would call Guts here in the U.S..

I have seen Three Card Brag offered in UK casinos - similar, or possibly identical, to Three Card Poker.

When I was a kid, the top hand that could be dealt was three threes, as opposed to three aces. I've never found out if playing in a casino whether the three threes would beat three aces in the very unlikely situation where these two hands were dealt. Anyone know?

3-3-3 is the highest hand in 3 card brag followed by A-A-A then K-k-K and so on.

Well, by looking at the game rules of Guts it looks somewhat similar to me but in Guts cards are dealt in 2,3,4 manners where as in 3 card Brag only three cards are dealt. In 3 Card Brag,the player has an advantage betting blinds means you do not look at your cards and are simply gambling that you could be holding the winning hand. So, if by any means there could be some cheat or strategy in knowing or predicting the blind cards one could acheive a great victory.

Well, earlier in 3 Card Brag the cards were not usually shuffled until and unless a player has shown a prial. But, nowadays the cards are shuffled every next hand and also the other player cuts the card after you shuffle disabling the dealer to control the deck. So, literally it's very difficult to cheat but if you have any tips or tricks for this game then please do share with us.

Quote: danielcahill

Well, earlier in 3 Card Brag the cards were not usually shuffled until and unless a player has shown a prial. But, nowadays the cards are shuffled every next hand and also the other player cuts the card after you shuffle disabling the dealer to control the deck. So, literally it's very difficult to cheat but if you have any tips or tricks for this game then please do share with us.

I don't know how the game is played specifically. Reading what's been posted here, it seems confusing.

The only thing I could think of, is shuffle tracking. How well do people shuffle the cards? A single shuffle? Or multiple shuffles, cuts, etc.? If it's a very simple shuffle, the outcome can be easy to determine. Take a regular deck of cards, set them in order, then give them a simple shuffle. What happened? The cards are still relatively grouped together like they were before. The cards you had at the top still remain at the top. The ones at the bottom remain at the bottom. Etc. If I knew how the game was played, perhaps I could help more.

But if you see all the cards that everyone(?) has, and if the shuffle is relatively simple, you can follow those cards through the shuffle. If strategy is involved -- ie: fold or bet more.....then you can basically cut the deck to wherever you think the good cards are (high cards?). Now if you get high cards like you'd probably expect to, stay in the round. If you get lots of low cards that don't do anything for you (no flush, straight, pair), then fold.

If there is no strategy...then I really got no idea....unless you can track the shuffle so well and can cut the deck with such precision, that you'd be forcing yourself to get the "good" card(s) you're tracking, likely an Ace or King. If you could do that, then just (obviously) bet MORE when you know a Ace/King are coming to you.

(In 3 Card Brag at first everyone places the minimum stake which is agreed upon in the pot - a collection of money in the centre of the table, which will be won by one of the players. The dealer deals out the cards one at a time until everyone has three cards. The players then bet on who has the best three card hand. Each has the option to look at their three-card hand before betting (playing seen) or to leave their cards face down on the table (playing blind).
The betting starts with the player to the left of the dealer, and continues with players taking turns in clockwise order around the table, for as many circuits as are needed. Each player in turn can either put an additional bet into the pot to stay in, or pay nothing further and fold. When folding you permanently drop out of the betting and sacrifice any money you have already put into the pot during that deal.The amount that you have to put in at your turn in order to stay in the game depends on the "current stake", and whether you are playing blind or seen - seen players have to bet twice as much as blind players to stay in. At the start of the betting the current stake is one unit (i.e. the amount that each player put in the pot as an ante).If you are a blind player (you have not looked at your cards), you must put in at least the current stake and not more than twice the current stake. The current stake for the next player is then the amount that you put in.
If you are a seen player you must bet at least twice the current stake and not more than four times the current stake. The current stake for the next player becomes half the amount that you bet.If you are a blind player, you may choose to look at your cards when your turn comes to bet. You then become a seen player and from that turn onwards you must bet at least twice the current stake (or fold).

The betting continues in this way until one of the following things happens:

All except one player have folded. In that case the last surviving player wins all the money in the pot, ireespective of the cards held.
All except two players have folded and one of these players at their turn pays for a show. In that case the cards of both players are exposed and compared.

Now in the next game the player who wins gets to be the dealer and shuffles the card. After shuffling the cards, he/she allows the player next to him to cut the card from anywhere he/she wishes and then the cards are distributed to all the players.)

THIS IS THE BASIC RULE OF THE GAME. HOPE YOU CAN SHARE SOME IMPORTANT KNOWLEDGE AND STRATEGY ABOUT THIS GAME.

Quote: danielcahill

3 Card Brag is a game played here at England...

I have to assume the question refers to the 3-card poker game found in nearly all UK casinos (although there is a totally different game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_card_brag ). I first saw it on the Isle of Man and it was called Brag; this may be why a few casino tables still use "Brag" on their layout.

The casino game is based on having a higher hand than the dealer or the dealer not qualifying. The game uses a single-deck that is shuffled after every hand - my local casino uses a shuffling machine that deals packets of three; thus I'm assuming there's little chance of using shuffling tracking. (also see https://wizardofodds.com/games/three-card-poker/hole-carding/ )

The most likely advantage might come from knowing other people's hands - thus guessing whether the dealer has a reduced chance of having an A K Q and qualifying. However, unlike 5-card poker, there's quite a disadvantage of calling blind; so you'd need to know a lot to call with a bad hand.

btw 3-card poker doesn't use 3-3-3 as the top hand. However I did see a variant (for a while it was in Broadway, Birmingham) where you could draw cards, and the side-bet paid 300/1 for 3-3-3. It was against a pay-table rather than the dealer so for the main game 3-3-3 was Trips in the same way as A-A-A was.