New card game at work

The guys at work play 9 card brag in the dinner break and I would like to try and hustle them out of a few £'s.

Each person antes £1 and recieves 9 cards,
a 9 card straight is an instant winner.
four pairs stops the current hand and is redealt.
Four of a kind is an instant winner, 4x Fours is the best four of kind.

Assuming none of the above occurs you split your 9 cards into 3 hands, each better than the other.

Ranks

3 of a kind, 3x Threes is best 3 of a kind, then aces, kings ....... twos.
Straight Flush, A-2-3 is highest straight flush, then Q-K-A
Straight, A-2-3 is highest then Q-K-A etc.
Flush
Pair

Your 3rd hand (worst) must be at least a pair to qualify as a winning hand, if you win all three hands you take the pot. Win one, two or the 3rd hand is just a high card, the hand is over and everyone re-antes and deals again the pot remains un-won and is added to. The deck is only ever shuffled after a 3 of a kind.

The game is played with 4-5 players.

Any ideas on some sort of optimal strategy?

Strategy requires decision points. Other than arranging your three hands around, I don't see we're a decision needs to be made. If there is more than one way to arrange three winning hands then Mozeltov!! You win!

How does someone "win" a round? If there are 3 hands and 5 players, do the 2-4 players who don't have a winning 3 card hand pay something?

Quote: rdw4potus

How does someone "win" a round? If there are 3 hands and 5 players, do the 2-4 players who don't have a winning 3 card hand pay something?

You win a round by having the best hand in all three 3card hands. So if my High hand is 3x 4's, my medium hand is a straight flush and low hand is a flush, and nobody can beat them I win. If someone had a better straight flush for example, I would win two out of three hands, but lose the medium hand, and so not win the round overall.

The decision points are whether to make the very best high hand or not, consider holding;

AC 4C 6C 6H 6D 7D 7C 8D 8S

You could have a high hand of 666
a medium hand Ac-7c-4c clubs for a flush
a low hand of 7-8-8

or you could;
set your high hand as 6-7-8 diamonds for a straight flush
medium as 6c-7c-8s for a straight
and A-4-6 as your low hand.

The low hand effectivly means you cannot win, but the straight in the middle hand might stop your opponant winning the hand when you think your 88 in the low hand might be beat.

Can a player choose to skip a round, then rejoin the next pot, if the current one is not resolved?

How are the cards laid down? I would guess simultaneously. Are they laid face down and when everyone is ready, they flip ' em? If it goes around from the dealer position then strategy changes depending on what's previously revealed. This sounds messy.
I have to assume that the cards are dealt face up, so you know what cards your opponent has.

It sounds like everyone gets dealt a single card in rotation to the dealers left until everyone has nine cards. The dealer would move to the left after each round. The cards would be set by each player....like in PGP, then everyone would expose their cards at the same time.

Quote: ten2win

It sounds like everyone gets dealt a single card in rotation to the dealers left until everyone has nine cards. The dealer would move to the left after each round. The cards would be set by each player....like in PGP, then everyone would expose their cards at the same time.

This is correct.