This article first appeared in the Sep/Oct 2011 issue of World Gaming magazine.
Last issue we introduced the game of ‘Fortune Three Card Poker’. Here are a few follow up tips on how to get the best out of your playing experience.
If you need to catch up on the rules of the game please visit our website wgm8.com and follow the links to the Fortune Three Card Poker article in our Jul/Aug issue. Let’s now move on to examining the best strategies for this game.
Bonus bet or ‘pair plus’
Let’s talk about the bonus bet first, often referred to as ‘pair plus’. One of the best things about the bonus bet is that it is very easy to play. Once you place this bet you don’t have any other decisions to make. Here are the payouts in Macau for the bonus bet.
| Hand |
Payout |
| Straight Flush | 40/1 |
| Three of a kind | 25/1 |
| Straight | 5/1 |
| Flush | 4/1 |
| Pair | 1/1 (even money) |
If you get one of these great hands dealt to you then you will receive the corresponding bonus. The dealer’s hand has no impact on the result of your bet.
Players love these types of bets as they provide the prospect of turning a small bet into a huge profit. However, the pair plus bet has a house advantage precisely double that of the normal ante and play bets, so don’t go too crazy chasing that straight flush!
Ante and play bet strategy
This is where your knowledge of the game gives you a huge advantage over other players. After you place your ante bet you have the option to increase your bet by matching your ‘ante’ bet with a ‘play’ bet, or folding your hand.
At this stage you should ask yourself two simple questions:
- Will the dealer qualify?
- If the dealer does qualify can your hand beat the dealer’s?
In Fortune Three Card Poker the dealer will play his hand if he has a queen high or better.
If we know that the dealer must have a queen then it is fairly easy to see that you shouldn’t play any hands worse than queen high. In fact, it turns out that the optimal strategy is to play if your hand is Q-6-4 or better. Any other hand and you should fold and accept the loss of your ante bet. There is no point putting in good money with bad cards.
Implementing this strategy is very easy. Obviously if you have a big hand like a pair, flush, straight, three of a kind or a straight flush you should play. If you have a K or an A you should play. If you have a Q then you need to look at your second card. If the second card is higher than a 6, then you play, if it is lower than 6 then fold. If it is a 6 then you must look at your last card. If it is a 5 or a 4 you should play and if it is a 2 or 3 you fold. Note that in poker Q-7-2 is a higher hand than Q-6-4.
If you follow this strategy then the house edge works out at 3.37 percent, which is in the same ballpark as single zero roulette.
If you’re at the table and you forget these rules then simply play any hand where you have a Queen high or better. This simplification only increases the house edge to 3.45 percent, which is negligible.
If you played every hand you were dealt then the house edge would be a whopping 7.65 percent so you can see there is plenty of money to be made in the long term by playing the correct strategy. We guarantee that in the long run you will win more and lose less than players that don’t know the Q-6-4 rule we have taught you.
Good luck at the tables.
