Four Card Poker Trainer - Free Strategy Practice, Graded

Place your bets Pick an Ante size, then deal.

Dealer · keeps best four of six

Your Cards · best four play

Ante

Play

Aces Up

Ante size

Play Aces Up side bet (equal to Ante)

$1,000

Bankroll

Decision Accuracy

Hands

Net

Auto-deal next hand

Recent Hands

Played hands show up here with your cards, the dealer's upcard, your decision, and the result.

Four Card Poker asks one question per hand: fold, raise one time the Ante, or raise three times the Ante. There is no dealer qualifying hand, so the dealer always plays, and ties go to you. The trainer grades you against the simple strategy, the version most players use because it is easy to memorize and never depends on the dealer's upcard. Raise three times with a pair of tens or higher, raise one time with any smaller pair, and fold everything with no pair. It carries a house edge of about 3.33 percent of the Ante. More advanced strategies that read the upcard trim that to about 2.85 percent, and perfect play reaches 2.79 percent, but the extra accuracy is hard to memorize and worth little.

Raise 3× (bet big)

Raise 3×Any pair of tens, jacks, queens, kings, or aces.
Raise 3×Any made hand better than a pair: two pair, straight, flush, three of a kind, straight flush, or four of a kind.

The table lets you raise one, two, or three times the Ante, but the correct raise is always either 1× or 3×. There is never a reason to raise exactly 2×.

Raise 1× or fold

Raise 1×Any pair from twos through nines. Ties pay you and the dealer never folds, so a small pair is still worth the small raise.
FoldEvery hand with no pair. A four-card high-card hand is a fold no matter how high, because it wins too rarely to raise.

That is the entire strategy. One line for the big raise, one for the small raise, one for the fold, with no upcard to track.

Hand ranking (low to high)

High card	lowest
Pair
Two pair
Straight
Flush
Three of a kind
Straight flush
Four of a kind	highest

Note the quirk of four-card poker: three of a kind beats a straight and a flush, and four of a kind beats a straight flush. With only four cards, trips and quads are rarer than they are in five-card poker.

Ante Bonus & Aces Up (to one)

Ante Bonus · four of a kind	25
Ante Bonus · straight flush	20
Ante Bonus · three of a kind	2
Aces Up · four of a kind	50
Aces Up · straight flush	40
Aces Up · three of a kind	8
Aces Up · flush	5
Aces Up · straight	4
Aces Up · two pair	3
Aces Up · pair of aces	1

House edge 3.33% (simple) Element of risk 1.53% Aces Up edge 3.89%

The Ante Bonus pays on three of a kind or better no matter what the dealer holds, and it pays even when the dealer's hand beats yours, as long as you did not fold.

Common mistakes

Folding small pairs. Because ties go to the player and the dealer has no qualifying rule, every pair is worth at least a 1× raise. Pairs of twos through nines all raise. Folding them gives up money.
Raising big with small pairs. The dealer's extra card makes the dealer the favorite more often than beginners expect. Only a pair of tens or higher earns the 3× raise. Nines and below take the small raise.
Raising a high-card hand. Ace-king-queen-jack with no pair looks strong but still folds. Without at least a pair you win too rarely to raise.
Treating the ranking like five-card poker. Three of a kind outranks a straight and a flush here, and four of a kind beats a straight flush. A made straight or flush is still a 3× raise, but do not misread trips as weaker than a flush.
Overvaluing the Aces Up bet. It is fun but carries a 3.89 percent house edge, higher than the main game. Bet it small if at all.

Rules, hand rankings, and pay tables from Michael Shackleford, Wizard of Odds — Four Card Poker. The trainer's hand evaluator and Aces Up returns were verified against his published combination tables by full enumeration, and the simple strategy's house edge was measured by Monte Carlo simulation over four million hands.

About this Four Card Poker trainer

Four Card Poker is a table game invented by Roger Snow and marketed by Shufflemaster. You and the dealer each build the best four-card poker hand you can, but two rules set it apart from Three Card Poker: there is no dealer qualifying hand, so the dealer always plays, and you may raise up to three times your Ante instead of exactly once. To keep it fair, the dealer is dealt six cards to your five, so the dealer keeps the best four of six while you keep the best four of five. Ties go to you, and an Ante Bonus rewards three of a kind or better no matter how the dealer's hand turns out.

How the trainer works

Each hand deals your five cards and exposes one of the dealer's six. Your job is to read your best four-card hand, weigh it against that single upcard, and choose to fold, raise one time the Ante, or raise three times the Ante. The moment you choose, the trainer compares your decision to the mathematically optimal play, tells you whether it was right, and explains exactly which rule applied and why. The dealer's full hand is then revealed so you can see how it resolved, though the grade is based on your decision, not the luck of the draw.

Why decisions are graded, not outcomes

A correct raise can still lose to the dealer's extra card, and a bad fold can look smart when the dealer draws big. That is why the trainer scores the decision against optimal strategy rather than the result. Your accuracy figure tracks how often you make the right call, which is the only thing you control at the table. The bankroll and net numbers show how the math plays out over a session when you stick to the correct decisions and let variance average out.

Practice only

This is a free practice tool that uses play money and stores nothing between sessions. There is no signup, no wager, and no real gambling. Use it to learn the fold, raise-small, and raise-big boundaries cold before you ever sit at a real table, and remember that even flawless play leaves Four Card Poker a losing game over the long run. If you want the deeper reference, see the Wizard of Odds analysis.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Four Card Poker trainer free?

Yes. The trainer is free, runs in your browser with play money, and needs no signup. It is built for practice only, with no real-money wagering.

How do you play Four Card Poker?

You make an Ante bet and receive five cards, keeping your best four. The dealer gets six cards and keeps the best four, with one card exposed. After seeing your hand you either fold and lose the Ante, or raise one to three times the Ante. There is no dealer qualifying hand, ties go to the player, and an Ante Bonus pays on three of a kind or better no matter what the dealer holds. The optional Aces Up side bet pays on a pair of aces or higher.

What is the best Four Card Poker strategy?

The simple strategy most players use is easy to memorize and ignores the dealer upcard. Raise three times the Ante with a pair of tens or higher, or any made hand better than a pair. Raise one time the Ante with any pair from twos through nines. Fold every hand with no pair. This carries a house edge of about 3.33 percent of the Ante. Advanced strategies that read the dealer upcard trim it to about 2.85 percent, and perfect play reaches 2.79 percent.

What is the house edge in Four Card Poker?

With the simple strategy the house edge is about 3.33 percent of the Ante. Advanced upcard-based strategies lower it to about 2.85 percent, and perfect play reaches 2.79 percent. Because the average final wager is larger than the Ante, the element of risk under the simple strategy is about 1.53 percent. The Aces Up side bet under the common pay table has a house edge of 3.89 percent.

Keep practicing

More free trainers for casino games that reward the same disciplined, decision-by-decision play: the Crazy 4 Poker trainer, the Three Card Poker trainer, and the Caribbean Stud Poker trainer.