Three Card Poker house edge

What the game actually costs, measured two ways, plus how the Pair Plus edge swings with a single change to the pay table.

The short answer

Ante plus Play, played optimally, costs 3.37% per ante and about 2.01% as element of risk. Pair Plus is separate and runs from about 2.32% to 7.28% depending on the pay table.

Ante and Play, two ways to measure

The base game has two standard house-edge figures, and both are correct. They answer different questions.

Base game house edge, optimal play
Measure	Edge	What it means
Per ante	3.37%	Loss per opening Ante bet
Element of risk	2.01%	Loss per unit actually wagered

The gap exists because you make the Play bet on about 67.4% of hands, so your average wager is larger than one ante. Spreading the same loss over more money wagered gives the lower element-of-risk figure. When you see Three Card Poker quoted near 2%, that is the element of risk. Quoted near 3.4%, that is per ante.

Pair Plus, and why the pay table is everything

Pair Plus is resolved on your three cards alone. Its edge is set entirely by the schedule printed on the felt. One step in the flush payout moves it dramatically.

Pair Plus house edge by pay table
Pay table (pair / flush / straight / trips / straight flush)	House edge
1 / 3 / 6 / 30 / 40 (common today)	7.28%
1 / 4 / 6 / 30 / 40 (older, flush pays 4)	2.32%

Confirm your table. The two Pair Plus figures above are computed exactly for those two schedules. Which one applies depends on the flush payout on your specific table, so check the felt before trusting a single number.

Ante Bonus

The Ante Bonus is already included in the 3.37% figure. It pays on your Ante for a straight or better regardless of the dealer, on the common schedule of straight 1 to 1, three of a kind 4 to 1, straight flush 5 to 1. Across all hands it returns about 5.3% of an ante on average, which is why the base edge is lower than it would be without the bonus.

Methodology. All figures are enumerated exactly. Hand frequencies are counted over the 22,100 distinct three-card hands. Play, fold, win, lose, and push rates come from dealing every player hand against all 18,424 dealer hands from the remaining 49 cards, under optimal Q-6-4 play. The baseline reproduces the published 3.37% house edge, which is how we know the rest is sound.

Common questions

What is the house edge on the Ante and Play?

About 3.37% of the ante under optimal Q-6-4 play. Because you often invest a second unit on the Play bet, the edge measured against total money wagered, the element of risk, is lower at about 2.01%.

What is the difference between per ante and element of risk?

Per ante measures the loss against your opening bet only. Element of risk measures it against every unit you put at risk, including Play bets. Element of risk is the fairer number for comparing games because it reflects your total action.

How much is the Pair Plus house edge?

It depends entirely on the pay table. The common 1-3-6-30-40 table is about 7.28%. The older 1-4-6-30-40 table, with the flush paying 4 instead of 3, is only about 2.32%. Always read the felt.