Poker Lite

New casino games that are simply variations of poker are like the proverbial "dime a dozen." While some have attained popularity, such as Caribbean Stud and Let It Ride, others have either been too complicated or had a prohibitive house edge.

Three Card Poker was developed by Briton Derek Webb, who looked at the development of the new poker games and compared them to other games that actually predate the American poker tradition. Webb considered such "primitive" games as the British game "brag;" "flush," from India; and the American game, "guts," which is actually an ancestor of the poker games we know today.

What those games had in common is that they used fewer cards than today's games. Webb developed a new table game that would be simple to understand, offer attractive payouts and give the casinos more action per hour.

Webb introduced the game at a Dublin casino in March of 1995, and another on the Isle of Man. Response was very positive.

As a result, Webb was encouraged to approach the American market, with several Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos agreeing to test the game.

The Three Card Poker player has the opportunity to make three bets-the ante, in which he competes against the dealer; the Pair Plus bet, in which he is rewarded for a high hand; and the Play bet, which is a bonus that gives the player an extra payout for premium hands.

As the name implies, in Three Card Poker, the player and the dealer use only three cards. The game is easy to understand because it uses fewer cards than regular poker. The strategy is simplified because there is no drawing cards. If the player gets high hands, ranging from a pair to a straight flush, he receives a bonus payout that increases as the hands improve.

The bonus hands give the players three ways to win, but the player does not have to have a premium hand, because he will be paid even money if he beats the dealer's hand.

If the dealer does not have a Queen high hand, players are paid on the ante, the Play and the Pair Plus bets. This gives a high frequency of contested hands, providing excitement for players, whether they are low-stakes players or high rollers.

Most attractive is a reasonable house edge of two percent on the ante bets and 2.3 percent on the Pair Plus bets.

Webb is confident that Three Card Poker will be a success in U.S. casinos, and expects that many other casinos will introduce the game to their gaming mix when the tests are completed in the participating jurisdictions.

Three Card Poker Payouts

Ante	1-1
Play	1-1
Tie	Push

Ante Bonus

Straight	1-1
Three of a kind	4-1
Straight Flush	5-1

Pair Plus

Pair	1-1
Flush	4-1
Straight	6-1
Three of a kind	30-1
Straight Flush	40-1