Three Card Rummy

Initially the player places an ‘Ante’ wager and the dealer will deal out 3 cards to the player face up and 3 cards to themselves face down. The player then adds up the point value of their three cards using the following rules;

Example:

In the above screenshot the player holds 3 of a Kind, meaning that their hand has a points total of zero. The dealer holds a pair of sevens which get counted as zero, leaving them with a point total from the remaining card of 3.

Once the player has seen their cards they then have the choice to either ‘Fold’ the hand, losing their Ante wager, or place an additional ‘Play’ wager equal to their Ante wager. If the player choses to Fold the hand is over. If they choose to Play, the dealer will turn over their cards and add up their point total. The hand with the lowest point total is the winner.

If the player wins the hand there are several possible payouts, depending on the hand they hold and the hand the dealer holds. The Ante bet is always paid out at 1 to 1. If the dealer holds a hand of more than 20 they are consider not to have qualified and regardless of the player’s hand the player’s Play bet will result in a push. If the dealer holds a total of 20 or less they are considered to have qualified and the player’s Play bet will be paid as follows:

The Three Card Rummy games we are aware of offer an optional side bet or the point value of the player’s hand.

The House Edge of Three Card Rummy across the full round of wagering (Ante and Play bet) and assuming that the player plays using the optimal strategy discussed below is 1.93%. If the player does not play optimally this figure will rise. The House Edge of the Bonus bet is 3.46%.

Optimal strategy for Three Card Rummy is remarkably straight forward. Do not play the Bonus bet, place the Play bet if your hand total is 20 or less and Fold the hand if the total is 21 or more.

Unlike Blackjack the techniques used to gain an advantage over the game of Three Card Rummy in the offline environment are not nearly so widely discussed. Gaining information on dealer’s hole cards – be that via edge sorting, steering or hold carding – may produce a player advantage as long as the information is used to alter the player’s strategy. With perfect knowledge of all three Hole Cards, the player would be able to gain a significant edge over the house as they would be able to make perfect Play/Fold decisions.

The relative infrequency of this game alongside the rarity of being able to obtain information on the dealer’s hole cards and the high skill level involved ensure that only the most diligent of professional players are ever likely to come across this information and it seems highly likely that if a person was skilled enough to find such an opportunity, they could more easily find stronger advantages playing more common casino games online.

There are several methods of legitimately gaining an advantage playing online Three Card Rummy games. By and large these involve the use of promotions, bonuses and comp point systems as the games by themselves – assuming the game is functioning in a correct fashion and there are no errors in the paytable – will not provide any additional information about the cards and shuffles after every hand.

It should be noted that online advantage play is not specific to Three Card Rummy and in recent years the wagering requirements for player’s choosing to play any table game has inflated to the point that Three Card Rummy is now often a sub-optimal choice for the player. For more information on beating online casinos see BeatingBonuses.com.

* All ‘House Edge’ figures in this article are based on the ‘loss per unit wagered’ rather than ‘loss per initial bet’.