Gambling/General : Strategies for Three-Card Poker, Caribbean Stud, and Let It Ride

Three-Card Poker
The player can gamble on three schemes called Ante, Play and the independent Pair Plus. The dealer deals the player three cards and himself three cards. When the player looks at his cards he must decide whether to stay in the game or go out. If he chooses to stay, in case of an Ante bet, he must place a bet equal to his Ante bet in the Play area. After that they face up the cards.

In case the player’s hand is better than dealer he wins the Ante bet at even money. There is a bonus offered by the casino on the Play schema if the players win for few turns. Also, the Play pays even money for a pair. Always bet Play when you have a Queen-6 or better.

The Pair Plus doesn’t need to place a bet before. For a Pair Plus, which is two of a kind or better, the player receives an additional payout. Many of these payouts are greater than one to one, such as the jackpot of 40 to 1 for a straight flush. The Pair Plus edge is about 2.3 percent.

Before playing Three-Card Poker check the table layout to find out what hands are recurring. One situation that is quite favorable to the player in the game concerns dealer cards. If he does not hold at a queen high or better hand, the players win their ante bet. Take care; this can be a very fast game, with more than 90 decisions in an hour.

Caribbean Stud
Caribbean Stud is accessible on a blackjack table. With their hand of five cards all players play against the house. The idea of the game is to beat the dealer's hand by making the best possible poker hand. There are two betting squares in front of each player, one labeled ante and the other labeled bet. Here they have to put the bet before the game starts.
There is also an optional kind of bet, named jackpot, made by dropping a one-dollar chip in the jackpot slot, which brings you more close to the jackpot that increases with each hand played.

The players have to choose if they play out or they surrender and lose their antes. In order to play, they must place a bet that is double their ante in the bet square. Once the decisions were taken, the dealer turns over his remaining four cards and makes the best poker hand possible out of them.

One special option is that the dealer must have at least an Ace-King hand for the game to be fully decided. This is called the dealer-rule. If he fails to have such a hand, he pays off the antes and presses on the bets. In case the player cannot beat the dealer's hand, the player loses both his ante and his bet. If the player beats the dealer, the ante is paid off at even money, while the bet is paid off at house odds scheduled at the table.

For a jackpot bet, a player win a bonus in case of a few winning hands not only the jackpot. Usually is not better to make the jackpot bet. Remember to give up any hand that is lower than an ace-king and bet any ace-king or better.

Let It Ride
The point of Let It Ride is to make the best poker hand, that is a pair of tens or better with your three cards and the two common cards for all players. The game concentrate on getting a good hand that pays a bonus according to a set payoff schedule. This bonus schedule applies to all hands. At the end of the play you will receive bonus on all winning bets. The layout for Let It Ride will contain all the payout information for the regular game and the jackpot option. Usually it's not better to make a jackpot bet.

In order to play Let It Ride all players must have at least three times the amount of the table minimum because each round requires three initial bets. On the way they will have the option of removing two of the three bets. For each player there are three betting squares labeled "1" and "2" and "$." After they have placed their bets, the dealer deals each player three cards and puts two cards face down as "common" cards.

The players now look at their three card hands and decide whether to pull out their number "1" bet or let it ride. Once the players have decided, the dealer face up the first of the two common cards. Now the players have to decide whether to take off their number "2" bet or let it go. Finally, the dealer turns over the second common card and the players are paid off according to the announced payoff schedule. The "$" bet cannot be called off because it's the bet that gives the casino its edge. It is paid based on a separate formula for premium hands.

This game is also relatively fast, so that the 3 percent house edge will be working on between 60-90 decisions an hour. Another thing to observe is that at Let It Ride three of every four hands will be losers. And generally, the hands the player wins are often for small bets.

Here are a few tips to follow when playing Let It Ride:

1. On bet 1, let it ride if you have cards like these:


• pair of tens or better
• any three cards to a royal flush
• any three cards in succession to a straight flush


2. On bet 2, let it ride if you have:


• pair of tens or better
• any four cards to a royal flus
• any four cards to a straight flush
• any four cards to a flush

Pay attention that some casinos limit the total amount of money they'll pay out for a royal flush and other premium hands. Make sure that when you are betting that you don't bet more money than the casino will pay out in case you win.