3 Card Brag

Brag card game is known to be a very popular British gambling game, and it is believed to be similar to poker but the game is older, and the method of wagering is different. The Three Card Poker is a game that was described by Edmond Hoyle and is said to date from the sixteenth century. The game makes use of the bluffing concept, and this has paved the way for poker variants known and loved to this day. The three card brag game is almost identical to Teen Patti. There are other variations of the game, and they are four and five card variations.

play three card brag online

3 Card Brag Rules

Three Card Brag is played with a standard deck of 52 cards except for the joker. The best way to play the game is with 4 to 8 players, but the game can be played with two players. The cards are shuffled at the beginning of the game or after a winning pair royal. The game’s round will last for about five minutes. The aim of this game is for you to get the best three-card hand. You also have the chance to bluff. Bluffing means that you can brag about your cards’ value and this is meant to mislead other players hoping that they will believe you have a stronger hand for them to fold from the game.

As a rule of the game, the ante needs to be established before your gameplay starts. This is along with the minimum and maximum bets for the initial bet and the limit on the amount you can increase your bet. So rules of 3 card brag is quite simple.

How to play 3 Card Brag game

Ante and Play Game

When choosing to place the ante bet, click on the playfield on the table or the play circle on the end so the dealer’s cards can be displayed. When the play function is activated, your stake will be raised by putting an equal play bet, and this means that it will be doubled. When the dealer’s cards are revealed, the sum win is determined depending on the highest hand in 3 card brag. The winning hand is the highest ranked poker hand with the lowest rank as the high card and the next ranked hand as a pair. After these two, other ranks are flush, run, running flush, and the prial which is the three of a kind. From the game’s interface, you will get the paytable section which has all the ranks for the hands.

The dealer needs to qualify, and he will qualify if he has a queen or higher card in hand. When he does not qualify, the bet placed on Ante will be paid out to the winning player, and this is taken as a one to one win. As the winner, the play bet will be yours and will be returned as a push. When you beat the dealer, the Ante and play bets will also be paid as one to one win. When the dealer’s hand is higher, you will lose the ante and play stakes.

live how to play 3 card brag game online rules

If you have a Run, a Running Flush or a Prial, the winnings will get bigger. These are considered as ante bonus awards and will be won regardless of the dealer’s cards and as long as you are in the game and don’t fold.

When you click on the fold field on the table, all bets will be lost, and the cards dealt collected.

The pair bonus game

When you choose to wager on the pair bonus and click on the deal, the dealer’s card will automatically display but will not relate to the pair bonus you win. When this happens, a prize will not show and will not be added to

your balance until the dealer’s cards are revealed. Placing a higher bet on a hand will mean that you will potentially get a huge win.

TOP questions about 3 Card Brag
🃏 What is 3 Card Brag?

Three Card Brag shares similarities with poker but is generally quicker and easier to play. It’s also believed to have originated in the UK way back in the sixteenth century, making it one of the oldest card games.

🃏 How to play 3 Card Brag?

Everyone who wants to play places an initial bet or ante. Each player is then dealt three cards, face-down. It’s then up to you whether you bet or fold, based on your cards.

Play continues until every player has performed one of these actions. If you fold, you’ll only lose your ante bet since 3 Card Brag only lasts one round.

If you bet and everyone else folds, you’ll face the dealer. If another player bets and the game version you’re playing allows subsequent wagers, bluffing then plays a big part. Can you convince the other player you’ve got a better hand?

Finally, unlike in poker, players don’t place money on the table (although this can be different when playing online). If you’re playing a version that allows another round of bets, you may not have enough money to cover the minimum wager but don’t want to fold. You can then place all the money you do have left on the table, along with your cards (face-down).

The move is referred to as ‘covering the pot.’ If two or more players remain, their bets go into a new pot, which is then won by whoever has the best hand. The winner then compares their hand with yours. If yours is higher, you’ll win the pot. If theirs is higher, or it’s a tie, they’ll claim it.

🃏 Where to play 3 Card Brag online?

As we mentioned above, there are variations on 3 Card Brag, so always double-check the rules for any game you find online. If you’re not sure where to find online 3 Card Brag games, it’s currently only available from Playtech, a reputable software provider found at many 3 card brag online casinos.

Its RTP (Return To Player) rate is a decent 98% for ante bets and 97.86% if you want to make a pair plus side bet. The latter option rewards any player who has a pair, regardless of what the dealer has.

🃏 What is the highest run in Three Card Brag?

Winning hands include a prial (three of a kind), running or straight flush (three sequential cards from the same suit), a run or straight (three sequential cards from any suit), a flush (any three cards from the same suit), a pair (which can be from any suits), or a high (literally the one highest card you have).

The prial (pair royal) is the best hand you can hope for in 3 Card Brag, although the best combination is all 3s (extremely unlikely), followed by all aces, then kings, queens, etc.

🃏 What is the difference between 3 Card Brag and 3 Card Poker?

There are two main differences: the names of the hands (as noted above) and the chances of getting those hands. Since 3 Card Brag only uses, well, three cards, the likelihood of getting (for example) a prial of three 3s is 1 in 5,525, whereas you’ve got a 1 in 6 chance of getting a pair.

Therefore, 3 Card Brag isn’t necessarily as profitable a game like poker, but its speed and easy rules mean it’s quick to pick up and play if you have five minutes to spare.

Betting

After all the cards have been dealt, the player on the left of the dealer starts to bet. The punter has the liberty to fold and no longer be part of the hand or place a wager with regard to the minimum and maximum agreed amounts. When all players in the hand fold except one, the remaining player will take all the money that’s in the pot and dealing the next hand starts. A player might have the liberty to be more than the previous player, but there must be an agreement on the limit to the amount increase on the bet. Betting will progress around the table as many times as possible.

When two players have been left on the table, there is the provision of a third option where either player can see the other’s cards. Seeing the cards will cost twice as much as the bet placed by the previous player. After paying to see your opponent’s cards, he will expose their hand first, and if yours is better, you will expose yours as proof, and you will win the pot. When the hands’ values are equal, the player who paid to see their opponent’s hand will lose.

Handling your money in three card brag

Brag is rarely played with table stakes like in poker where all your bankroll money is placed on the table where everyone can see. Brag players have their money in their pockets all the time until when they need to place a wager. Each player taking part in the game needs to place a minimum amount of bankroll on the table. When the agreed amount is exhausted, you have the liberty to introduce more money to the game as you wish.

There might come a time when you don’t have enough money to wager, but you want to be in the game. What you have to do is place all your money that’s left and your hand face down. This is termed as covering the pot. When there are two or more players, they will continue placing their bets, but they will have a new pot. After settling the new pot, the winner’s hand will be shown, and the hand that covered the pot will be compared with it. The old pot will be won by the higher hand or by the winner to the new pot if they tie.

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You can cover the pot when you are only two players on the table. When one of you runs out of the money, betting will end when one player puts all his money in the pot. The other player needs not put the money but he will expose the cards, and the hand with the highest value will win the pot.

The rule of covering the pot might seem harsh, but from experiences from players who have played the game, the player running out of money is allowed to borrow money from a player who has more money or one who has backed out of the game. This is a great move that will allow players to continue placing their bets. The player with the money has the option to lend to the one who has run out of money or show their cards, and in this case, he will only win if he has the better hand.

When you bet with money that you have borrowed, you will be getting yourself to a difficult situation where you are to fold a hand that’s good or borrow money you might not be able to repay. This kind of situation happens when blind betting is permitted, and this is because the blind bettor will continue betting indefinitely against an open player and the open player will not be able to see the blind one. When three or more players are betting, and none is ready to fold, they will feel that the pot is big and they might showdown, and in this situation, all cards will be exposed and the highest hand will be the winner.

Blind betting

Bling betting is when you do not look at the cards you have been dealt; the cards are left facedown. This is a technique that is used by experienced three-card brag. You will take part in all betting activities, but all your wagers will be worth double. This means that you will be putting in half the money you would if you needed to bet as you looked at your cards.

When making blind wagers, you have the option to look at your cards to decide whether you want to fold or bet. If you choose to look at the cards, you will no longer be a blind punter, and if you still want to be part of the game, you will start making bets like the non-blind punters.

Play 3 card brag online

The live 3 card brag version is a new concept but for those who play live three-card poker will learn that it is not that different even though it has an older history. The game has been in the United Kingdom since the 16th Century. This is another variation of poker, but instead of it being played with five cards it’s being played with three cards. With three-card brag, you play against other players, and one of them acts as the dealer, but the three card brag online live version has two hands. One hand is for the player while the other is for the dealer. The aim of this game is for the player to beat the dealer with a hand of high value.

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3 card brag casino: the live version of this game is only available in Playtech casinos. The game serves as their alternative to Evolutions Gaming’s three card poker. The return to player rate of the game stands at 98% for the Ante wager and 97.86% for the pair plus side bet. When it comes to three-card poker, the return to player rate is 96.63% for the Ante wager and 95.51% for the pair plus bet. With such deductions, it is evident that three-card poker is the better game. When it comes to the differences, there are many. When it comes to the lower hand values, lower three card brag hands is rewarded handsomely while in three card poker the higher ones are the ones rewarded higher.

Zigmas Pekarskas

Written by:

Casino card games and poker expert

Founder and CEO of SmartCasinoGuide.com also well known poker professional player, with more then 15 years of playing poker and other card games. 10 years of writing articles, doing reviews of poker rooms and teaching other poker players how to improve their game.