Spelling out "Is three card poker worth playing?" starts with the rules. Baccarat and the casino poker games share a table, a dealer and a fixed house edge, and all of them are simpler than they look. Baccarat asks only which hand to back, while games such as three card poker, Caribbean stud and ultimate Texas holdem let a player make a few decisions against the dealer. Knowing the rules step by step and the edge of each bet is most of what tells them apart.
Ultimate Texas holdem is played against the dealer: each player posts an ante and a blind, sees two cards, and may raise three or four times the ante before the flop or less later. To deal ultimate Texas holdem, the dealer gives two cards to each player and to the house, then turns five shared cards in stages. What a casino poker rake means is different: in poker played between players, the house takes a small share of each pot instead of holding an edge, which is how card rooms make their money.
Three card poker is played against the dealer with three cards each, and is worth playing mainly for its speed and its ante bonus rather than its odds. Caribbean stud poker has a house edge above five percent on the main bet, higher than most table games. Four card poker is called by that plain name, dealt with five cards to the player and six to the dealer. Mississippi stud is played against a pay table instead of the dealer, and is worth playing only with its high edge in mind.
Quick answers
Which baccarat bet carries the smallest edge?
The banker bet has one of the smallest edges on a casino floor, while the tie bet pays more and costs far more over time; neither makes baccarat beatable.
How do raises work in ultimate Texas holdem?
After ante and blind, a player may raise three or four times the ante before the flop and less later. A rake, by contrast, is the pot share card rooms take.
What happens when both baccarat hands total nine?
Two nines are a tie like any other equal total, so tie bets win and bets placed on banker or player are usually returned.
Who decides whether a baccarat hand draws a third card?
Nobody at the table does: a third card follows fixed drawing rules, which is why baccarat counts as a game of chance rather than skill.