How to play Four Card Poker, and the real odds
Four Card Poker looks like Three Card Poker with an extra card, but the shape of the game is different: the dealer always plays, ties go to you, and your raise can be one unit or three. One simple rule covers the whole strategy.
The deal: your five against the dealer's six
You place an Ante and get five cards; the dealer gets six, one of them face up. Each side then makes its best four-card poker hand. That one-card difference is the engine of the whole game; the dealer simply has more raw material than you.
How four-card hands rank
Best to worst: four of a kind → straight flush → three of a kind → flush → straight → two pair → pair → high card. Two quirks to note: three of a kind beats a flush, and a flush beats a straight: with four cards, trips are much rarer than either. Aces play high or low: J-Q-K-A is the top straight, A-2-3-4 the lowest.
The one decision: fold, 1×, or 3×
After seeing your five cards you either fold (losing the ante) or raise a Play bet of 1× to 3× your ante. Since you only ever raise with an advantage or fold without one, the practical choice is the two extremes, minimum or maximum.
No qualifying, and ties go to you
Unlike Three Card Poker there's no "dealer needs Queen-high" rule: the dealer's hand always plays, and if you beat it, or even tie it, your Ante and Play both pay even money. Those player-friendly touches are real, but they're more than paid for by the dealer's sixth card. Net-net the game keeps 3.40% of your ante with simple play, though because your average total bet is about 2.2 units, the cost per dollar actually wagered is only about 1.56%.
The Ante Bonus
Big hands pay a bonus on your ante regardless of the dealer: three of a kind 2:1, a straight flush 20:1, four of a kind 25:1. Nothing extra to bet: it's automatic when you play the hand.
The Aces Up side bet
Aces Up is a separate wager on your own best four cards; the dealer is irrelevant. It pays on a pair of aces or better (a pair of kings loses!), up to 50:1 for four of a kind. The exact house edge on the common table is 3.89%: computed by enumerating all 2,598,960 possible hands, no simulation. Fun, but pricier than the main game.
The exact odds
Everything enumerable below is exact; the vs-dealer edge is the published figure, verified by Monte-Carlo in the Lab:
Four Card Poker is Three Card Poker's bigger sibling: you make your best four-card hand from five cards, the dealer makes theirs from six, and there's no qualifying, no pushes on ties (ties go to you). The Aces Up figures below are exact (all 2,598,960 hands enumerated); the Ante-Play edge is the published figure for the simple strategy, verified by Monte-Carlo in the Lab.
(simple strategy; optimal 2.79%)
(exact, 50-40-8-5-4-3-1 table)
(every no-pair hand)
What each bet really costs
| Bet | House edge | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| Ante-Play (simple strategy) | 3.40% | The main game: element of risk just 1.56% |
| Ante-Play (optimal, uses the dealer's up card) | 2.79% | The ceiling: expert play squeezes out a bit more |
| Aces Up side bet | 3.89% | Fun, but a pricier bet than the game itself |
Your best 4 cards from 5: the exact frequencies
Two quirks of four-card rankings: three of a kind beats a flush, and a flush beats a straight: with four cards, trips are far rarer. And on the Aces Up bet, only a pair of aces pays; any lower pair loses.
| Best 4-card hand | # of 2,598,960 | Probability | Aces Up pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Four of a kind | 624 | 0.024% | 50 to 1 |
| Straight flush | 2,072 | 0.080% | 40 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 58,656 | 2.257% | 8 to 1 |
| Flush | 114,616 | 4.410% | 5 to 1 |
| Straight | 101,808 | 3.917% | 4 to 1 |
| Two pair | 123,552 | 4.754% | 3 to 1 |
| Pair of aces | 81,096 | 3.120% | 1 to 1 |
| Pair, 2s–Ks | 966,456 | 37.19% | loses |
| High card | 1,150,080 | 44.25% | loses |
The whole strategy (the simple version)
- Raise 3× with a pair of tens or better (or anything stronger, two pair and up).
- Raise 1× with a pair of twos through nines.
- Fold everything without a pair. That's 44.3% of hands, the dealer's six cards are just too big an advantage to fight with high card.
- This simple rule gives the 3.40% edge. Experts who also read the dealer's exposed card can reach 2.79%: a real but modest improvement.
- The Ante Bonus pays on your ante no matter what the dealer has: three of a kind 2:1, a straight flush 20:1, four of a kind 25:1.
Why there's no dealer qualifying, and why ties go to you
Unlike Three Card Poker, the dealer always plays, and any tie goes to the player. Sounds generous, but the dealer builds from six cards to your five, which is a much bigger edge than those concessions give back. That asymmetry is where the 3.40% lives.
Bankroll reality
Four Card Poker swings harder than most table games: you're often 4 units deep on a hand, and the 25:1 bonus hands are rare. The 3.40% edge is a long-run number; expect bumpy sessions on the way there. Bet what you can afford to lose.
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