Play 3 card brag

Unlike online poker and other card games the skill of card counting can be employed while playing three card brag.

Only new casino sites for play on real money

How To Play 3 Card Brag, play 3 card brag.

This is because unless a hand is won with a prial (three of a kind) the cards are simply placed to the bottom of the deck and the next hand is dealt. Besides the beginning of the game the pack is only shuffled if the previous hand is won with a prial. Once the cards have been dealt players can look at their cards or choose to play blind. If a player chooses to play blind they may only call a bet not raise a bet but they only have to pay half the bet into the pot. The player to the left of the dealer is the first to act and they must decide whether to fold their cards and forfeit the hand (and the money in the pot) or to make a bet. There is no option to simply check without making a further bet like in other cards games. If a player makes a bet the other players must decide whether to fold, call or bet again. If all but one of the players folds their hands the remaining player takes the pot unchallenged. At the end of the hand the dealer turn is passed to the left.

How to play 3 card brag

Brag is a card game which is usually played for money but can also be played without stakes. There are many variations of brag but one of the most popular versions is three card brag, which is the game that we’re going to concentrate on here. Learning how to play three card brag can be done quickly with many players able to grasp the basics in a few minutes but becoming an expert of the finer intricacies of three card brag can take a lifetime.

Unlike online poker and other card games the skill of card counting can be employed while playing three card brag. This is because unless a hand is won with a prial (three of a kind) the cards are simply placed to the bottom of the deck and the next hand is dealt. Besides the beginning of the game the pack is only shuffled if the previous hand is won with a prial.

To play three card brag you need at least two players and usually no more than eight. At the start of each hand all players must pay an ante into the pot before being dealt three cards face down. If it is the first deal of the game the dealer should shuffle the pack then deal the cards one at a time in a clockwise direction starting with the player to the dealer’s left until all players have three cards face down in front of them.

Once the cards have been dealt players can look at their cards or choose to play blind. If a player chooses to play blind they may only call a bet not raise a bet but they only have to pay half the bet into the pot. The player to the left of the dealer is the first to act and they must decide whether to fold their cards and forfeit the hand (and the money in the pot) or to make a bet. There is no option to simply check without making a further bet like in other cards games. If a player makes a bet the other players must decide whether to fold, call or bet again. If all but one of the players folds their hands the remaining player takes the pot unchallenged. At the end of the hand the dealer turn is passed to the left.

If a player decides to make a bet then all players at the table must decide whether to fold or to bet at least as much as the original bet. The betting continues around the table until the all players have either folded or matched the final bet. In certain variations of three card brag there may be a draw phase where players can exchange one, two or all three of the cards dealt to them and there may also be a limit on the number of raises in each round of betting.

Once all but two players have folded their hands there is another option available. A player can pay to ‘see’ the other player’s hand. Seeing costs twice the value of the other players previous bet however it forces them to show their hand first. If you pay to see your opponent’s hand and your hand is the stronger you should turn over your cards and take the pot but if they are equal or worse you can simply fold your hand without showing your opponent your cards. It should be noted that if the hands are equal the player who pays to see loses.

During every hand of three card brag betting continues until all players except one have folded or when there are just two players remaining in the hand and one player pays double to see the other player’s hand. At the end of the hand the dealer turn is passed to the left.

Play 3 card brag

OBJECTIVE OF BRAG: win the money in the pot by remaining in the hand and/or having the highest ranking hand.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4-8 players

NUMBER OF CARDS: 52-card decks

RANK OF CARDS: A,K,Q,J,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2

TYPE OF GAME: gambling

AUDIENCE: adult

INTRODUCTION TO BRAG

Brag, or three card brag, is a descendant of the spanish game primero. It is very similar to the popular card game in india, nepal, bangladesh, and trinidad teen patti, which means literally in hindi ‘three cards’.

Brag is popular british gambling game which employs the skill bluffing to deceive other players.

There are several variations of brag which use anywhere between 4 and 13 cards, although 6,7,9, and 13 card brag have a very different game mechanism.

THREE CARD BRAG

Set up

Before starting the game, players must agree upon:

The amount of the initial stake or the ante – a forced bet each player must make before each deal.

Minimum and maximum bet amounts – a bet the first player must make to stay in the hand.

The limit on how much bets can be raised, if any.

Any variations on the traditional rules.

Hand rankings (from high to low)

PRIAL: prial is short for “pair royal.” three cards of equal rank, for example, K-K-K

RUNNING FLUSH: three cards in sequences of the same suit. A-2-3 is a viable run and actually the highest, despite A being the highest ranking card. A-K-Q is the second highest run/running flush. 2-A-K is not a valid flush or run.

RUN: three cards in sequence of any suit. Running flushes beat all runs.

FLUSH: three cards, not in sequence, of the same suit. For example, if all cards are spades, 7-10-Q is a flush.

PAIR: in a three card hand, a pair is having any two cards of equal rank. For example, A-A-J.

HIGH CARD: A three card hand that doesn’t form any of the above combinations relies on high card- that is the highest ranking card. For example, in this hand: 5-10-K, K is the high card.

Suits are not ranked so equivalent hands are possible.

The ante & the deal

Prior to each deal, players must agree upon an ante. The ante must be paid by each player to the pot before the deal can begin. The deal and the play passes clockwise, the deal passes to the left with each hand.

Before the first deal, the dealer shuffles the cards. After, the cards are only shuffled if the last hand was ‘seen’ and was won by a prial. For the most part, cards are not shuffled between hands.

The dealer passes each player three cards, face-down, one at a time. Players have the option to look at their cards, but they do not have to. However, a player’s cards must remain secret from all other players in the game. There is only one exception to that, which is when the betting round ends with a “see.”

Betting

After the cards have been dealt betting starts with the player to the left of the dealer. The first bettor has two options: fold (throw down their cards and sacrifice their ante to the pot), or bet anywhere between the minimum and maximum amounts. If all but one player folds as betting continues the remaining player wins the pot and a new hand dealt.

If a player bets, the following players must either fold or make a minimum bet equal to the previous bet. Players may raise the bet, but it must be within the limit decided upon mutually by all other players.

In the event there are only two players left in the game, and all others have folded, there is another option available. Players may see the other’s cards. To see a player must pay twice the amount of the previous. If you pay to see another player’s card, they expose their hand first. If your hand is better than your opponents, expose it to collect your winnings in the pot. If your hand is worse or equal to your opponents, it is not necessary to reveal your hand, they win the pot. Reminder, if hands are equal, the player who paid to see loses the hand.

Betting does not end until all but one player drops out or there are two players left and one pays to see the other.

Here is an example of turn of betting in a four player game, note there is no equalizing of bets as in poker:

Player A bets 3 chips, player B bets 3 chips, player C folds, player D bets 3 chips, player A must bet at least 3 chips to stay in the hand.

As a rule of etiquette, never fold out of turn.

Running out of money

Brag is rarely played with table stakes, as in poker. Table stakes means players keep all the money they are playing without on the table, in brag players keep much of their money in their pockets. However, there is typically a minimum players must have on the table.

If you do not have enough money to bet but would like to stay in the hand you may cover the pot by betting all the money you have, putting it in the pot, and placing your cards face down on top. Players continue as normal but place their bets in a new pot. After the new pot is square, the winning hand is exposed. The hand covering the pot is compared with the winning hand, the old pot is won by the higher ranking hand. If the hands tie the winner of the new pot wins the old pot as well.

Covering the pot may be exercised when there are only two players left in the hand, however, the betting round ends. Some players, instead, practice that if there are two players and one runs out of money they must either: borrow money to bet or show their cards to potentially win the pot.

Playing blind

Any player has the option to play blind. Playing blind means you do not look at your cards and keep them on the table, face-down. Blind player’s bet normally but their bets are worth double. This means they only have to bet half the minimum or previous bet of an open player.

If you’ve been playing blind on a hand, when it is your turn to bet you always have the option of looking at your cards before choosing to bet or fold. However, this means you are now an open player and must bet equal to other open players to remain in the hand. You may not revert back to blind on that hand.

In the event you are playing blind and all other players fold, you do not win the pot. The pot continues on to the next hand.

Rules of seeing with blind players:

You are open and your opponent is blind: you are not allowed to see a “blind man,” you may either bet or fold as normal, but you are not permitted to see.

Both are blind: paying twice the blind (equal to an open bet) allows for hands to be compared. Normal seeing rules apply.

You are blind and your opponent is open: your opponent can not see your cards but you may see theirs. Pay twice the blind stake in order to see.

Retaining a blind hand

If you have a blind hand and all other players fold you may keep that hand for the next deal. The dealer will still deal you three cards so that you have two hands. You have three options:

Look at the new hand

Look at the old hand

Play double-blind

If you look at a hand you must decide if you want to keep it or fold immediately. Keeping the hand means you fold the other. You play as an open player, not a blind one. If you fold the hand you looked at, you may play blind with the other hand.

You may choose to look at neither and play both hands blind. If on your turn you decide to look at a hand you must follow the rules described above.

In the unlikely event you are the last player standing at the end of this hand, with two blind hands, you must sacrifice one. You cannot have three blind hands. You may only look at one hand.

VARIATIONS

Four card brag

The same rules are three card brag apply but players receive four cards as opposed to three. Players who look at their hands may dispose of one card to make the best three card hand they can. If there is a tie between two hands, the fourth card is the decider of the winning hand- high card wins. If those cards are also equal it is a tie.

Blind players keep all four cards on the table, if they decide to look at them, they must dispose of one card.

Five card brag

Played exactly like four card brag except players discard two cards as opposed to just one.

Wild cards

Brag can also be played with wild cards, referred to as floaters. Players must agree upon the details of wild cards before the game begins. Here are the common options:

All 2s are wild OR

Only black 2s are wild OR

One-eyed jacks are wild (jack of hearts and jack of spades) OR

Suicide king is wild (king of hearts) OR

A joker or both jokers

Wildcards can be used to represent any card. In the case of equal hands, the natural hand- the hand without the wild card(s)- wins. A hand with fewer wild cards beats one with more.

3 card brag, rules, hand rankings & how to play!

Welcome to 3 card brag. We provide you with a wealth of information about this amazing card game. This page and this website is the online authority and includes the 3 card brag rules, how to play guide, hand rankings, cheating methods and much more.

Brag comes in many forms, not just the most popular 3 card version. 7 card brag, 9 card brag and even one called bastard brag were and still are popular even today.

Below is the most comprehensive and informative guide to playing 3 card brag. If you’re looking for a specific rule or part of the game overall then using the quick links below will help you narrow down your criteria.

3 card brag rules

Getting the 3 card brag rules in place before starting a game for real money is one of the most important things you can do.

This ensures everyone knows what’s going on and saves disagreements or worse as the game progresses.

Here we take a complete look at the rules and how to play 3 card brag. Further down we go through the 3 card brag hand rankings with a quick reference guide.

If you want to learn how to play? Then sit back, relax and get ready to read as we pretty much take a walk through of a hand and how to play 3 card brag.

Quick rules guide:

The cards are never shuffled unless a prial is shown

A run beats a flush

Ace – 2 – 3 is the highest run

333 is the highest prial and highest hand

Caller loses if 2 identical hands are shown

A blind man can raise an open man

An open man can NOT raise a bling player

When 2 players remain an open player can call a blind player after 3 rounds of 1v1 betting

All 3 cards count in a hand. A – K – 7 would beat A – K – 6

Play always moves clockwise

Dealing the cards

Grab a pack/deck of cards from behind the bar, find some waifs and strays with a few quid in their pockets, pull some chairs up to a strange round table that you don’t all quite fit around, and you’re ready to play!

To start a game give the cards a good shuffle. This is the only time the pack is shuffled unless a prial (3 of a kind) is dealt.

Whoever has the cards simply dealt one card face up to each player in a clockwise direction starting on your immediate left. Whoever has the highest card is the dealer.

2 cards the same value? No problem, deal those players another card again clockwise until someone wins. Ready? Thank F$uk for that, now lets play.

Once you have established the first dealer the game can get started. At this point, all players place an ante into the pot. The dealer then deals 1 card at a time to each player in a clockwise direction. That means you deal to your left and play always goes in this direction throughout the game.

Once all players have 3 cards face down with the dealer dealing himself the final card it’s up to the player to the left of the dealer to either bet, fold, look (open) or don’t look (playing blind). Let’s look at how the betting works in more detail.

Betting in 3 card brag

The betting used may seem a bit strange or complicated at first. However, it really is pretty simple and you will get the hang of it quite quickly.

3 card brag hands

Along with learning the rules to this game, understanding the 3 card brag hands is equally important. There are a few unique hands that rank higher than you may well expect.

Poker players, for example, will get confused as to whether a flush beats a run or vice versa. So below are the 3 card brag hand rankings to help you play.

Also, remember a run is known as a straight in poker. It’s a RUN in brag so don’t bring your poker lingo into this real mans card game.

Brag hand rankings high to low

A prial: 333 is the highest followed by AAA, KKK, QQQ, 222 being the lowest

Running flush: (a run all the same suit) A-2-3 is the highest followed by A-K-Q. 2-3-4 is the lowest

A run: 3 cards in value order. A-2-3 is the highest followed by A-K-q, K-Q-J and so on down to 2-3-4

A flush: all 3 cards the same suit. Value counts so the highest flush is A-K-J, the lowest being 2-3-5

A pair: all 3 card values count again so K-K-A would beat K-K-Q for example. Aces are the highest pair followed by kings, queens and so on.

High card: ace high is the highest but again all 3 cards add value to the and. A-K-J would beat A-K-10 for example.

The main points to remember where 3 card brag hands are concerned are:

A flush beats a run

A 2 3 is the highest run

333 is the highest hand

All 3 card count

Hopefully, that’s cleared things up a bit.

The history of 3 card brag

3 card brag is a 16th-century british card game and one of the early ancestors of poker. The elizabethan card game primero (from as far back as 1526) is thought to be the main influence behind brag.

3 card brag is part of the bluffing family when it comes to card games. In reality bluffing rarely comes into it and it’s usually just about who has the most bottle!

3 card brag was immensely popular in the 1980s and 1990s and played in most pubs or clubs for real money.

The explosion of UK poker sites and texas holdem, in particular, which stemmed from the USA caused the game of brag to lose its popularity. Yet, it’s still played today and I expect it to make a huge comeback within the next few years.

Amazingly 3 card brag in its best multiplayer form is not yet available online, multi-player poker yes, brag no. You can play 3 card brag online against the casino by choosing one from the list below.

Online casinos with 3 card brag

Before we get too excited multiplayer 3 card brag you would play against other people isn’t available online yet. This is very disappointing but something that should change over the next few years.

You can, however, play 3 card brag against the casino in where the excitement and history are noticeable. I suppose the fact online casinos dish out a welcome bonus is a reason to give it a go at the very least.

3 card brag

Fresh from the casino floor, it's 3 card brag!

Enjoy the classic card game how it's meant to be played: in stunning 3D! Customise your surroundings and get stuck in to the action now!

3 card brag is based on the popular casino game and is played with 1 deck of 52 cards, shuffled at the start of each game.

3 card brag is really two games in one. In the main game you are dealt one hand of three cards which must beat the dealer's hand to win.

In the additional "pair bonus" game, the result and the amount you can win depends only on the value of your hand, no matter what's in the dealer's hand.

You can play either one of these games separately or both together and you can stake different amounts on each.

Choose your stake from the selection of chips at the bottom left of the screen.

To place your chip(s) on the table, click in the square 'ANTE' bet area and/or in the 'PAIR BONUS' bet circle.

You can choose to play either the main game (by placing an ANTE bet) or the pair bonus game (by placing a PAIR BONUS bet) or both.

A chip will be placed in each bet area that you click every time you click on any bet area.

You may place as many chips as you like on each bet area (ANTE and PAIR BONUS), provided that you will still have enough chips remaining to place a PLAY bet during the game, and provided that you do not exceed the maximum stake, which is £1000 each for the ANTE and PAIR BONUS bets (minimum stake is 10p).

You may choose different stakes for each of your bets - just select a new chip value or place multiple chips on each bet area.

The total amount you have staked will be shown in the 'total stake' box at the bottom right of the screen.

If you press the 'double bet' button, the total bets you have placed so far on ANTE and PAIR BONUS will be doubled.

Press 'undo' to undo your last action - so if you have removed a chip from the table, 'undo' will replace it, or if you have just pressed 'double bet' then 'undo' will remove those chips you just added.

If you change your mind and want to start again, press 'clear all bets' to remove all chips from the table.

Once you are happy with your bets, press 'deal' to play the game. Once you have pressed 'deal', you cannot cancel your bets.

Switch on 'turbo bet' before you press 'deal' if you want the cards dealt to be displayed instantly without viewing the animation of the cards being dealt from the shoe.

Once you press 'deal', three cards each will be dealt to you and to the dealer. The dealer's cards will be dealt face down. Once each hand has been dealt, you will be given the option to play or fold.

If you choose to PLAY then a stake equal to your ANTE is automatically placed on the PLAY bet area and deducted from your chip balance.

If receive a hand made up of a pair or better and you placed a "PAIR BONUS" bet, you must select PLAY in order to win that bet.

If you choose to FOLD, you will forfeit your cards and your stakes and the game will end. If you placed a PAIR BONUS bet you will lose your PAIR BONUS stake, even if your hand is made up of a pair or better.

Once you have selected PLAY or FOLD, the dealer's hand is turned face up. If you have chosen to PLAY, the result will now be displayed.

The dealer needs a hand including at least one queen or better in order to qualify to play.

If the dealer qualifies, then your hand is compared with the dealer's and the best hand wins the game.
If you win, your winnings are paid to you at this point or your stake is removed if you lose. See the payout table below for payouts.
If the dealer does not qualify, you win the ANTE bet but the PLAY bet is a push, so your you will be paid out on the ANTE and your PLAY stake will be returned to you.
If the dealer qualifies but your hand is better, then you win both the ANTE and PLAY bets.
If the dealer qualifies and the hands are tied, then the game is a push, so both your ANTE and PLAY stakes are returned to you.
If the dealer qualifies and beats your hand, then you lose both your ANTE and PLAY stakes.
See below for an explanation of how bets are settled on the PAIR BONUS game.
Highest 3 of a kind (prial) is 3-3-3 followed by A-A-A, K-K-K . Etc.
Highest run and running flush is A-2-3 followed by A-K-Q, K-Q-J . Etc.

The dealer does not need to qualify in order for you to win the PAIR BONUS game - this is a separate side bet based only on your hand. If your hand is made up of a pair or better, then you win the PAIR BONUS bet. See the payout table below for details of pair bonus payouts. You will lose the PAIR BONUS if you fold, regardless of your hand, so you must PLAY after the deal to win the side bet.

If your hand is a running flush, prial (three of A kind) or a run, you will qualify for an ante bonus win. The ante bonus is won based only on your hand, so as long as you PLAY after the deal, it will be paid regardless of the dealer's hand. The ante bonus will not be paid out if you fold. See the payout table below for details of ante bonus payouts.

Dealer does not qualify - PLAY and ANTE stake returned plus ANTE pays 1-1
dealer qualifies and player wins hand - both PLAY and ANTE stake pay 1-1
dealer qualifies and hands are tied (push) - PLAY and ANTE stakes are returned
dealer qualifies and wins hand - both PLAY and ANTE stakes lose

Prial pays 5 to 1
running flush pays 4 to 1
run pays 1 to 1
bonus plus payouts
prial pays 40 to 1
running flush pays 30 to 1
run pays 6 to 1
flush pays 4 to 1
pair pays 1 to 1

Malfunction voids all pays and plays. Return to player = 97%