3 Card Brag

The house edge for Ante & Play in Three Card Poker is 3.37%. However, this jumps to 4.49% when you consider the Pair Plus side bet. The takeaway is that the 3 Card Poker payouts for a pair or better don't make the side bet worth the risk. Check the Side Bet Payouts. Not every version of Three Card Poker online is the same. 3 Card Brag is an uncommon casino game that involves trying to make the best 3-card poker(ish) hand you can. You can either wager on beating the dealer, or simply bet on making a strong enough hand to warrant a payout. '3 Card Brag' is very similar to 3 Card Poker. In fact, after a good night out on the town I doubt you'd be able to tell the.

• 3 Card Brag Online
• 3 Card Brag
• 3 Card Brag Free Play

A free online version of 3 Card Poker with 6-card Bonus. Test out your 3 Card Poker strategy here. Practice for Vegas. Play Three Card Poker for Free. Play British 3 Card Brag Poker Game Online with Basic Winning Strategy. Three Card Brag game is a British quickly- moving betting game that uses only three cards and combines two independent games. Three Card Brag game is similar to poker but has different betting rules and priority of combinations.

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 Online

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

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 Free Play

Brag is an 18th century Britishcard game, and the British national representative of the vying or 'bluffing' family of gambling games.^[1] It is a descendant of the Elizabethan game of Primero^[2] and one of the several ancestors to poker, the modern version just varying in betting style and hand rankings. It has been described as the 'longest-standing British representative of the Poker family.'^[3]

History[edit]

The rules of Brag first appear in 1721 in The Compleat Gamester where it is referred to as 'The Ingenious and Pleasant Game of Bragg',^[4] but in fact, it originates in an almost identical game called Post and Pair which is recorded as far back as 1528 (as Post) and which, in turn, was descended from Primero.^[3] The online casino. However, Brag introduced a key innovation over Post and Pair: the concept of wild cards known as 'braggers'. Initially there was just one, the Knave of Clubs; later the Nine of Diamonds was added.^[4] In parallel with this early three-stake game, in 1751 Hoyle describes a version of Brag with a shortened pack that only had a single phase – the vying or 'bragging' round – with special powers for certain Jacks and Nines, thus anticipating the modern single-stake game.^[5] In 1825, an early American account of Brag describes a much more elaborate single-stake game with a complex vying procedure.^[6] Not until 1860 are rules for both variants published in one compendium, whereby 'Three Stake Brag' is virtually unchanged from the earliest rules and the version of 'Single Brag' described is less complicated than its American cousin.^[7]

In a 1981 survey by Waddingtons, Brag was the fourth most popular card game in Britain.^[8] In 1992, Parlett stated that the classic three-stake variant (see Classic Brag below) was defunct; nevertheless, its rules were still being published in 2001.^[9][10]

Classic Brag[edit]

The earliest published rules for any form of Brag appear in Richard Seymour's 1721 revision of Charles Cotton's The Compleat Gamester. They are less than complete, but with the aid of later descriptions, can be reconstructed.^[a] The following is based on Seymour, supplemented by The New Pocket Hoyle (1810).^[4][11]

Classic Brag is a three-stake game and players ante 3 stakes, one for each phase of the game. Eldest hand deals 3 cards to each player in turn, turning the last card dealt to each player face up. The game phases are:

• Best Card. In the first phase the player with the highest card won the stakes, cards ranking in their natural order from Ace downwards, except that the ♦A outranked the other Aces.
• Bragging. In the second phase, players passed or vied. The procedure is not detailed, but based on the 1810 Hoyle, beginning with elder hand, players would pass or say 'I brag' and place a stake. If a player bragged, he could be challenged by another player matching or raising the stake. If two players wished to challenge, the elder took precedence. Vying continued between the two players until one passed or said 'I'll see you' or the equivalent whereupon both revealed their hands. A Prial (or Pair Royal) beat a Pair which beat a single card. Two Pair Royals were decided by their ranking; likewise two Pairs and so on. The ♣J was a wild card, which could represent any other card, but a natural hand beat a 'wild' hand i.e. one with the Knave^[b] of Clubs. Some circles also admitted the ♦9 as a wild card.
• Thirty One. In the third phase, players scored their hands and the first player to reach exactly 31 or, if no-one did, was closest to 31, won the stakes. To that end, courts and Aces scored 10 and pips their face value. Players could improve their hand by exchanging a card with the stock, but if they 'drew out', i.e. exceeded 31, they lost. If two or more scored the same, they drew again until a winner was established.^[c]

American Brag[edit]

In 1825, the first American account of Brag appeared in a New York edition of Hoyle's Games Improved. This was a far more elaborate variant based solely on the bragging phase of classic Brag.^[12]

Modern Brag[edit]

Modern Brag, often called Three-Card Brag to distinguish it from its variants, is a single-stake game. Everyone antes, and players are each dealt three cards face down. There is a single round of betting, with action starting to the left of the dealer. Each player has the option of betting or folding. If there was a previous bet, the player must contribute at least that much more to the pot. (Unlike usual poker betting, a player's previous money contributed to the pot is ignored.) This betting continues until there are only two players left, at which point either player may double the previous bet to 'see' his opponent. At this point, the two hands are revealed, and the player with the better hand takes the entire pot. If there is a tie, the player who is seeing loses.

For example, with four players A, B, C and D, this situation could occur: Player A bets 2 chips, B folds, C bets 2 chips and D bets 2 chips. In order to stay in, A would have to bet another 2 chips (at least).

Hand ranks[edit]

Three of a kind

Straight

Flush

Pair

High card

Hands generally follow the same sequence as the five-card hands of poker with some variation created by the differing odds of a three-card hand. As there are only three cards, four of a kind and a full house are not possible. Three of a kind is a very high-ranked hand, while a straight beats a flush, as three-card flushes are more likely than three-card straights while the reverse is true of five-card poker hands. The full probabilities are as follows:

Prial[edit]

In Brag, three-of-a-kind is known as a prial, a word derived from 'pair royal'. As such, three sevens would be described as 'a prial (of) sevens'.

Variants[edit]

• Four-card Brag: Players are dealt four cards, and must then choose which card to throw away (place at the bottom of the deck) in order to create the best combination. The game is then played in the same way as three-card brag.^{[citation needed]}
• Five-card Brag.^[13]
• Seven-card Brag: Seven cards are dealt, players must choose three cards to play from their hands, or make two hands, with only a successful win if both hands win the pot.^[13]
• Nine-card Brag: Nine cards are dealt, players sort these into three sets. Four antes are played, one for each set, and a main pot. Each set is then played out, usually without further betting. The winner of each set takes one lot of antes; if a player wins all three sets they receive the main pot as well, otherwise it remains for the next hand. Players must always play the next best available set they have made. Often a player may be able to make two good sets and a poor third (e.g. prial, straight, ten-high), so players that do not think they will be able to win all three will order their hands to leave themselves with a strong third set to protect the main pot.^[13]
• Thirteen-card Brag: Thirteen cards are dealt, from which players must choose three cards to play. Another variation involves making four hands (or the most possible over a certain standard) from the thirteen cards. Four of a kind can also be played, and is usually rewarded by an additional fee to be paid by the other players, apart from any original stake. Players then show their respective best hands, then second best hands, etc., with each winning hand scoring that player a point, or points. Score is kept on a cribbage board, and is usually either a sprint of 10 or so holes, with one point scored for each winning hand, or played over the full length, or street, of the board, with 4 points awarded to the best highest hand, 3 points to the best second-highest hand, etc. Players not on the board by the time someone wins may have to pay double. Winnings are either a pre-arranged fixed amount from each loser to the winner, or paid proportionate to how far behind the winner they finish. Any player winning all four hands in any round is said to have crashed, and automatically wins the entire game. In some regions the game is known as 'Crash'.^{[citation needed]}
• Fifteen card Brag: A normally non-gambling related variant, played as a family game. Each player is dealt fifteen cards, from which they make five three-card tricks. Each player must then lay their tricks down in order, highest first. The winner is the one who wins the most tricks. This variant has a much higher likelihood of more powerful tricks, due to the extra cards. This version can also be played with 10 cards and one card is discarded.^{[citation needed]}
• Stop the Bus: Three cards are dealt to each player, and three face-up communal cards are dealt. Players take turns at exchanging one or all (but not two) of their cards for any or all of the communal cards. Play continues until one player 'sticks', or 'knocks', meaning that they are happy with their hand. All the remaining players then exchange one last time before hands are compared. The player with the lowest hand is out, or loses a life.
• Faras or teen patti (literally 'three cards' in Hindi). A variant of the game very popular in Trinidad, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, and played with numerous local variations.^{[citation needed]}

Some of these rules can also lead to games, especially heads-up, becoming tactical, with players avoiding making their best hand until their hand is forced into that last exchange by another player sticking, risking that the card that completes their hand isn't taken by another player in the meantime.

Betting blind[edit]

Juego de jacks. Players also have the option of playing blind (betting without looking at their cards). A blind player's costs are all half as much as an open (non-blind) player's. However, an open player may not see a blind player. If all other players fold to a blind player, the pot remains, everyone re-antes, and the blind player gets to keep his hand for the next round (in addition to the new one he is dealt). At any time, a player with two blind hands may look at one of them and decide whether to keep it or throw it away. If he keeps it, he throws away the other hand and is considered open. If he throws it away, he keeps the other hand and is still blind. If everyone folds to a blind player with two hands, he must throw away one without looking. As with many rules in card games, regional differences apply to this rule.

Shuffling[edit]

Another unusual custom of Brag is that the deck is rarely shuffled. Unless a hand is seen and won by a prial, the cards from the hand are just placed on the bottom of the deck, and the next hand is dealt without shuffling.

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

1. ^The rules are silent, for example, on the number of players, number of cards, direction of play and details of the vying procedure
2. ^Jacks were then referred to as Knaves.
3. ^Presumably if two or more drew 30 or 31, it was either a draw or positional priority applied.

References[edit]

1. ^Oxford Dictionary of Card games, p. 31, David Parlett ISBN0-19-869173-4
2. ^Dawson 1923, p. 207. sfn error: no target: CITEREFDawson1923 (help)
3. ^ ^abParlett 1991, p. 102. sfn error: no target: CITEREFParlett1991 (help)
4. ^ ^abcSeymour 1721, p. 58. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSeymour1721 (help)
5. ^Hoyle 1751. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHoyle1751 (help)
6. ^_ 1825, pp. 161-164. sfn error: no target: CITEREF_1825 (help)
7. ^Hardie 1860, pp. 75-77. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHardie1860 (help)
8. ^Parlett 1991, p. 3. sfn error: no target: CITEREFParlett1991 (help)
9. ^Parlett 1992. sfn error: no target: CITEREFParlett1992 (help)
10. ^2001 & _, pp. 164-165. sfn error: no target: CITEREF2001 (help)
11. ^Hoyle 1810, pp. 70-72. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHoyle1810 (help)
12. ^1825 & _, pp. 161-164. sfn error: no target: CITEREF1825 (help)
13. ^ ^abcParlett 2008, p. 579. sfn error: no target: CITEREFParlett2008 (help)

Literature[edit]

• _ (1810). The New Pocket Hoyle. L. Smith, London.
• _ (1825). Hoyle's Games Improved. George Long, New York.
• _ (2001). The Complete Book of Card Games. Hamlyn, London. ISBN978-0-600-60413-6
• Cotton, Charles (1721). The Compleat Gamester.
• Dawson, Lawrence Hawkins (1923). Hoyle's Card Games. Routledge, London. ISBN1-85326-316-8
• Hoyle, Edmund (1751). A Treatise on Brag. Joliffe, London.
• Parlett, David (1991). A History of Card Games, OUP, Oxford. ISBN0-19-282905-X
• Parlett, David (1992). Oxford A-Z of Card Games, OUP, Oxford.
• Parlett, David (2008). The Penguin Book of Card Games, Penguin, London. ISBN978-0-141-03787-5

External links[edit]

• Detailed Rules for Brag by John McLeod
• The hand-book of games by H.G. Bohn at Google Books