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Four card poker game is one of the newest poker game variants in the casinos today and it is quite similar to the three card poker game which was invented by Roger Snow and also owned by Shuffle Master. Although it is called four card poker, players are dealt five cards each with and are required to make the best for hard combination. The game is played with a standard 52 deck of cards on a table that is similar to the blackjack table which has 3 circles in front of each player that are marked Ante, 1x to 3x ante and Aces Up. The dealer is however dealt 6 cards and they are also supposed to make the best four card combination and one of the dealers cards is supposed to be face up. The dealer does also not have to qualify in order for the game to continue.

How to Play

Players are supposed to place an ante bet or Aces up bet. In some cases the player are also allowed to place both the bets. Each player as well as the dealer is supposed to be dealt with five playing cards face down and a sixth card face up. The dealer and the players are also supposed to have four card hands and make the best out of them. The dealer has an advantage in this game given that they have an extra card and also due to the fact that if any player folds they will lose their ante even if their hands are better than the dealer’s. Players can choose to fold their ante bets after seeing their cards and the dealer’s cards and in this case they will lose their bets. They can however choose to play by betting 1 to 3 times their ante. The main difference of this game to the 3 card poker game and other poker game is that the dealer always qualifies to play. In case a player ties or beats a dealer they get paid the amount they had bet. If a player has 3 of a kind then they will be paid bonus usually 2:1 of the original bet only, 20:1 for a straight flush and 25:1 for four of a kind. This bonus will still be paid out even if the dealer has a better hand than the players although in this case the player will still lose their ante bets. The aces up bet will solely depend on a players hand. If a player has a pair of aces or better they will win otherwise hey will lose. The dealers hand is also immaterial and it is also important to note that there are various payout variations that will mainly depend on the casino you are going to playing and this usually leads to house edge that will range form 1.98% to 6.15%.

Strategy

There is no perfect strategy of playing this game but there are a few things that a player can do to improve their chances of winning in this game. For example if the house edge is set at 3.36% of the initial bet then the player will be required to fold when they have pairs of 2 or less, bet 1 times the ante when they have pairs of 3’s through to 9’s and bet 3 times the ante when they have pairs of 10’s or better.