Invented in 1994 by a British poker player who wanted a table game simple enough for anyone and fast enough for a casino. He succeeded. There is exactly one strategic decision in the game and it fits on a matchbook: play Queen-Six-Four or better, fold everything else. The rest is a side bet designed to look like the main event.
Post an Ante. You and the dealer each get three cards; yours face up, theirs down. Look at your hand and either fold (lose the ante) or Play by putting up a second bet equal to the ante. The dealer needs Queen-high to qualify. If the dealer doesn't qualify, your Ante pays even money and Play pushes. If the dealer qualifies, better hand wins both bets, worse hand loses both. Hand rankings are three-card rankings: a straight beats a flush here, because with three cards a straight is rarer. An Ante Bonus pays extra on a straight or better, win or lose.
Pair Plus is the separate bet on the felt: it pays according to your own three cards alone, regardless of the dealer — a pair pays 1:1, a straight flush 40:1 — and it requires no decisions. Because it looks like the "fun" bet and pays out big now and then, it's where most of the money at the table goes. Which is the point.
| Bet | House edge |
|---|---|
| Ante & Play, Q-6-4 strategy, as a % of money wagered | 2.01% |
| Pair Plus, 40-30-6-4-1 | 2.32% |
| Pair Plus, 40-33-6-4-1 or 35-33-6-4-1 | 2.70% |
| Ante & Play, 5-4-1 bonus, of the ante | 3.37% |
| Ante & Play, 4-3-1 bonus | 3.83% |
| Ante & Play, 3-2-1 bonus | 4.28% |
| Pair Plus, 50-30-6-3-1 | 5.10% |
| Ante & Play, never folding | ~5.4% |
| Pair Plus, 40-30-6-3-1 (the common one) | 7.28% |
| Six Card Bonus, typical paytables | 6–15% |
Pick a bet, a unit and a number of bets. The simulator plays 1,000 sessions from the bet's actual outcome table — not a normal approximation — and shows the spread, the drawdowns, and how long it takes before the house edge stops hiding behind luck. Ante & Play versus Pair Plus on the 6-3-1 table, same unit, same hands. One of these is a game and one is a donation.
How it works. The dealer picks up three cards to check for a qualifying hand, and a careless dealer lifts them where a player at first or last seat can see one. Knowing a single dealer card flips the Play decision from a 3.4% loss to a player edge of a few percent — you play more hands when the dealer's card is low, fold more when it's high. It's the same skill as in Ultimate Texas Hold'em and the same small community of professionals who scout dealers across a city.
Legality and acceptance. As above: in Nevada, seeing what's shown to you without a device isn't cheating; elsewhere it depends. Casinos treat it as an emergency — new dealer, table closed, player flagged. There is no version of this for a recreational player beyond knowing that it's why the dealer now uses a card-reading shoe.