Three Card Brag

Players and equipment

Three to ten players, best with four or more, a standard 52-card deck and chips. Brag is the British three-card vying game, older than poker and quicker: no shared cards, no draw, and betting that goes round until one player is left or one pays to see. Agree the ante and the opening stake before the first deal. SquareScores is a chip ledger for the game: it keeps every stack, bet and pot, and it deals nothing and never sees a card.

The deal

Everybody antes. Three cards each, face down, one at a time, starting on the dealer's left. Traditionally the deck is not shuffled between deals — folded and shown hands go under the pack as they are, and it is shuffled only when a prial has been shown — so the cards run in remembered clumps. Many tables shuffle every deal; say which you play. Each player now looks at their cards, or plays blind.

Play

Betting starts on the dealer's left and goes round and round. There is no checking: on your turn you bet at least as much as the last player to bet, or you fold. Betting more raises the stake, which everybody after you must match to stay in, and it never comes down.

A player who has not looked at their cards is playing blind, and a blind bet is half an open one: when the stake is 2 a blind player puts in 1, and when a blind player raises to 3 an open player must put in 6 to stay. A blind player may look at their cards on any turn, and from then on pays the open stake. There is no limit on the number of rounds; the betting goes on until everybody but one has folded or somebody sees.

When only two players remain, one may pay twice the current stake to see the other. The seen player shows first, the better hand takes the pot, and if the hands are equal the player who paid to see loses. You cannot see a blind player. If the last two are an open player and a blind one, the open player can only keep betting or fold, and the blind player can carry on blind or look at their cards and then see at the open price. Two blind players may see each other for twice the blind stake.

Scoring

Three-card hands, best first, and the order is not poker's:

Prial

3♠ 3♥ 3♦

Three of a kind — and threes beat aces

Running flush

A♠ 2♠ 3♠

Three in sequence, one suit — A-2-3 is the best

Run

A♦ 2♣ 3♥

Three in sequence, mixed suits

Flush

K♥ 9♥ 4♥

Three of one suit

Pair

Q♠ Q♦ 8♣

Two of a rank, ranked by the pair then the odd card

High card

A♠ J♦ 9♣

None of the above

A run beats a flush because with three cards a sequence is rarer than a suit — the reverse of poker. Prials rank threes first, then aces down to twos. Runs and running flushes rank ace, two, three first, then ace, king, queen, and so on down to four, three, two. A flush is compared on its highest card, then the next; a pair on the pair, then the odd card; a high-card hand card by card from the top. Suits never separate two hands.

A worked hand

Three players, an ante of 1 and an opening stake of 2. Ben plays blind; Alice and Cara look at their cards.

The ante

Pot 3

Everybody puts in 1, and Ben plays blind

First round

Pot 8

Alice bets 2, Ben bets 1 blind, Cara bets 2

Second round

Pot 14

Alice raises to 4, Ben bets 2 blind, Cara folds

Third round

Pot 18

Alice cannot see a blind player, so she bets 4 again

Ben looks

Pot 26

Open now, he pays twice the stake, 8, to see Alice

Showdown

Ben takes 26

Alice shows a pair of queens; Ben shows a run of five, six, seven

Ben's blind bets cost him half of Alice's at every turn, and once Alice was alone against him she was stuck: unable to see a blind player, she could only bet 4 a round or give up. Ben chose the moment, looked, and paid 8 — twice the open stake of 4 — to end it. A run beats a pair, so he takes 26 for the 12 he put in. Had he turned over a pair of queens with the same odd card in other suits, Alice would have taken the pot, because the player who pays to see loses an equal hand. SquareScores keeps the pot as the chips go in; who may see whom is the table's to police.

Ending

The pot goes to the last player in, or to the better hand when somebody pays to see, and the deal passes left. Brag is settled hand by hand and stops when people want to stop.

Playing blind

A blind hand is as likely to be the best as any other; what you give up is knowing, and what you get is every bet at half price and the right not to be seen. Play blind while the stake is small, and against a table that folds too readily — an open player must pay twice your bet to stay in against you, and cannot end the hand. Look once the stake has climbed to where half of it is real money, or the moment you are alone against an open player who has stopped raising: they cannot see you, so you choose when the hand ends. Do not stay blind against a raiser out of pride; a hand you have paid three rounds for is a hand you should look at.

When to see

Seeing costs twice the stake and loses a tie, so see with a hand that beats most hands, not one that might. About three hands in four are nothing but high cards and about one in six is a pair, so a pair of tens or better against one opponent who has only called is usually a see, and a high-card hand is a see only when the betting has looked like nothing on both sides. Against a player who has raised twice, if you believe you are beaten, folding costs nothing more and seeing costs twice the stake to find out.

Folding early

Brag is lost a stake at a time. The ante is gone whether you fold now or in four rounds, and every round you stay costs a full stake with no shared cards to change your hand. Three unmatched middling cards lose to a pair, and around a table of six somebody holds a pair more often than not, so fold them in the first round. The two mistakes are staying with nothing because the pot has grown, and folding a good pair to a single raise from a player who raises every hand.

The ante and the pot

The ante sets how hard the pot is worth fighting for. With a big ante and a small stake, the pot is already worth many stakes by the second round, so staying in with a fair hand is right and folding is expensive; with a small ante, the first raise decides most hands, and a player who raises first and often takes the antes. Compare the stake to the pot before every bet: 2 into 26 is a call with almost anything against one player, 8 into 14 is a see only with a hand that can win it. And when the pack is not shuffled, a folded hand goes under it as three cards together, so a run folded a few deals ago comes round again as a run.

Four-card brag

Four cards each, and every player throws one away face down to keep the best three. Pairs and runs are commoner, so a bare pair is worth less.

Seven-card brag

Seven cards each, no betting: each player discards one and makes two three-card hands, laying the better one first. A player wins only by winning both comparisons; if nobody does, the pot stands for the next deal.

Crash

Four players and thirteen cards each, made into four hands of three with one card spare. The hands are laid face down best first and compared one at a time round the table, a point for each won, over several deals to an agreed total. Points, not chips: no blind and no seeing.

A joker

One joker is added and stands for any card. Agree before the deal whether a natural hand beats the same hand made with the joker; tables differ.

Ace-king-queen the top run

Some tables rank runs as poker does: ace, king, queen is the best, and ace, two, three the lowest. Running flushes follow the same order. Say which before the first deal, as a hand can be top or bottom depending on it.

Does a run beat a flush in Three Card Brag?

Yes. With three cards a sequence is harder to make than three of one suit, so the run ranks above the flush — the opposite of poker. A running flush, three in sequence and all one suit, beats both.

What is the best hand in Three Card Brag?

Three threes, a prial of threes. A prial is any three of a kind, and threes are the top prial rather than aces; after that prials rank aces down to twos. Below the prials come the running flush, the run, the flush, a pair and high card.

What does playing blind mean in Brag?

Betting without looking at your cards. A blind bet is half of an open one, and an open player has to put in twice your bet to stay in against you. You can look at your cards on any turn, and from then on you pay the full stake.

Can you see a blind player in Brag?

No. Only two blind players can see each other, and an open player against a blind one can only keep betting or fold. The blind player can carry on blind or look and then see.

What happens if the hands are equal in Brag?

The player who paid to see loses. Suits never separate hands, so two players holding a pair of queens with an eight each have an equal hand, and the one who paid to see loses it. Seeing is a claim that your hand is better, and an equal hand does not make good on it.

How is Brag different from poker?

Three cards and no shared ones, no checking, no draw, and betting that goes round until somebody sees or everybody else folds rather than a fixed number of rounds. A run beats a flush, threes are the best prial, and the blind rules have no equivalent in poker.