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Three Card Poker, Casino Hold'em, Ultimate Texas Hold'em. Optimal play drills.

Dr Helena Marchant

Quantitative editor · Reviewed 15 May 2026

How the maths work

Casino poker games are decision-tree games. Each hand has a small number of plays you can make, and for each play there is a computer-solved best answer based on your cards (and sometimes the dealer's up-card). The trainer deals random hands and grades your call against that best answer.

The three games on this page

Three Card Poker. Three cards each. The simple, exact rule is Q-6-4: play any hand Queen-6-4 or better; fold worse. House edge with perfect play on the ante: about 3.37% per ante. Pair Plus side bet runs around 7.28%.

Caribbean Stud. Five cards. Pair-or-better always raises. With Ace-King high, the simple near-optimal rule is A-K-J-8-3 or better. Exact strategy is more intricate (the fourth and fifth cards matter against specific dealer up-cards), but the simple rule gives away about 0.16%. Edge with simple play: around 5.22% per ante; with exact play, about 5.22% still, because most of the edge sits in the ante bonus and qualification rule, not the raise decision.

Ultimate Texas Hold'em. Two hole cards, three streets of decisions: pre-flop 4x or check, flop 2x or check, river 1x or fold. Pre-flop the standard rule is the one trained here: pair of 3s plus, any Ace, any King (suited or off-suit K-5 or better), Q-8 off-suit or better, J-T suited. House edge with full optimal play: about 2.18% per ante-and-blind. This is the lowest-edge proprietary table game on the average UK floor.

How to use this

Drill until you can call the right action on each game without thinking. Then play live and stick to the rules. Deviation is the single biggest leak in casino poker. Most players know the rule and break it on hands they like the look of. The maths doesn't care how the hand looks.

Lessons that explain the maths

What this isn't

It's not real-money play. The trainer deals one hand at a time from a fresh shuffle and grades a single decision. Real games have multiple streets, board cards, and the dealer's hand to follow. Use this to learn the chart. Use a live game (or none) for the rest.