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For most people who think of gambling and playing cards, the image is usually of a group of people sitting around a Poker table. Sometimes the image is of several people playing Blackjack in a casino and occasionally that of Baccarat. While these are the three most popularised card games that involve gambling, they are not the only ones. In the UK, the card game of Brag is highly popular amongst gamblers.

There are several variations of Brag, but by far the most popular amongst gamblers is Three Card Brag. In terms of difficulty, this is actually a far easier game to play than Poker, as there are fewer rules, especially with regards to betting. Three Card Brag lends itself perfectly to the gambler’s ideal of a skill game that requires very little actual technical skill. In fact, it is simply a case of knowing the value of each possible hand and then having similar personality skills as those essential in Poker to be able to bluff or otherwise your way to winning the pot.

Let’s look at how the game is played.

In any game of Brag, there is an initial ante bet required for players to buy into the hand. There is usually, but not always a pre-determined limit agreed upon before the game starts. A single standard 52 card deck is used and three cards are dealt face down to each player.

The first round of betting commences with the player to the left of the dealer. Players have the option to look at their cards, or “go open” and bet accordingly, fold, or go “blind” by not looking at them. Blind bets are half the value of open bets. As an example, if the first player bets £1 blind and the next player is “open”, he must bet £2, raise or fold. This is the same for each player around the table. Any player can play blind or open.

There are no further cards dealt and betting continues clockwise around the table. Players have the options to match the previous bet, raise it or fold. Any blind player that decides to look at their cards before their next bet must then bet the full amount, fold or raise, playing open from then onwards.

In Three Card Brag, the hands run in the following order from strongest to weakest. Aces are always high and face cards count in the order K-Q-J:

Prial of 3s (three 3s)
Prial (three of a kind) A-A-A is the strongest, 2-2-2 the weakest.
Running Flush (three consecutively running cards of the same suit) A-2-3 is the strongest, followed by A-K-Q (known as “aqua”) etc. However, 2-A-K is not valid.
Run (three consecutively running cards, different suits) A-2-3 is the strongest and 2-3-4 weakest.
Flush (three non-consecutive cards of the same suit) A-K-J the strongest, 2-3-5 the weakest
Pair (two of a kind) A-A-K is the strongest, 2-2-3 the weakest
High (three random cards) A-K-J is the strongest, 2-3-5 the weakest

Betting continues until two players remain. A player can then choose to “see” the other by paying double the current bet and making it clear that this is a “see” by saying so, otherwise a raise is assumed. The seen player then turns over his cards and if he has the winning hand, he takes the pot. If the player seeing has the better hand, he then reveals it and takes the pot. In the case of a draw, which is possible as there are no suit rankings, the player who pays to see the other is the loser.

There is a rule that adds to the attraction of playing blind that states that “a blind player cannot be seen.” That means to end a game and designate a winner, the blind player must see the open player. However, if the two remaining players are both “blind”, either one can “see” the other.

This rule means that a blind player can keep playing until every other player has folded. This situation is not desirable because if the last remaining player is blind, he cannot take the pot. Instead, a new game commences with the pot intact and “winning” blind player keeps his hand from the previous game and is also dealt a further hand face down. He can choose to look at the new hand and keep it, discarding the old hand or look at the old hand and discard the new one. He can alternatively retain either hand without looking at it and discard the other and continue to play blind during the new game.

Of course, this situation means a much larger pot is being played for, which tends to keep more players in for longer.

It can be seen that Three Card Brag can rapidly increase or decrease a players fortunes as games are relatively short lived, meaning many games can be fitted into a session. This much faster pace of play than poker is highly attractive to the gambler who enjoys the thrill of the win. Perhaps this is a game that will interest Internet gambling operators in the near future.