Three card brag is a unique British card game which is similar to poker but varies in betting style and hand rankings. Three card brag was played in the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels directed by Guy Ritchie, where it was played without table stakes.

The game is also very popular in India and Nepal, where it is known both as "Flush" and "Tinpathi" (literally translated from Hindi as "three cards"). At large gatherings and especially during festival times, it is the game of choice since many people of different skills can play together and have fun.

It is also a very popular game among British fairground showmen, who usually get together at the bigger fairs and play for quite high stakes.

Rules

Everyone antes, and players are each dealt three cards face down. There is a single round of betting, with action starting to the left of the dealer. Each player has the option of betting or folding. If there was a previous bet, the player must contribute at least that much more to the pot. (Unlike usual poker betting, your previous money contributed to the pot is ignored.) This betting continues until there are only two players left, at which point either player may double the previous bet to "see" his opponent. At this point, the two hands are revealed, and the player with the better hand takes the entire pot. If there is a tie, the player who is seeing loses.

Variations

• Seven Card Brag: Seven cards are dealt, players must choose three cards to play from their hands.
• Nine Card Brag: Nine cards are dealt, players sort these into three sets. Four antes are played, one for each set, and a main pot. Each set is then played out, usually without further betting. The winner of each set takes one lot of antes; if a player wins all three sets they receive the main pot as well, otherwise it remains for the next hand. Players must always play the next best available set they have made. Often a player may be able to make two good sets and a poor third (e.g. prial, straight, ten-high), so players that do not think they will be able to win all three will order their hands to leave themselves with a strong third set to protect the main pot.
• Thirteen Card Brag: Thirteen cards are dealt, from which players must choose three cards to play.
• Bastard Brag: Three cards are dealt to each player, and three communal cards are dealt (two face up, one face down) which are swapped by players until a hand is made. Once a hand is made, a player can 'knock' which signifies other players get one more 'swap' until it reached the 'knocker' and cards are shown. Player with lowest hand is out.

Hand ranks

The hand rankings, from best to worst, are: three of a kind ("prial"), straight flush ("running flush"), straight ("run"), flush, pair, high card. The best prial is 3-3-3, followed by the usual order of A-A-A, K-K-K, etc. The best running flush or run is 3-2-A, followed by the usual order of A-K-Q, K-Q-J, etc. The flushes, pairs, and high cards have rankings identical to poker (aces high).

A pair will beat three-quarters of hands, but must watch out for unexpected runs and flushes. Prials and running flushes are extremely rare (both are one in 460) but can happen (especially in variations of the game in which a hand is chosen from more than three cards).

Betting Blind

Players also have the option of playing blind (betting without looking at their cards). A blind player's costs are all half as much as an open (non-blind) player's. However, an open player may not see a blind player. If all other players fold to a blind player, the pot remains, everyone re-antes, and the blind player gets to keep his hand for the next round (in addition to the new one he is dealt). At any time, a player with two blind hands may look at one of them and decide whether to keep it or throw it away. If he keeps it, he throws away the other hand and is considered open. If he throws it away, he keeps the other hand and is still blind. If everyone folds to a blind player with two hands, he must throw away one without looking.

Shuffling

Another unusual custom of Brag is that the deck is rarely shuffled. Unless a hand is seen and won by a prial, the cards from the hand are just placed on the bottom of the deck, and the next hand is dealt without shuffling.

External link

• 3 Card Brag - rules, strategy - play the game on-line and join the forum by www.threethrees.co.uk
• Detailed Rules for Brag by John McLeod
• Single player game for windows and Game Theory analysis by Sanjiv Shresta

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