Players use their best four of five cards dealt
against the dealer’s best four of six cards.
There are three ways to
play. The game allows the player to wager against the dealer, to wager on the
value of his own hand against a paytable
with a bet called Aces Up (see below), or to wager both against the dealer and
on the value of his own hand.
After each player at the table places an initial
“ante wager” in a designated
area of the layout, the dealer deals both the player and the dealer
five cards
face down. A sixth “dealer” card is then revealed face up.
After
each player examines his cards, he or she then has the option to fold
the hand and forfeit the ante wager, or to place an additional “play
wager”
ranging from an amount equal to the player’s ante bet up to three times the
ante wager.
After all betting decisions have been made; the dealer will
turn over his cards and select the best four of six cards, then compare that best
four-card hand to each player’s best four-card hand. If the dealer’s
hand is higher, the player loses both the Ante and any raise wagers.
If the
ranking of the player’s hand is higher than, or equal to, the dealer’s
hand, the happy player wins and is paid even money on both the ante and
the
play wagers.
The following is the
ranking of hands from lowest to highest: high card, pair, two pair, straight,
flush, three-of-a-kind, straight flush, four-of-a-kind.
To
boot, Dominic, players who place an ante wager and a play wager win a bonus payout
on the ante wager for three specified high value hands: 25 to 1 for four-of-a-kind,
20 to 1 for a straight flush, and 2 to 1 for three-of-a-kind.
Four
Card Poker also features an optional side wager (similar to the Pairplus in Three
Card Poker) called the “Aces Up wager.” If the player’s hand contains
a pair of Aces or better, the player wins the Aces Up wager. The Aces Up bet can
be placed independently or in conjunction with the ante wager and play wager.
Its outcome is determined independently of the outcome of the player’s
ante wager and play wager.
Players receive Aces Up payouts regardless of the
dealer’s hand. Payout odds for a winning Aces Up bet range from a minimum
of 1 to 1 for a pair of aces up to 50 to 1 for four-of-a-kind.
A simple, yet
effective basic strategy is to fold with less than a pair of deuces, raise one
unit with a pair of threes through a pair of nines, and raise three units with
a pair of tens or greater.
Yo, Dom,
two reasons why I’m not a fan of this game. First, I ain’t givin’
an extra card to anybody, face up or not, and worse, it crosses my two
percent
casino edge threshold. Look for more on the odds
of the different wagers, plus strategies unlike the one above that ignores the
dealer’s upcard in a future column.
Good
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