Brag is a card game which is usually played for money but can also be played without stakes. There are many variations of Brag but one of the most popular versions is Three Card Brag, which is the game that we’re going to concentrate on here. Learning how to play Three Card Brag can be done quickly with many players able to grasp the basics in a few minutes but becoming an expert of the finer intricacies of Three Card Brag can take a lifetime.
Unlike online poker and other card games the skill of card counting can be employed while playing Three Card Brag. This is because unless a hand is won with a prial (three of a kind) the cards are simply placed to the bottom of the deck and the next hand is dealt. Besides the beginning of the game the pack is only shuffled if the previous hand is won with a prial.
The order of the possible three-card Brag hands, from highest to lowest, is as follows. There is no order of suits, so it is possible for two hands to be equal in rank - for example 7-7-Q is equal to 7-7-Q. In a contest between two equal hands the calling player (the player who paid to. When the dealer’s cards are revealed, the sum win is determined depending on the highest hand in 3 card brag. The winning hand is the highest ranked poker hand with the lowest rank as the high card and the next ranked hand as a pair. After these two, other ranks are flush, run, running flush, and the prial which is the three of a kind.
To play Three Card Brag you need at least two players and usually no more than eight. At the start of each hand all players must pay an ante into the pot before being dealt three cards face down. If it is the first deal of the game the dealer should shuffle the pack then deal the cards one at a time in a clockwise direction starting with the player to the dealer’s left until all players have three cards face down in front of them.
Once the cards have been dealt players can look at their cards or choose to play blind. If a player chooses to play blind they may only call a bet not raise a bet but they only have to pay half the bet into the pot. The player to the left of the dealer is the first to act and they must decide whether to fold their cards and forfeit the hand (and the money in the pot) or to make a bet. There is no option to simply check without making a further bet like in other cards games. If a player makes a bet the other players must decide whether to fold, call or bet again. If all but one of the players folds their hands the remaining player takes the pot unchallenged. At the end of the hand the dealer turn is passed to the left.
If a player decides to make a bet then all players at the table must decide whether to fold or to bet at least as much as the original bet. The betting continues around the table until the all players have either folded or matched the final bet. In certain variations of Three Card Brag there may be a draw phase where players can exchange one, two or all three of the cards dealt to them and there may also be a limit on the number of raises in each round of betting.
Once all but two players have folded their hands there is another option available. A player can pay to ‘see’ the other player’s hand. Seeing costs twice the value of the other players previous bet however it forces them to show their hand first. If you pay to see your opponent’s hand and your hand is the stronger you should turn over your cards and take the pot but if they are equal or worse you can simply fold your hand without showing your opponent your cards. It should be noted that if the hands are equal the player who pays to see loses.
During every hand of Three Card Brag betting continues until all players except one have folded or when there are just two players remaining in the hand and one player pays double to see the other player’s hand. At the end of the hand the dealer turn is passed to the left.
Brag is a popular British gambling game. It is sometimes said to be similar to poker, but in fact it is much older and the method of betting is different. The basic game of three-card Brag was one of the games described by Hoyle, and therefore dates from the late eighteenth century or earlier. It is almost identical to the popular Indian game Teen Patti ('three cards').
On this page, Three Card Brag and its Four-card and Five-card variations will be described. There are other games known as 6-card, 7-card, 9-card and 13-card Brag; but they have a very different mechanism and will are covered on a separate page.
This page has been put together from a variety of sources, and I am grateful to those who have contributed, including: Jon Garibaldi, Thomas Olsson, Dave Phillips, Jamie Prestidge, Chris Roberts, Phill Rogers, Brian Rollo, Justin Thurkettle, Mike Tobias.
A standard 52 card pack without jokers is used. The cards in each suit rank in the usual order from high to low: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2. The number of players can vary, but it is probably best for about 4 to 8 people.
Three Card Brag is a gambling game. Before starting it is essential that the players agree on the stake and have a common understanding of the rules. It is necessary to agree:
The order of the possible three-card Brag hands, from highest to lowest, is as follows.
Combination | Examples | Explanation |
---|---|---|
Prial | 3-3-3 A-A-A . . . 2-2-2 | 'Prial' - short for 'pair royal' - is the name in Brag for a set of three cards of equal rank. The best is threes, and the other prials follow in the rank order of the cards: A-A-A, K-K-K, Q-Q-Q, etc. down to 5-5-5, 4-4-4, 2-2-2, three twos being the lowest prial. |
Running flush | 3-2-A A-K-Q . . . 4-3-2 | A running flush is a set of three consecutive cards of the same suit. A run is a set of three consecutive cards of mixed suits. Although the ace is high, A-2-3 counts as a valid run - or a valid running flush if all the cards are the same suit. In fact A-2-3 is the highest run or running flush, A-K-Q of a suit is the second highest, then K-Q-J, and so on down to 4-3-2, which is the lowest. 2-A-K is not a valid run or running flush. Any running flush beats any run with mixed suits - so for example 4-3-2 beats 3-2-A or A-K-Q. |
Run | 3-2-A A-K-Q . . . 4-3-2 | |
Flush | A-K-J . . . 5-3-2 | A flush consists of three cards of the same suit - not all consecutive, or it would be a running flush. When comparing flushes, the highest card is compared first, then if these are equal the middle card, and finally if necessary the lowest. Therefore K-9-2 beats Q-10-5, which beats Q-10-3, which beats Q-9-8. |
Pair | A-A-K . . . 2-2-3 | A pair consists of two cards of equal rank. The third card is of a different rank, otherwise you would have a prial. When comparing pairs, the rank of the pair is compared first (aces are highest), and if two players have the same pair the odd card determines which and is higher. So for example 9-9-3 beats 8-8-K, which beats 8-8-J. |
High card | A-K-J . . . 5-3-2 | Three cards that do not form any of the above combinations. As with flushes, these rank according to the highest card; if the highest cards of two hands are equal the second highest cards are compared, and if these are equal too then the third highest. So J-6-3 beats 10-9-7, which beats 10-9-6. |
There is no order of suits, so it is possible for two hands to be equal in rank - for example 7-7-Q is equal to 7-7-Q. In a contest between two equal hands the calling player (the player who paid to see the other hand) loses (see betting, below).
Poker players should take care to note that the 'run' and 'flush' in Brag rank in the opposite order to Poker.
Before each deal, each player must place the agreed initial stake (ante) in the pot. Deal and play are clockwise, and the turn to deal passes to the left after each hand.
If it is the first deal of the session, the dealer shuffles. For subsequent deals, the cards are only shuffled if the previous hand was 'seen' and won by a prial. Apart from that, the cards not normally shuffled between hands. The cards from the previous hand are just added to the bottom of the pack and the dealer deals the new hands from the top, without shuffling.
The dealer deals out the cards one at a time, face down to the players, until everyone has three cards. Players may look at their own cards, or may choose not to, if they wish to play 'blind' - see below. Cards must at never be shown to any player other than the person to whom they were dealt, unless the betting ends with a 'see'. In that case the cards of the two players involved (but none of the others) are exposed for everyone to see.
Note: the practice of not shuffling makes it possible in some circumstances to know what cards are in play when the same cards come around again. This is particularly useful when there are 3 or 6 players. With 3 players (A, B, C) there are 43 cards remaining in the pack, and these will be used up in 5 deals. So if player A when about to deal surreptitiously gathers the cards from the previous deal in such a way that the cards on the bottoms of the three hands form a good combination, these will now be the 46th, 49th and 52nd cards in the deck. The next deals by A, B, C, A and B consume 45 cards. So on sixth deal, dealt by C, player A will receive the saved combination and can confidently bet blind. With 6 players there are 34 cards remaining in the pack, so a similar feat can be achieved by having the desired cards at the bottom of the 2nd, 4th and 6th hands gathered so that they are the 40th, 46th and 52nd cards, which will be dealt to player A when C becomes the dealer.
When the cards have been dealt, the betting begins with the player to the left of the dealer. This person can 'fold' (throw in their cards and take no further part in the hand) or can bet any amount from the agreed minimum to the agreed maximum. If all the players except one fold, the last remaining player takes all the money in the pot, and the next hand is dealt.
If any player bets, every player after that must either fold or bet at least as much as the previous player who bet. A player may bet more than the previous player, but there may be an agreed limit to the amount by which the bet can be increased. The betting continues around the table as many times as necessary.
When there are only two players left in the game, all the others having folded, a third option becomes available. Either player can see the other. Seeing costs twice as much as the previous player's bet. When you pay to see another player, they expose their three cards first. If your cards are better than your opponent's, you expose your hand to prove this and win the pot. If your cards are equal to your opponent's or worse, your opponent wins the pot - you do not have to show your cards in this case. Note that if the hands are equal, the player who paid to see loses.
Poker players should notice that there is no concept of equalising the bets. At each turn, to stay in you have to put into the pot at least as much new money as the previous player put in. Here are some examples from a four player game:
Betting continues until either
As each player folds, that player's cards are added to the bottom of the pack ready for the next deal. At the end of the betting the cards of the last player left in, or the cards of the two players involved in the see, are added to the pack in the same way.
Please note the following basic rules of etiquette:
Breaking any of the above three rules will get you thrown out of any Brag game.
Here is an example of betting between five players:
Round | Andy | Bill | Chris | Dan | Eddie |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | fold | 2 |
2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | 2 |
3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | 2 |
4 | 2 | fold | 2 | - | 5 |
5 | 5 | - | 5 | - | 5 |
6 | 5 | - | 5 | - | 5 |
7 | 5 | - | fold | - | 10 |
8 | 10 | - | - | - | 10 |
9 | 10 | - | - | - | 10 |
10 | 20 (to see) |
Points to note
A common (but not necessary) house limit on raising is to agree that no-one can raise the pot by more than its current contents. So, for a five player game, the maximum initial stake would be 5 times the ante.
Brag is seldom played with what Poker players know as table stakes (where players keep the money they are playing with on the table for everyone to see and cannot introduce extra money into the game except between hands and with the agreement of all the players). Brag players often keep their money in their pockets until needed. It is usual to insist that each player wishing to take part in a game should placed at least a certain minimum amount of money on the table - say £10. After that, players are free to introduce more money to the game at any time.
Some play that if you do not have enough money left to bet, but want to stay in, you place all your remaining money in the pot, and put your cards face down on top of it. This is called covering the pot. If there are two or more other players, they continue betting as before, but putting the money into a new pot. After this new pot is settled, the winner's hand is exposed, and the hand of the player who ran out of money is compared with it. The old pot is won by the higher hand, or by the winner of the new pot in case of a tie.
The method of covering the pot can also be used when there are only two players left in the game. If one of the players runs out of money, the betting ends when one player puts the last of his money in the pot - the other player does not have to put in any more money but exposes his cards, and wins the pot unless the player who ran out of money can show a better hand.
Although covering the pot might seem to work unfairly in favour of the player who runs out of money, thus getting to see the opponent's hand cheaply, it does avoid some undesirable situations.
However, according to the information I have received from Brag players, it is quite usual to play the harsher rule that a player who does not have enough money to bet the full amount required must either fold or borrow money from another player or a bystander to make up the bet. For this purpose, the player is allowed to show his cards to a player who has already dropped out, who might be prepared to back him financially. Sometimes there is an agreement that whoever in the game has most money will lend some to the player who is short to allow that player to continue to bet.
Some people play that when only two players are in the game, and one of them runs out of money, the player who still has money has the choice of either
It is clear that betting with borrowing could potentially lead to some difficult situations, in which a player must either fold a good hand or borrow money he may not be in a position to repay. When blind betting is allowed, there is even more scope for this kind of problem, since a blind player can carry on betting indefinitely against an open player, and the open player cannot see the blind player.
Sometimes, in a situation where three (or more) players are betting against each other and none of them is prepared to fold, if they all feel that the pot is getting too big, they may agree to a showdown in which all cards are exposed and the highest hand wins.
I would like to hear from any experienced Brag players who can let me know more about the correct way to handle these situations.
Experienced players usually allow the extra option of playing blind. Any player may choose to play any hand blind. If you are playing blind you do not look at your cards, but leave them face down on the table. You take part in the betting in the normal way, except that all your bets are worth double. In other words, at each stage you only have to put in half the amount of money you would need to bet if you had looked at your cards.
If you have been playing blind, then at your turn to bet, you can choose to look at your cards before deciding whether to bet or fold. From that moment on you are no longer a blind player, and if you then want to stay in, you must revert to the same betting amount as the 'non-blind' players.
If you are playing blind and all the other players fold - which would be surprising but I am assured that it does happen - you do not win the pot. Instead, the pot is carried forward to the next deal and you are allowed to retain your hand - see below.
When just two players remain, one or both of whom are playing blind, the possibilities for one player to 'see' the other - i.e. pay for the hands to be exposed and compared - are as follows.
A betting example:
Round | Andy | Bill | Chris | Dan | Eddie |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | 1 (blind) | 2 | 1 (blind) | 2 |
2 | 2 | 1 (blind) | 2 | 1 (blind) | 2 |
3 | 2 | 1 (blind) | 2 | 1 (blind) | 2 |
4 | 2 | 1 (blind) | 4 | 2 (blind) | fold |
5 | 4 | 5 (blind) | 10 | fold | - |
6 | fold | 5 (blind) | 10 | - | - |
7 | - | 5 (blind) | 10 | - | - |
8 | - | 10 (to see) |
Points to note:
If you end up with a blind hand when all other players have dropped out, you may retain the blind hand on the table. The next hand is then dealt, so that you now have two sets of cards in front of you. You may either:
If you look at one of the hands, you must immediately decide whether to keep it or fold it. If you keep it, you must fold the other (without looking at it). You are then non-blind and play the looked-at hand normally. If you decide to fold the hand you looked at, then you have just one blind hand to play by the usual rules; you can look at it now or later if you wish.
If you look at neither hand, you can play both hands 'blind' until (at some point) you choose to look at one of them, in which case you follow the same procedure above.
In the unlikely event that you win the pot again, without having looked at either 'blind' hand,you may choose to retain either (but only one), sight unseen, before the next deal. You cannot have three 'blind' hands at once.
Note that at no stage when playing two hands 'blind' can you look at both and choose the better one - you must look at just one and choose to keep it or fold it, before looking at the other.
Jon Garibaldi has provided the following analysis.
As there are so few total different hands, it is not difficult to calculate the prior probabilities.
There are a total of 22,100 different card combinations ( 52 * 51 * 50 / 3! ). The number of ways to make each hand, and approx odds, are as follows:
Hand | Combinations | Probability | Odds |
---|---|---|---|
Prial Threes | 4 | 1/5525 | 5524 to 1 |
Other Prial | 48 | 1/460 | 459 to 1 |
Running Flush | 48 | 1/460 | 459 to 1 |
Run | 720 | 1/31 | 30 to 1 |
Flush | 1 096 | 1/20 | 19 to 1 |
Pair | 3 744 | 1/6 | 5 to 1 |
High Card | 16 440 | 3/4 | 3 to 1 on |
(total combinations) | 22 100 |
Obviously, these odds are affected by previous cards, if the deck isn't shuffled.
John Garibaldi has contributed the following advice.
This is the same game as Three Card Brag, except that four cards are dealt to each player. Players who look at their hands discard one card before the betting begins to form the best three card hand they can make. In case of a tie between two hands, the discarded card is used to decide which is better. If the discarded cards were also equal in rank then the player who was seen wins the tie.
If betting blind is allowed, a blind player will keep all four cards face down on the table. If you have been playing blind and decide to look at your cards, you discard one after looking at them.
This is similar to Four Card Brag, but five cards are dealt to each player, and everyone discards two cards to make their best three card brag hand.
Brag is sometimes played with wild cards, also known as floaters. The cards that are considered wild (if any) vary from group to group, so if you wish to play with wild cards it is important to agree the details before playing. Some possibilities are:
A wild card can be used to represent any card in the pack, but if two hands are otherwise equal, a hand without wild cards will beat a hand containing one or more wild cards, and a hand with fewer wild cards will beat a hand with more of them. For example, if W denotes a wild card, W-8-7 (with W representing the 9) beats 8-7-6, which beats 8-W-6. Also K-K-W beats K-W-W, which beats Q-Q-Q.
It seems that wild cards are often used in four-card and five-card brag, but that three card brag is more often played without them.
Some play that when there are just two players betting, you only need to equal the most recent bet to see the other player's cards (provided that he is not betting blind). Seeing does not cost a double bet.
Some play that after the deal, the remainder of the pack is placed face up on the table, so that just one card (which was the bottom card during the deal) can be seen. Folded hands are then placed face up on top of the pack, again with just one card showing.
Phill Rogers reports a version where when the deal has passed a full circle (i.e. one more deal than the number of players) then the next dealer gets to choose the game. A change in variation (what cards are wild; whether blind betting is allowed; whether three four or five cards are dealt) can be dictated by the dealer; changing to a different card game, such as from Brag to Indian Poker, would have to be agreed by majority of players.
Many books, especially in the late nineteenth and throughout the twentieth century, describe an entirely fictitious form of Brag with poker-like betting and three wild cards or 'braggers'(A, J and 9). There is no evidence that Brag has ever been played that way, and it seems that this version derives from a misreading of some of the early printed descriptions. This is discussed further in Jeffrey Burton in The Playing-Card Vol XXIV No 3 (Nov-Dec 1995) and 4 (Jan-Feb 1996).
There are several Indian sites offering online real money games of the almost identical Indian game Teen Patti (3 cards).
To reduce the possibility of collusion in an online game, GameAccount has introduced a variation which they call '3 Card Brag Poker', which has poker-like betting and a draw. Before the deal the two players to the left of the dealer place compulsory bets, called the small and big 'blinds'. After the deal there is a poker-like betting round with fixed bets and raises equal to twice the big blind and a limit of three raises if there are more than two players in the pot. Then each player can discard from zero to three cards and is dealt replacement cards, after which there is a second betting round in which the bets and raises are twice as big, but again limited to three raises so long as there are more than two active players. Players do not have to look at the cards they are dealt, and so long as the play without seeing their cards they may call for half price.