How to Play Andar Bahar
Andar bahar can be learned in the time it takes to deal one round. A card is placed face up in the middle, bets go on one of two rows, and cards are dealt to the rows in turn until one of them receives a card of the middle card's rank. That row wins and the round is over. The words are Hindi for inside and outside, the rows the dealer deals to on the near and far side of the joker.
This page covers the round in order, the one rule that varies between tables, the payouts, the side bets and the vocabulary. What each row is worth over time, and the chance of the match arriving on any given card, are on the odds page.
A Round in Five Steps
- The joker is turned. One card from a shuffled deck goes face up in the middle. Its rank is all that matters; its suit and colour matter only to certain side bets.
- Bets go down. Chips on the Andar area or the Bahar area, and optionally on the side bets, before any card is dealt to a row. Betting closes when the first row card is dealt.
- Cards are dealt in turn. One card to the first row, one to the second, back to the first, and so on, each turned face up as it lands.
- A match ends it. The first card of the joker's rank, in whichever row it lands, settles the round. Every other card is ignored.
- Payout. Bets on the winning row are paid at the rate printed on the area and keep their stake; bets on the other row are cleared. Side bets are settled from their own schedules.
Which Row Is Dealt First
This is the rule that differs between tables, and it is the rule that matters, because the row that takes the first card wins more often, 51.50% of rounds against 48.50%. Most tables deal to andar first every round. Some deal to bahar first. A third group decides by the joker: a black joker sends the first card to one row and a red joker to the other, so the favoured row changes from round to round.
The rule: Whichever row takes the opening card is the favourite, at 51.50%, and it is also the row paid 0.9:1 rather than even money.
The payouts follow the rule rather than the names. The row dealt first is paid 0.9:1, the other 1:1, and on a joker-colour table the reduced payout moves with the first card. A table printing one payout for both rows is rare, and there the first row is ahead by the whole of its lead.
What the Areas Pay
A few tables cut the payout for a match on the opening card, one round in 17; the rule sits beside the row payouts where it applies, and its cost is on the odds page.
The Side Bets
Number of cards. A bet that the round will end within a stated range: one to five cards, six to ten, and so on up to the longest range the table offers. The ranges are fixed before the deal and each has its own payout, small for the short ranges that end most rounds and large for the long ones. 27.11% of rounds end within five cards, and the average round deals 13.
Joker bets. Settled the moment the joker is turned, before any row card is dealt: red or black, one of the four suits, above or below eight, or an exact rank. They are bets on one card from a full deck, so their chances follow from the deck directly, and the areas print what they pay.
A match on the first card. Where offered, a bet that the very first row card will be the match. It wins one round in 17 and is paid accordingly.
The key number: The average round is 13 cards long, and one round in 17 is over on its opening card.
Online, Live and the Home Game
An online table deals from a shuffled deck generated for each round and shows the cards landing in each row as they come, usually with the count of cards dealt displayed so the range bets can be followed. A free demo is this exactly, on credits. A live table streams a dealer and a real deck, with betting closed by a timer; it is the form most casinos offer, and it has no free mode.
In the home game across India the deck is dealt by one of the players and the first card goes to whichever row the group has agreed, often decided by the joker's colour. The casino version keeps that custom in some titles and fixes the first row in others, which is why reading the rule is the first thing to do at any new table.
Andar Bahar Words
How to Play Andar Bahar FAQs
No. The round ends on the first matching card, and it lands in one row or the other. There is no tie in the main bet.
Nothing stops you, but the two bets cancel each other apart from the difference in payout, and that difference is the house's. It is a way to lose a little on every round.
Not on the rows. Some tables open a second betting window after the first two cards if neither has matched, with adjusted payouts; the rules screen says whether a title does.
A few seconds online. The average round needs 13 cards, and the longest possible, with every card of the joker's rank at the bottom of the deck, runs to forty-nine.
Every title in the free list here runs on credits, which is enough to see which row a table deals first and what it pays before any money is staked.