How to Play Teen Patti
The teen patti played at a casino table keeps the three cards and the Indian ranking of the home game and removes everything that needs other players. Depending on the title, you either play a hand against a dealer who follows a printed rule, or you bet on which of two dealt hands will win. Both are described here step by step, followed by the ranking, the side bets and the words on the felt.
What each hand is worth in the long run, and how the ranking compares with the Three Card Poker order, are on the teen patti odds page.
A Hand Against the Dealer
- Ante. Your opening chip. A Pair Plus chip may sit beside it, paid on your cards alone.
- Three cards each. Yours are dealt face up, the dealer's face down.
- Play or fold. Staying in costs a Play bet equal to the ante. Folding surrenders the ante, and Pair Plus is still settled.
- The dealer qualifies, or not. The dealer's cards are turned. Short of the qualifier printed on the felt, usually queen high, you collect even money on the ante and the Play bet comes back. At or above it, the hands are compared.
- Showdown. The higher hand by the teen patti ranking takes both bets at even money; a tie returns them. A strong hand may also earn an ante bonus from the schedule on the felt, whatever the dealer held.
Titles called Pro, Rapid or Blitz are this game at a different pace or in a different skin; the hand itself runs the same way.
The rule: One decision only: back the hand with a second chip the size of the first, or give the ante up; a dealer short of the qualifier pays the ante and hands the Play bet back.
A Round of Player A Against Player B
- Choose a side. Chips go on Player A or Player B, and optionally on Tie. Many tables add a Pair Plus or a Plus bet on each hand, paid from a schedule when that hand holds a pair or better.
- The deal. Three cards face up to A, three to B.
- The hands are compared. The higher by the ranking wins, the winning side is paid at the rate printed on its area, and a tie pays the Tie bet while the side bets are returned or lost as the table's rules say.
There is no decision after the bet, and no dealer hand. The 20-20 titles play this way; others say so only in their rules, which is why one free round tells you more than the title does.
The Ranking in Order
Suits never break a tie; two hands identical in rank are a push. The one rule tables differ on is the ace-low sequence, which most rank second and a few rank last. The frequencies behind this order are on the odds page.
Pair Plus and the Other Side Bets
The Pair Plus circle takes a bet that your three cards will hold a pair or better. It is paid from a printed schedule, usually with a small multiple for a pair rising to a large one for a trail, and it is settled regardless of what the dealer holds or whether you play the hand. The two-hand format offers it once per hand.
A few tables add a bet on the first card or on a specific trail. Each of these has its own schedule and nothing to do with the main bet; read the rate before the chip goes down, because the schedule is the price and nothing else about the bet is.
What the Casino Version Leaves Out
The social game is played around a table with a pot in the middle. Each player either looks at their cards or plays blind, the stake rises as the round goes on, a seen player bets twice what a blind player does, and the hand ends with a show between the last two. None of that survives the move to a dealer table. There is no pot, no blind and seen, no chaal, no sideshow, and no show; the whole of the betting happens before the deal, with a single play-or-fold decision after it in the dealer format.
What survives is the three-card hand and its ranking. A player who knows the home game will find the ranking familiar and the betting unfamiliar, and the odds page is the place to see what the casino's structure costs.
In short: Nothing from the home game's betting survives at the casino: no blind, no chaal, no show, just an ante, a deal and one choice.
Teen Patti Words
How to Play Teen Patti FAQs
No. At a casino table the opponent is either a dealer who follows a fixed rule or, in the A-versus-B format, nobody at all; the two dealt hands are compared against each other.
Usually queen high, printed on the felt. Against a weaker dealer hand your ante is paid at one to one and your Play bet returns to you, however strong your own cards are.
Yes on every table. Most rank it second among sequences, just below A-K-Q; a few rank it lowest, and the rules screen says which.
Yes. Pair Plus looks only at your own cards, so a folded hand holding a pair or better is still paid from the schedule.
The dealer format if the appeal is making a decision, the A-versus-B format if it is watching two hands race. A free table of either shows the difference in a single round.