Tactics for Better Vegas 3 Card Rummy Play

Vegas 3 Card Rummy is a very atypical game that you can find in some online casinos. This game is not as strategic as many table games, and instead, it works based primarily on tactics. Vegas 3 Card Rummy plays much like Three Card Poker, but the difference is that the hands are scored based on points instead of poker hands. Hands are scored according to their value in blackjack with the exception that aces are always worth one. If you have a pair or three of a kind, then those cards do not count towards your point total. Consecutive cards of the same suit also do not count towards your total.

You win in this game when you have fewer points than the dealer. The dealer has to qualify with 20 or fewer points for your raise bet to be in play, but you’ll still get a 1:1 win on your ante if the dealer doesn’t qualify. Along these lines, the raise bet can get you bonus payouts depending on how many points you have if you win. With no points, you score at a rate of 4:1 on the raise. Having between one and five points scores at 2:1, and all other totals score at 1:1. Note that the raise is the same size as the ante bet and not a multiple of it like in many casino poker games.

Strategy in this game comes down to two pieces of information. First, you should play with the ante only and not take the bonus side bet, which is a bit of a sucker bet with a higher house advantage for very similar gameplay. The house advantage is less than two percent for the ante bet. Aside from that, you have to decide when to raise and when to fold.

You should raise in this game when you have 20 or fewer points, and you should fold when you have 21 or more. The key to this game is playing this strategy while focusing completely on the value of your hand. Every mistake you make as far as missing suited runs of cards and calculating the total of your hand incorrectly sets you back and increases the house advantage. You can play perfectly in this game if you’re tactical about how you pick up on the suited runs and pairs when scoring your hand.