Three-Card Brag

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Hand ranking
3. Betting in short
4. Setup and deal
5. The betting
6. Playing blind
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Brag is an old British betting game and a forerunner of poker. Everyone gets just three cards and bets chips on having the best hand – or on making the others believe it. The chips go into a shared pot. You win the pot if everyone else gives up, or if only two players are left and the better hand wins when one pays to see the other. A special feature: you may play blind, without looking at your cards, and then pay only half.

• Players: 4–8 work best, each for themselves.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches) – the same amount for everyone, e.g. 100 each. You play for chips, not money.

Hand ranking

Cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. Suits are all equal. The Brag hands, from best to worst:

Note the differences from poker:

• Three 3s are the best prial of all, then Aces, Kings and so on down to 2s.
• A-2-3 is the best run (and running flush), then A-K-Q. K-A-2 is not a run.
• A run beats a flush – the other way round from poker.
• Flushes and high-card hands are compared by the highest card, then the middle one, then the lowest. Pairs are compared by the pair, then the odd card: 9-9-3 beats 8-8-K.

Hands of exactly the same ranks are equal; the suits never decide.

Betting in short

• Ante: before each deal everyone puts an agreed stake (e.g. 1 chip) into the pot.
• Bet: to stay in, put chips into the pot – at least as much as the previous player's last bet, and at most an agreed maximum.
• Raise: bet more than the previous player; everyone after you must now match at least that amount to stay in.
• Fold: give up – put your cards face down on the bottom of the pack. You lose what you have put in.
• See: only possible when two players are left – pay double the other player's last bet to end the betting and compare hands.

Unlike poker, bets are never "evened out": each turn you pay a fresh amount at least as big as the one before you. The betting goes round and round until someone sees or everyone else folds.

Agree before playing on the ante and the minimum and maximum bet (e.g. ante 1, bets from 1 to 10 chips).

Setup and deal

Choose a dealer; the deal passes to the left after each hand, and play goes clockwise. Everyone puts in the ante. The dealer deals the cards one at a time, face down, until everyone has three cards.

The pack is shuffled only before the first deal and after a hand that was seen and won by a prial. Otherwise the cards of the last hand are simply put on the bottom of the pack and the next dealer deals from the top without shuffling.

Look at your cards – or leave them face down if you want to play blind (see below). Never show your cards to anyone or talk about them.

The betting

1. The player to the dealer's left starts: bet or fold.
2. Going clockwise, each player in turn must fold or bet at least as much as the previous bet. The betting continues round the table as often as needed.
3. If everyone but one has folded, that player wins the pot without showing their cards.
4. When only two players are left, either may, on their turn, see the other by paying double the other's last bet and saying "See you". The other player shows their three cards first. If your hand is better, you show yours and win the pot. If it is equal or worse, the other player wins, and you need not show your cards. In a tie, the player who paid to see loses.

Example: Anna bets 2 chips, Ben folds, Carla bets 4, Dan folds. Now only Anna and Carla are left. Anna can fold, bet at least 4 more to stay in, or pay 8 (twice Carla's 4) to see Carla. She bets 4. Carla now has the same choice – and pays 8 to see. Anna shows her pair of Kings, Carla her run 7-8-9 and wins the pot.

If you can't afford the bet you need, you must fold (or see Covering the pot under Variants).

Playing blind

Instead of looking at your cards, you may leave them face down and play blind:

• Your bets count double. You only pay half of what an open player would have to pay. If an open player bets 2, a blind player after them stays in with 1; if the blind player bets 2, the next open player must bet 4.
• At any of your turns you may look at your cards before deciding. From then on you are an open player and pay the full amount.
• You cannot see a blind player. With two players left, an open player facing a blind one can only bet or fold. A blind player may see an open one by paying twice the blind stake (i.e. the open player's bet). If both are blind, either may see by paying twice the blind stake.
• If you are blind and everyone else folds, you do not win the pot: it stays for the next deal, and you may keep your blind hand face down. In the next deal you get a new hand as well. You may look at one of the two hands and must then either keep it and fold the other unseen, or fold it and play on with the other one blind. You can also keep both unseen until you look at one of them.

Winning the game

Brag has no natural end. Play until an agreed time, then the player with the most chips wins – or until one player has won all the chips.

Tips for beginners

• A pair or better is already a good hand – about three in four hands are only high cards.
• Brag betting can go round many times, so pots grow fast even with small bets. Keep your bets modest.
• Bluff now and then, or others will always know what you hold.
• Playing blind well is hard – don't do it too often.
• Never fold out of turn and never look at a blind hand out of turn: it gives the other players information.

Variants

• Four-card Brag: everyone gets four cards and, after looking, discards one to make the best three-card hand. In a tie, the discarded card decides.
• Five-card Brag: everyone gets five cards and discards two.
• Wild cards: agreed cards (e.g. all 2s, only black 2s, or jokers) can stand for any card. A natural hand beats an equal hand with wild cards.
• Cheap see: to see, you only pay the same as the other player's last bet (not double) – as long as the other player is not blind.
• Covering the pot: if you run out of chips, put all you have left in the pot and your cards face down on top. The others play on for a new pot; afterwards your hand is compared with its winner's, and the better one takes the old pot. With only two players, the other player simply shows their cards and wins unless yours are better.
• Showdown: if three or more players won't fold and all agree, everyone shows their cards and the best hand wins.