FROM BOB: Love your columns. Here’s one for you: My wife was playing $10 three-card poker. The table was full. The woman to the right of my wife went to the bathroom and her husband saved her seat. The very next hand, the player on my wife’s left got a royal flush.
All at the table concluded that the royal WOULD HAVE BEEN my wife’s had the player not left for the bathroom. I told her that I wasn’t 100 percent sure but I thought the shuffling machine continued to shuffle the cards until dealt and, if that was the case, since there was some amount of time (even a second) spent by the dealer recognizing that the vacant chair was being saved, the outcome of the deal would have been different.
What say you?
FRANK RESPONDS: If it was a continuous shuffle machine, you are right. Just like a slot machine, the cards are being shuffled continuously and randomly and what comes up is not preordained. Chances are your wife would not have gotten the royal.
For your e-mail, I am sending you a copy of my new book "Confessions of a Wayward Catholic."
FROM MIKE: I recently came across three-card poker during a walk through the casino to my car. Decided to play a few hands ($5 ante), and had a pretty good winning streak. I found an online version that tracks wins and losses.
It seems that over time, the winning percentage levels out at just under 50 percent, and if I play the ante and the pairs-plus wagers, the payout seems to always be in the black. It seems to me that, as long as one has enough bank to ride out any early storm (about 10 hands), and is able to stop when ahead, three-card poker is a game that you can win at pretty consistently.
Or at least lose slowly and enjoy more time at the tables.
I’m interested in your thoughts on three-card poker.
FRANK RESPONDS: The game has about a 2.5 percent house edge. But it has a large following. Played properly, you can have many winning sessions, but over time you will find you are behind.
For your e-mail, I am sending you a copy of my book “The Virgin Kiss.”
Frank's new book is “I Am a Card Counter,” available at Amazon.com and Kindle.
