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How to play the popular British gambling card game Three-card Brag, one of the ancestors of Poker, and some of its variants. Name: Three card brag Aliases: Brag, Three-card brag, 3-card brag Players: 3 to 8. Rules: Everyone antes, and players are each dealt 3 cards face down. Brag is an 18th century British card game, and the British national representative of the vying or 'bluffing' family of gambling games. It is a descendant of the Elizabethan game of Primero and one of the several ancestors to poker, the modern version just varying in betting style and hand rankings.

Brag is an 18th century Britishcard game, and the British national representative of the vying or 'bluffing' family of gambling games.^[1] It is a descendant of the Elizabethan game of Primero^[2] and one of the several ancestors to poker, the modern version just varying in betting style and hand rankings. It has been described as the 'longest-standing British representative of the Poker family.'^[3]

History[edit]

The rules of Brag first appear in 1721 in The Compleat Gamester where it is referred to as 'The Ingenious and Pleasant Game of Bragg',^[4] but in fact, it originates in an almost identical game called Post and Pair which is recorded as far back as 1528 (as Post) and which, in turn, was descended from Primero.^[3] However, Brag introduced a key innovation over Post and Pair: the concept of wild cards known as 'braggers'. Initially there was just one, the Knave of Clubs; later the Nine of Diamonds was added.^[4] In parallel with this early three-stake game, in 1751 Hoyle describes a version of Brag with a shortened pack that only had a single phase – the vying or 'bragging' round – with special powers for certain Jacks and Nines, thus anticipating the modern single-stake game.^[5] In 1825, an early American account of Brag describes a much more elaborate single-stake game with a complex vying procedure.^[6] Not until 1860 are rules for both variants published in one compendium, whereby 'Three Stake Brag' is virtually unchanged from the earliest rules and the version of 'Single Brag' described is less complicated than its American cousin.^[7]

In a 1981 survey by Waddingtons, Brag was the fourth most popular card game in Britain.^[8] In 1992, Parlett stated that the classic three-stake variant (see Classic Brag below) was defunct; nevertheless, its rules were still being published in 2001.^[9][10]

Classic Brag[edit]

The earliest published rules for any form of Brag appear in Richard Seymour's 1721 revision of Charles Cotton's The Compleat Gamester. They are less than complete, but with the aid of later descriptions, can be reconstructed.^[a] The following is based on Seymour, supplemented by The New Pocket Hoyle (1810).^[4][11]

Classic Brag is a three-stake game and players ante 3 stakes, one for each phase of the game. Eldest hand deals 3 cards to each player in turn, turning the last card dealt to each player face up. The game phases are:

• Best Card. In the first phase the player with the highest card won the stakes, cards ranking in their natural order from Ace downwards, except that the ♦A outranked the other Aces.
• Bragging. In the second phase, players passed or vied. The procedure is not detailed, but based on the 1810 Hoyle, beginning with elder hand, players would pass or say 'I brag' and place a stake. If a player bragged, he could be challenged by another player matching or raising the stake. If two players wished to challenge, the elder took precedence. Vying continued between the two players until one passed or said 'I'll see you' or the equivalent whereupon both revealed their hands. A Prial (or Pair Royal) beat a Pair which beat a single card. Two Pair Royals were decided by their ranking; likewise two Pairs and so on. The ♣J was a wild card, which could represent any other card, but a natural hand beat a 'wild' hand i.e. one with the Knave^[b] of Clubs. Some circles also admitted the ♦9 as a wild card.
• Thirty One. In the third phase, players scored their hands and the first player to reach exactly 31 or, if no-one did, was closest to 31, won the stakes. To that end, courts and Aces scored 10 and pips their face value. Players could improve their hand by exchanging a card with the stock, but if they 'drew out', i.e. exceeded 31, they lost. If two or more scored the same, they drew again until a winner was established.^[c]

American Brag[edit]

In 1825, the first American account of Brag appeared in a New York edition of Hoyle's Games Improved. This was a far more elaborate variant based solely on the bragging phase of classic Brag.^[12]

Modern Brag[edit]

Modern Brag, often called Three-Card Brag to distinguish it from its variants, is a single-stake game. Everyone antes, and players are each dealt three cards face down. There is a single round of betting, with action starting to the left of the dealer. Each player has the option of betting or folding. If there was a previous bet, the player must contribute at least that much more to the pot. (Unlike usual poker betting, a player's previous money contributed to the pot is ignored.) This betting continues until there are only two players left, at which point either player may double the previous bet to 'see' his opponent. At this point, the two hands are revealed, and the player with the better hand takes the entire pot. If there is a tie, the player who is seeing loses.

For example, with four players A, B, C and D, this situation could occur: Player A bets 2 chips, B folds, C bets 2 chips and D bets 2 chips. In order to stay in, A would have to bet another 2 chips (at least).

Hand ranks[edit]

Straight flush

Three of a kind

Straight

Flush

Pair

High card

Hands generally follow the same sequence as the five-card hands of poker with some variation created by the differing odds of a three-card hand. As there are only three cards, four of a kind and a full house are not possible. Three of a kind is a very high-ranked hand, while a straight beats a flush, as three-card flushes are more likely than three-card straights while the reverse is true of five-card poker hands. The full probabilities are as follows:

Prial[edit]

In Brag, three-of-a-kind is known as a prial, a word derived from 'pair royal'. As such, three sevens would be described as 'a prial (of) sevens'.

Variants[edit]

• Four-card Brag: Players are dealt four cards, and must then choose which card to throw away (place at the bottom of the deck) in order to create the best combination. The game is then played in the same way as three-card brag.^{[citation needed]}
• Five-card Brag.^[13]
• Seven-card Brag: Seven cards are dealt, players must choose three cards to play from their hands, or make two hands, with only a successful win if both hands win the pot.^[13]
• Nine-card Brag: Nine cards are dealt, players sort these into three sets. Four antes are played, one for each set, and a main pot. Each set is then played out, usually without further betting. The winner of each set takes one lot of antes; if a player wins all three sets they receive the main pot as well, otherwise it remains for the next hand. Players must always play the next best available set they have made. Often a player may be able to make two good sets and a poor third (e.g. prial, straight, ten-high), so players that do not think they will be able to win all three will order their hands to leave themselves with a strong third set to protect the main pot.^[13]
• Thirteen-card Brag: Thirteen cards are dealt, from which players must choose three cards to play. Another variation involves making four hands (or the most possible over a certain standard) from the thirteen cards. Four of a kind can also be played, and is usually rewarded by an additional fee to be paid by the other players, apart from any original stake. Players then show their respective best hands, then second best hands, etc., with each winning hand scoring that player a point, or points. Score is kept on a cribbage board, and is usually either a sprint of 10 or so holes, with one point scored for each winning hand, or played over the full length, or street, of the board, with 4 points awarded to the best highest hand, 3 points to the best second-highest hand, etc. Players not on the board by the time someone wins may have to pay double. Winnings are either a pre-arranged fixed amount from each loser to the winner, or paid proportionate to how far behind the winner they finish. Any player winning all four hands in any round is said to have crashed, and automatically wins the entire game. In some regions the game is known as 'Crash'.^{[citation needed]}
• Fifteen card Brag: A normally non-gambling related variant, played as a family game. Each player is dealt fifteen cards, from which they make five three-card tricks. Each player must then lay their tricks down in order, highest first. The winner is the one who wins the most tricks. This variant has a much higher likelihood of more powerful tricks, due to the extra cards. This version can also be played with 10 cards and one card is discarded.^{[citation needed]}
• Stop the Bus: Three cards are dealt to each player, and three face-up communal cards are dealt. Players take turns at exchanging one or all (but not two) of their cards for any or all of the communal cards. Play continues until one player 'sticks', or 'knocks', meaning that they are happy with their hand. All the remaining players then exchange one last time before hands are compared. The player with the lowest hand is out, or loses a life.
• Faras or teen patti (literally 'three cards' in Hindi). A variant of the game very popular in Trinidad, India, Bangladesh and Nepal, and played with numerous local variations.^{[citation needed]}

Some of these rules can also lead to games, especially heads-up, becoming tactical, with players avoiding making their best hand until their hand is forced into that last exchange by another player sticking, risking that the card that completes their hand isn't taken by another player in the meantime.

Betting blind[edit]

Players also have the option of playing blind (betting without looking at their cards). A blind player's costs are all half as much as an open (non-blind) player's. However, an open player may not see a blind player. If all other players fold to a blind player, the pot remains, everyone re-antes, and the blind player gets to keep his hand for the next round (in addition to the new one he is dealt). At any time, a player with two blind hands may look at one of them and decide whether to keep it or throw it away. If he keeps it, he throws away the other hand and is considered open. If he throws it away, he keeps the other hand and is still blind. If everyone folds to a blind player with two hands, he must throw away one without looking. As with many rules in card games, regional differences apply to this rule.

Shuffling[edit]

Another unusual custom of Brag is that the deck is rarely shuffled. Unless a hand is seen and won by a prial, the cards from the hand are just placed on the bottom of the deck, and the next hand is dealt without shuffling.

See also[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

1. ^The rules are silent, for example, on the number of players, number of cards, direction of play and details of the vying procedure
2. ^Jacks were then referred to as Knaves.
3. ^Presumably if two or more drew 30 or 31, it was either a draw or positional priority applied.

References[edit]

1. ^Oxford Dictionary of Card games, p. 31, David Parlett ISBN0-19-869173-4
2. ^Dawson 1923, p. 207. sfn error: no target: CITEREFDawson1923 (help)
3. ^ ^abParlett 1991, p. 102. sfn error: no target: CITEREFParlett1991 (help)
4. ^ ^abcSeymour 1721, p. 58. sfn error: no target: CITEREFSeymour1721 (help)
5. ^Hoyle 1751. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHoyle1751 (help)
6. ^_ 1825, pp. 161-164. sfn error: no target: CITEREF_1825 (help)
7. ^Hardie 1860, pp. 75-77. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHardie1860 (help)
8. ^Parlett 1991, p. 3. sfn error: no target: CITEREFParlett1991 (help)
9. ^Parlett 1992. sfn error: no target: CITEREFParlett1992 (help)
10. ^2001 & _, pp. 164-165. sfn error: no target: CITEREF2001 (help)
11. ^Hoyle 1810, pp. 70-72. sfn error: no target: CITEREFHoyle1810 (help)
12. ^1825 & _, pp. 161-164. sfn error: no target: CITEREF1825 (help)
13. ^ ^abcParlett 2008, p. 579. sfn error: no target: CITEREFParlett2008 (help)

Literature[edit]

• _ (1810). The New Pocket Hoyle. L. Smith, London.
• _ (1825). Hoyle's Games Improved. George Long, New York.
• _ (2001). The Complete Book of Card Games. Hamlyn, London. ISBN978-0-600-60413-6
• Cotton, Charles (1721). The Compleat Gamester.
• Dawson, Lawrence Hawkins (1923). Hoyle's Card Games. Routledge, London. ISBN1-85326-316-8
• Hoyle, Edmund (1751). A Treatise on Brag. Joliffe, London.
• Parlett, David (1991). A History of Card Games, OUP, Oxford. ISBN0-19-282905-X
• Parlett, David (1992). Oxford A-Z of Card Games, OUP, Oxford.
• Parlett, David (2008). The Penguin Book of Card Games, Penguin, London. ISBN978-0-141-03787-5

External links[edit]

• Detailed Rules for Brag by John McLeod
• The hand-book of games by H.G. Bohn at Google Books

• Three Card Brag

Introduction

Brag is a popular British gambling game. It is sometimes said to be similar to poker, but in fact it is much older and the method of betting is different. The basic game of three-card Brag was one of the games described by Hoyle, and therefore dates from the late eighteenth century or earlier. It is almost identical to the popular Indian game Teen Patti ('three cards').

On this page, Three Card Brag and its Four-card and Five-card variations will be described. There are other games known as 6-card, 7-card, 9-card and 13-card Brag; but they have a very different mechanism and will are covered on a separate page.

This page has been put together from a variety of sources, and I am grateful to those who have contributed, including: Jon Garibaldi, Thomas Olsson, Dave Phillips, Jamie Prestidge, Chris Roberts, Phill Rogers, Brian Rollo, Justin Thurkettle, Mike Tobias.

Three Card Brag

Players, cards and preparation

A standard 52 card pack without jokers is used. The cards in each suit rank in the usual order from high to low: A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2. The number of players can vary, but it is probably best for about 4 to 8 people.

Three Card Brag is a gambling game. Before starting it is essential that the players agree on the stake and have a common understanding of the rules. It is necessary to agree:

• the initial stake or ante - which is the amount (if any) that everyone must put into the pot before each deal;
• the minimum and maximum initial bet - the amount that the first player bets in order to stay in the hand;
• the limit (if any) on the amount by which the bet can be increased by each subsequent player;
• any variations to the basic rules, such as use of wild cards.

Ranking of hands

The order of the possible three-card Brag hands, from highest to lowest, is as follows.

There is no order of suits, so it is possible for two hands to be equal in rank - for example 7-7-Q is equal to 7-7-Q. In a contest between two equal hands the calling player (the player who paid to see the other hand) loses (see betting, below).

Poker players should take care to note that the 'run' and 'flush' in Brag rank in the opposite order to Poker.

Ante and deal

Before each deal, each player must place the agreed initial stake (ante) in the pot. Deal and play are clockwise, and the turn to deal passes to the left after each hand.

If it is the first deal of the session, the dealer shuffles. For subsequent deals, the cards are only shuffled if the previous hand was 'seen' and won by a prial. Apart from that, the cards not normally shuffled between hands. The cards from the previous hand are just added to the bottom of the pack and the dealer deals the new hands from the top, without shuffling.

The dealer deals out the cards one at a time, face down to the players, until everyone has three cards. Players may look at their own cards, or may choose not to, if they wish to play 'blind' - see below. Cards must at never be shown to any player other than the person to whom they were dealt, unless the betting ends with a 'see'. In that case the cards of the two players involved (but none of the others) are exposed for everyone to see.

Note: the practice of not shuffling makes it possible in some circumstances to know what cards are in play when the same cards come around again. This is particularly useful when there are 3 or 6 players. With 3 players (A, B, C) there are 43 cards remaining in the pack, and these will be used up in 5 deals. So if player A when about to deal surreptitiously gathers the cards from the previous deal in such a way that the cards on the bottoms of the three hands form a good combination, these will now be the 46th, 49th and 52nd cards in the deck. The next deals by A, B, C, A and B consume 45 cards. So on sixth deal, dealt by C, player A will receive the saved combination and can confidently bet blind. With 6 players there are 34 cards remaining in the pack, so a similar feat can be achieved by having the desired cards at the bottom of the 2nd, 4th and 6th hands gathered so that they are the 40th, 46th and 52nd cards, which will be dealt to player A when C becomes the dealer.

The betting

When the cards have been dealt, the betting begins with the player to the left of the dealer. This person can 'fold' (throw in their cards and take no further part in the hand) or can bet any amount from the agreed minimum to the agreed maximum. If all the players except one fold, the last remaining player takes all the money in the pot, and the next hand is dealt.

If any player bets, every player after that must either fold or bet at least as much as the previous player who bet. A player may bet more than the previous player, but there may be an agreed limit to the amount by which the bet can be increased. The betting continues around the table as many times as necessary.

When there are only two players left in the game, all the others having folded, a third option becomes available. Either player can see the other. Seeing costs twice as much as the previous player's bet. When you pay to see another player, they expose their three cards first. If your cards are better than your opponent's, you expose your hand to prove this and win the pot. If your cards are equal to your opponent's or worse, your opponent wins the pot - you do not have to show your cards in this case. Note that if the hands are equal, the player who paid to see loses.

Poker players should notice that there is no concept of equalising the bets. At each turn, to stay in you have to put into the pot at least as much new money as the previous player put in. Here are some examples from a four player game:

1. Player A bets 2 chips, B folds, C bets 2 chips and D bets 2 chips. In order to stay in, A would have to bet another 2 chips.
2. Player A bets 2 chips, B folds, C bets 4 chips and D folds. Player A can now see player C by paying 8 chips (twice C's bet) or pay at least 4 chips to stay in, or fold, allowing C to win the pot. If A pays 4 to stay in, C now has the same options: put 8 in the pot to see A, to bet at least 4 and allow A another turn to bet, or to fold and allow A to win.

Betting continues until either

• all players but one have dropped out (folded) (in which case the remaining player obviously wins, but does not show their cards), or
• two players are left and one player pays double to see the other.

As each player folds, that player's cards are added to the bottom of the pack ready for the next deal. At the end of the betting the cards of the last player left in, or the cards of the two players involved in the see, are added to the pack in the same way.

Please note the following basic rules of etiquette:

1. Do not show your cards - to anybody
2. Do not say anything about your hand
3. Never (ever) fold out of turn

Breaking any of the above three rules will get you thrown out of any Brag game.

Here is an example of betting between five players:

Points to note

1. Andy bets 1 (one) first round, Bill and Chris match 1, Eddie raises to 2. Andy (A) now must bet 2 to stay in, regardless of the fact that he has already put 1 (one) in. Similar for B and C.
2. The betting can remain at 2 (e.g. rounds 1-4) indefinitely. If everyone is staying in, eventually someone (e.g. E) must force the pace.
3. In rounds 5 and 6 A, C and E are all in. No-one can see, and all must remain. In situations like this, it is simply a matter of nerve. Someone must fold for the betting to end - and eventually C does.
4. When there are only two remaining (A and E, rounds 8-10), then either can decide to pay double to 'see'. When A bets 20 to 'see' on round 10, he must say 'See you' (or equivalent). It is perfectly acceptable to double the betting without 'seeing', in which case the game continues as normal.

A common (but not necessary) house limit on raising is to agree that no-one can raise the pot by more than its current contents. So, for a five player game, the maximum initial stake would be 5 times the ante.

Running out of money

Brag is seldom played with what Poker players know as table stakes (where players keep the money they are playing with on the table for everyone to see and cannot introduce extra money into the game except between hands and with the agreement of all the players). Brag players often keep their money in their pockets until needed. It is usual to insist that each player wishing to take part in a game should placed at least a certain minimum amount of money on the table - say £10. After that, players are free to introduce more money to the game at any time.

Some play that if you do not have enough money left to bet, but want to stay in, you place all your remaining money in the pot, and put your cards face down on top of it. This is called covering the pot. If there are two or more other players, they continue betting as before, but putting the money into a new pot. After this new pot is settled, the winner's hand is exposed, and the hand of the player who ran out of money is compared with it. The old pot is won by the higher hand, or by the winner of the new pot in case of a tie.

The method of covering the pot can also be used when there are only two players left in the game. If one of the players runs out of money, the betting ends when one player puts the last of his money in the pot - the other player does not have to put in any more money but exposes his cards, and wins the pot unless the player who ran out of money can show a better hand.

Although covering the pot might seem to work unfairly in favour of the player who runs out of money, thus getting to see the opponent's hand cheaply, it does avoid some undesirable situations.

However, according to the information I have received from Brag players, it is quite usual to play the harsher rule that a player who does not have enough money to bet the full amount required must either fold or borrow money from another player or a bystander to make up the bet. For this purpose, the player is allowed to show his cards to a player who has already dropped out, who might be prepared to back him financially. Sometimes there is an agreement that whoever in the game has most money will lend some to the player who is short to allow that player to continue to bet.

Some people play that when only two players are in the game, and one of them runs out of money, the player who still has money has the choice of either

• lending some money to the other player to allow betting to continue, or
• showing his cards, in which case he wins the pot unless the other player can show a better hand.

It is clear that betting with borrowing could potentially lead to some difficult situations, in which a player must either fold a good hand or borrow money he may not be in a position to repay. When blind betting is allowed, there is even more scope for this kind of problem, since a blind player can carry on betting indefinitely against an open player, and the open player cannot see the blind player.

Sometimes, in a situation where three (or more) players are betting against each other and none of them is prepared to fold, if they all feel that the pot is getting too big, they may agree to a showdown in which all cards are exposed and the highest hand wins.

I would like to hear from any experienced Brag players who can let me know more about the correct way to handle these situations.

Playing blind

Experienced players usually allow the extra option of playing blind. Any player may choose to play any hand blind. If you are playing blind you do not look at your cards, but leave them face down on the table. You take part in the betting in the normal way, except that all your bets are worth double. In other words, at each stage you only have to put in half the amount of money you would need to bet if you had looked at your cards.

If you have been playing blind, then at your turn to bet, you can choose to look at your cards before deciding whether to bet or fold. From that moment on you are no longer a blind player, and if you then want to stay in, you must revert to the same betting amount as the 'non-blind' players.

If you are playing blind and all the other players fold - which would be surprising but I am assured that it does happen - you do not win the pot. Instead, the pot is carried forward to the next deal and you are allowed to retain your hand - see below.

When just two players remain, one or both of whom are playing blind, the possibilities for one player to 'see' the other - i.e. pay for the hands to be exposed and compared - are as follows.

1. You are playing open and your opponent is blind. The rule is that 'you cannot see a blind man'. Therefore your only options are to continue betting or to fold.
2. Both players are blind. By putting in twice the blind stake (i.e. the amount that would be paid by an open player) you can cause the hands to be compared. Usually the players turn their cards face up one at a time, alternately, beginning with the opponent of the player who paid for the show. In case of equality, as usual, the player who paid for the show loses.
3. You are playing blind but your opponent is playing open. Your opponent cannot see you (by the above rule), but you can see your opponent if you wish by putting in twice the blind stake (i.e. the same amount that your open opponent just bet). As usual in a showdown, the opponent's cards are exposed first and then you show your cards if they are better.

A betting example:

Points to note:

1. B must pay double the blind stake to 'see' C's hand. C is not allowed to see B in round 6 or 7, even though only two players are left.
2. Note how after 4 rounds B has only spent 4 chips compared to C who has spent 10. This type of inequity often happens when playing with blind hands, and is part of the whole essence of the procedure.
3. Looking at a 'blind' hand out of turn is another Brag 'faux-pas' which will get other Brag players (very) annoyed. The reason is that (for example) during round 4, when C raises to 4, if B now looks at his cards it has immediately changed the basis of A's decision as to whether to stay in or fold on his turn. He would then have only one 'blind' opponent (as D stays 'blind'), instead of potentially two 'blind' opponents (D and possibly B).

Retaining a blind hand

If you end up with a blind hand when all other players have dropped out, you may retain the blind hand on the table. The next hand is then dealt, so that you now have two sets of cards in front of you. You may either:

1. look at the new hand
2. look at the old hand
3. look at neither

If you look at one of the hands, you must immediately decide whether to keep it or fold it. If you keep it, you must fold the other (without looking at it). You are then non-blind and play the looked-at hand normally. If you decide to fold the hand you looked at, then you have just one blind hand to play by the usual rules; you can look at it now or later if you wish.

If you look at neither hand, you can play both hands 'blind' until (at some point) you choose to look at one of them, in which case you follow the same procedure above.

In the unlikely event that you win the pot again, without having looked at either 'blind' hand,you may choose to retain either (but only one), sight unseen, before the next deal. You cannot have three 'blind' hands at once.

Note that at no stage when playing two hands 'blind' can you look at both and choose the better one - you must look at just one and choose to keep it or fold it, before looking at the other.

Variation

Some groups treat retained blind hands differently. The player who won blind is dealt a second hand face up, while everyone else is dealt a hand face down as usual. The other players must look at their hands and anyone who cannot beat the face up hand must fold. If all have folded, the player with the retained blind hand collects the antes, keeps the blind hand, and the next player deals. If a player or players stay in, then the face up hand is discarded and the the retained blind hand plays against the others in the usual way, with the normal betting rules and procedure for looking at the blind hand. If the player with the blind hand wins again by everyone folding, he will again be dealt a face up hand alongside the retained blind hand. This continues until the blind player has looked at his blind hand, after which the play reverts to normal.

The odds

Jon Garibaldi has provided the following analysis.

As there are so few total different hands, it is not difficult to calculate the prior probabilities.

There are a total of 22,100 different card combinations ( 52 * 51 * 50 / 3! ). The number of ways to make each hand, and approx odds, are as follows:

Obviously, these odds are affected by previous cards, if the deck isn't shuffled.

Advice on play

John Garibaldi has contributed the following advice.

1. Study the odds carefully and remember them.
2. Play by the odds.
3. Don't stick rigidly to playing by the odds!! You will lose very quickly, and never win a big pot if you never bluff.
4. Playing 'blind' well is very difficult and takes years of practice. If you play it too often, and non-expertly you will lose.
5. Don't bet too big, especially if you are used to Poker betting. As the Brag betting can continue indefinitely, on the same amount (and indeed must, until there are only two players) the pot can get very large even when each single bet seems low.

Four Card Brag

This is the same game as Three Card Brag, except that four cards are dealt to each player. Players who look at their hands discard one card before the betting begins to form the best three card hand they can make. In case of a tie between two hands, the discarded card is used to decide which is better. If the discarded cards were also equal in rank then the player who was seen wins the tie.

If betting blind is allowed, a blind player will keep all four cards face down on the table. If you have been playing blind and decide to look at your cards, you discard one after looking at them.

Five Card Brag

This is similar to Four Card Brag, but five cards are dealt to each player, and everyone discards two cards to make their best three card brag hand.

Wild Cards

Brag is sometimes played with wild cards, also known as floaters. The cards that are considered wild (if any) vary from group to group, so if you wish to play with wild cards it is important to agree the details before playing. Some possibilities are:

• All twos wild;
• Only the black twos wild;
• One eyed jacks wild - namely the J and J which are drawn in profile with one eye visible on standard British playing-cards.
• Suicide king wild - this is the K whose sword is held in a position where it appears to pass through his head;
• A joker or jokers can be added to the pack to serve as wild cards.

A wild card can be used to represent any card in the pack, but if two hands are otherwise equal, a hand without wild cards will beat a hand containing one or more wild cards, and a hand with fewer wild cards will beat a hand with more of them. For example, if W denotes a wild card, W-8-7 (with W representing the 9) beats 8-7-6, which beats 8-W-6. Also K-K-W beats K-W-W, which beats Q-Q-Q.

It seems that wild cards are often used in four-card and five-card brag, but that three card brag is more often played without them.

Variations

Some play that when there are just two players betting, you only need to equal the most recent bet to see the other player's cards (provided that he is not betting blind). Seeing does not cost a double bet.

Some play that after the deal, the remainder of the pack is placed face up on the table, so that just one card (which was the bottom card during the deal) can be seen. Folded hands are then placed face up on top of the pack, again with just one card showing.

Phill Rogers reports a version where when the deal has passed a full circle (i.e. one more deal than the number of players) then the next dealer gets to choose the game. A change in variation (what cards are wild; whether blind betting is allowed; whether three four or five cards are dealt) can be dictated by the dealer; changing to a different card game, such as from Brag to Indian Poker, would have to be agreed by majority of players.

Many books, especially in the late nineteenth and throughout the twentieth century, describe an entirely fictitious form of Brag with poker-like betting and three wild cards or 'braggers'(A, J and 9). There is no evidence that Brag has ever been played that way, and it seems that this version derives from a misreading of some of the early printed descriptions. This is discussed further in Jeffrey Burton in The Playing-Card Vol XXIV No 3 (Nov-Dec 1995) and 4 (Jan-Feb 1996).

Other sites, software and online games

There are several Indian sites offering online real money games of the almost identical Indian game Teen Patti (3 cards).

Draw Brag with Poker Betting

How Do You Play 3 Card Brag

To reduce the possibility of collusion in an online game, GameAccount has introduced a variation which they call '3 Card Brag Poker', which has poker-like betting and a draw. Before the deal the two players to the left of the dealer place compulsory bets, called the small and big 'blinds'. After the deal there is a poker-like betting round with fixed bets and raises equal to twice the big blind and a limit of three raises if there are more than two players in the pot. Then each player can discard from zero to three cards and is dealt replacement cards, after which there is a second betting round in which the bets and raises are twice as big, but again limited to three raises so long as there are more than two active players. Players do not have to look at the cards they are dealt, and so long as the play without seeing their cards they may call for half price.