Four Card Poker
A casino banking game where players make the best four-card hand from five dealt cards, competing against a dealer who draws from six cards with no qualifying requirement.
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Four Card Poker deals five cards to the player (who selects their best four-card hand) and six cards to the dealer (who also selects their best four-card hand) — unlike most banking poker games, the dealer has no minimum qualifying requirement, so every hand is compared regardless of strength.
After an initial ante, players may fold or place a "Play" bet ranging from 1x to 3x the ante depending on hand strength (stronger hands may bet more). Because only four cards are used, hand rankings are adjusted from standard poker (there's no such thing as a four-card flush being impossible, for instance — the category list and relative rarities shift to fit the shorter hand).
Ties favor the player rather than the dealer, a rule intended to offset the dealer's extra card advantage (six cards to choose from, versus the player's five). An optional "Aces Up" side bet pays independently based on the player's own hand strength.
Historical note: invented by Roger Snow for Shuffle Master Inc. (later Light & Wonder) — often confused with the unrelated Three Card Poker despite the similar name and different inventor.
Strategy notes: Since there's no dealer qualifier, players should generally play (rather than fold) more hands than they would in Caribbean Stud or Three Card Poker, since even a modest hand has real value when it will always be compared against the dealer.
Common house rules
Dealer gets six cards, player gets five
This asymmetry is the game's defining feature — the dealer's extra card advantage is offset by the player-favored tie rule, so don't assume the extra dealer card alone makes the game unfair.
No dealer qualifier
Unlike Caribbean Stud or Three Card Poker, there's no minimum hand the dealer needs to qualify — every player hand that chooses to play is compared regardless of strength.
Don't confuse with Three Card Poker
Despite similar names and both being Shuffle Master-family games, Four Card Poker and Three Card Poker have different inventors, different card counts, and different structures — confirm which one your table means.
Related games
Based on shared category, origin, and rules that reference each other.
Crazy 4 Poker
A Shuffle Master casino game where players make the best four-card hand from five cards, with the option to bet up to 3x their ante if holding a pair of aces or better.
Learn the rules →Three Card Poker
A modern casino banking game invented in 1994: players ante, look at three cards, then fold or bet against the dealer's own three-card hand, with hand rankings unique to the short deal.
Learn the rules →Caribbean Stud
A modern banking casino table game built on Five-Card Stud: each player's hand is compared only against the dealer's, with an optional progressive jackpot side bet for a royal flush.
Learn the rules →Face Up Pai Gow Poker
A variant of Pai Gow Poker where the banker's seven cards are dealt and set face up according to a fixed house way, and the usual 5% commission is replaced by an automatic push on Ace-high banker hands.
Learn the rules →