How to play
Four Card Showdown is poker against the dealer where every hand is made of four cards. You get five cards and the dealer gets six; each side plays its best four.
- Bet the Ante, and the Aces Up side bet if you like. To deal, you need enough credits left for a Play of three times your Ante.
- You get five cards face up. The dealer gets six, with one card face up.
- Fold (you lose the Ante) or Play by adding 1, 2 or 3 times your Ante.
- Both best four-card hands are compared. The dealer always plays; there’s no qualifying hand. Ties go to you.
- You win: Ante and Play both pay 1 to 1.
- The dealer wins: you lose both.
Four-card hands, from best to worst: four of a kind, straight flush, three of a kind, flush, straight, two pair, pair, high card. A-K-Q-J is the highest straight and A-2-3-4 the lowest. The cards that don’t count toward each best hand are dimmed at the end.
Ante bonus, paid whenever you play, even if the dealer wins:
| Hand | Pays |
|---|---|
| Four of a kind | 25 to 1 |
| Straight flush | 20 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 2 to 1 |
Aces Up looks only at your best four cards, whatever you decide:
| Hand | Pays |
|---|---|
| Four of a kind | 50 to 1 |
| Straight flush | 40 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 8 to 1 |
| Flush | 5 to 1 |
| Straight | 4 to 1 |
| Two pair | 3 to 1 |
| Pair of aces | 1 to 1 |
Strategy
The whole game is one decision: fold, or how much to play. If your chance of beating the dealer is above 50%, playing 3× earns the most. Between 25% and 50%, 1× beats folding. Below 25%, fold. The dealer’s face-up card moves those chances by several points, so the Hint button takes it into account:
- Play 3× with two pair or better, or a pair of kings or aces.
- Pairs of nines through queens: play 3× unless the dealer’s face-up card is higher than your pair, then play 1×. For example, a pair of jacks wins about 53% of the time on average, but under 48% against a face-up queen, king or ace.
- Play 1× with a pair of threes up to a pair of eights.
- Fold a pair of twos or less.
Following the hints, the house edge is about 2.8% of your Ante (our simulation of 10 million hands: 2.78%, give or take 0.17%). You’ll fold a little under half of your hands, which is normal: the big raises on strong hands pay for it.
Aces Up returns 96.11% exactly (we checked all 2,598,960 five-card hands), a house edge of 3.89%.
For three-card games, try Three Card Challenge or Teen Patti.
If you enjoy Four Card Showdown, try Four Jackpots or Free Double 21 next.
