Teen Patti rules for beginners

Teen Patti, meaning "three cards", is India's favourite card game at weddings, Diwali parties and hostel rooms. It is a simpler cousin of poker. Each player has three cards, bets on whether their hand is the best, and can bluff to make others give up. The rules below are the ones most widely used in India, including in apps such as Teen Patti Master. Home games often change small details, so agree on the rules before the first hand.

What you need

• A standard 52-card deck with no jokers (unless you are playing a joker variation)
• Three to six players (seven works, but hands take longer)
• Chips, matchsticks or free app chips to bet with

Cards rank from high to low as A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The ace is the highest card, except inside the special A-2-3 sequence described below. Suits have no rank in standard Teen Patti.

The setup: boot and deal

1. Boot. Every player puts the same small fixed amount into the middle. This is the boot, and it starts the pot. The boot also sets the first current stake, which is the amount the next bet is measured against.
2. Deal. The dealer gives each player three cards, face down, one at a time. In apps, the dealer rotates automatically after each hand.
3. Play order. Play starts with the player to the dealer's left and moves clockwise.

Blind and seen: the heart of the game

Before looking at your cards, you choose how to play them.

Playing blind

A blind player does not look at their cards. On each turn, a blind player must bet at least the current stake and at most twice the current stake. Whatever a blind player bets becomes the new current stake.

Playing blind is cheaper, and it also unsettles the table, because nobody (including you) knows what you hold. You can switch to seen at any time on your turn by looking at your cards.

Playing seen (chaal)

A seen player has looked at their cards. Seen players pay more: at least twice the current stake and at most four times it. A seen player's bet is called a chaal. When a seen player bets, the new current stake becomes half of that bet, so blind and seen players stay in step.

Packing (folding)

On your turn you can pack instead of betting. You drop your cards and lose whatever you have already put in the pot. Packing a weak hand early is the single best habit a beginner can learn.

Ending the hand

A hand ends in one of three ways.

Everyone else packs

If all other players pack, the last player left wins the pot without showing their cards.

Show

When only two players remain, either one can ask for a show on their turn by paying the show amount. Both hands are turned face up and the higher hand wins the pot.

• In many rule sets, a seen player cannot ask for a show while the other player is still blind. The blind player can ask, or the seen player keeps betting. Apps set their own rule, so check the help screen.
• The cost of a show is usually the current stake for a blind player and twice the current stake for a seen player.

Side show (compromise)

With three or more players left, a seen player can ask the previous player (who must also be seen) for a side show after placing their bet. The previous player can accept or refuse.

• If accepted, the two players privately compare hands. The lower hand must pack. If the hands are equal, the player who asked for the side show packs.
• If refused, play simply continues.

The side show is a way to test a strong-looking opponent without having to face the whole table. The post on blind, seen and side show rules has a worked example and the mistakes to avoid.

Hand rankings, with the real odds

From highest to lowest. The counts below cover every possible three-card hand from a 52-card deck, which is 22,100 hands.

Two things surprise new players:

• A pure sequence is actually rarer than a trail in the maths, but the trail still ranks higher by long tradition.
• Three out of four hands you are dealt will be high-card hands. A pair already beats roughly 75% of starting hands. That is why a pair is often a strong hand at a four- or five-player table.

Sequence order

• The highest sequence is A-K-Q.
• In most Indian rules the second-highest is A-2-3, followed by K-Q-J, Q-J-10 and so on down to 4-3-2.
• Some home games treat A-2-3 as the lowest sequence. Apps state their rule in the game help screen. Agree on it before you play.
• K-A-2 is not a sequence.

Breaking ties

When two hands have the same rank:

• Trails: the higher three of a kind wins (A-A-A is the best hand in the game).
• Sequences and pure sequences: compare using the sequence order above.
• Colours and high cards: compare the highest card, then the second, then the third.
• Pairs: the higher pair wins. If both pairs are the same, the higher third card wins.
• Identical hands: in most rules, the player who asked for the show loses. Some apps split the pot instead.

A full example round

Four players (Asha, Bilal, Chetan and Divya) each put a boot of 10 chips in. The pot is 40 and the current stake is 10.

1. Asha plays blind and bets 10. The stake stays at 10.
2. Bilal looks at his cards: K♠ K♦ 6♣, a pair of kings. He is now seen, so he must bet between 20 and 40. He bets 20 (chaal). The current stake stays 10, because a seen bet of 20 matches a blind stake of 10.
3. Chetan looks: 2♥ 7♣ 9♦, a weak high card. He packs.
4. Divya plays blind and raises to 20. The current stake becomes 20.
5. Asha, still blind, must bet at least 20. She decides to look at her cards instead: 4♥ 5♥ 6♥, a pure sequence. Now seen, she must bet between 40 and 80. She bets 40.
6. Bilal bets 40 and asks Asha for a side show. Asha accepts. Her pure sequence beats his pair, so Bilal packs.
7. Two players remain: Asha (seen) and Divya (blind). Divya bets 20 blind and asks for a show. Divya holds A♣ 8♦ 3♠, a high card. Asha's pure sequence wins the pot.

Notice how Asha gained by staying blind in the first round. She paid less than Bilal to stay in while nobody knew her strength.

Popular variations

Home games and apps rotate through many variations. These are the ones you will meet most often.

• Joker (wild card): after the deal, one card is turned face up and every card of that rank becomes wild.
• AK47: all aces, kings, fours and sevens are wild.
• Muflis (lowball): the rankings are reversed. The lowest hand wins, so 2-3-5 of mixed suits is the best.
• 999: the hand closest to a total of 999 wins, with the three cards read as hundreds, tens and units. Tens and face cards count as zero.
• Four-card (best of four): each player gets four cards and plays the best three.
• Lowest joker: the lowest card in each player's own hand is their wild card.

Always check the variation before the deal, especially in apps where the table name may be the only clue.

Beginner tips that actually help

• Pack more often than feels natural. Most new players stay in too long with a high card.
• Use blind play early. Staying blind for a round or two keeps your costs low and makes your later bets harder to read.
• Watch betting patterns, not faces. In an app, the only information you have is how each player bets. A sudden jump from a player who has been cautious usually means a strong hand.
• Set a stop point. Decide in advance how many chips you will play with in a session, and leave when they are gone.

Glossary