Gambling Guide
Ask the Wizard #8
Tim from Santa Rosa, California
No, the probability of getting any given hand is the same regardless of how many other players are at the table. An unseen card is an unseen card, it doesn't matter if another player has it or it is still in the deck.
Bob from Hooksett, New Hampsire
I haven't studied card clumping, but in my opinion it is not a legitimate advantage play. I have never known a professional gambler or writer I respect to give card clumping any respect.
Weintraut
I have no doubt that Q/6/4 is the optimal strategy for three card poker. Stanley Ko independently came up with the same advice. This strategy is based on a computer program which analyzes all 22,100 possible combinations of the player’s three cards and for each one the remaining 18,424 possible combinations of the dealer's three cards.
If you follow the dealer's strategy, then you will be folding on some hands which have an expected return of more than -1 (the return by folding). Overall, however, it shoudn't make a big difference.
