Hold’em Poker is the most popular poker variant at land casinos. Online casinos offer a number of table games based on this variant. One of the most unusual ones is Triple Action Hold’em Poker. It is offered at the online casinos powered by some software providers like Cryptologic and Microgaming and is listed under the category Table Games. Triple Action Hold’em Poker is offered as single player single hand game. Its most unusual feature is that it is played with a 28-card deck. The deck has cards only from eights to aces; the lower ranked cards have been removed. Players can wager three independent bets upfront and hence the name Triple Action Hold’em Poker.

The game starts with the player placing the mandatory Ante Bet. The other two bets, the Flop Bet and the Bonus Bet, are optional. The player is dealt two cards face up and the dealer is dealt one card face up and one card face down. The three-card flop is dealt face down. Based on the face up cards the player has to decide whether to raise or fold. If the player decides to fold then the Ante Bet will lose but the Flop Bet and the Bonus Bet can still pay out. If the player decides to raise then he has to make a Play Bet equal to the Ante Bet. The remaining face down cards are then turned over. The flop is common to both the dealer’s and the player’s hand.

The dealer qualifies with a five-card poker hand that is a pair of nines or greater. If the dealer does not qualify, then the Ante Bet pays even money and the Play Bet pushes. If the dealer qualifies, then the player’s hand and the dealer’s hand are compared using the usual poker hand rankings and the higher ranked hand wins. If the player has the higher ranked hand then the Ante Bet and the Play Bet both pay even money. If the dealer has the higher ranked hand then both the bets lose. If the hands are tied then both the bets push.

The three Triple Action Hold’em Poker bets award payouts based on separate payout tables. If the player did not fold then he can receive the Ante Bet bonus. The payout for this starts with 2 to 1 for Full House and goes up to 50 to 1 for Royal Flush. The Flop Bet and the Bonus Bet can pay out even if the player folds. The Flop Bet payout starts from 1 to 1 for Jacks or Better and goes to 10 to 1 for a Royal Flush. The Bonus Bet payout starts from 1 to 1 for Two Pairs and goes to 100 to 1 for a Royal Flush. The optimum strategy for Triple Action Hold’em Poker is extremely simple to follow. Players need not be aware of the mathematics governing it. The player should always raise otherwise he will forgo the opportunity of winning the Ante Bonus. The house edge for the Ante Bet is 3.6%, that for the Flop Bet is 2.9% and that for the Bonus Bet is 5.4%. If the player wagers on Triple Action Hold’em Poker he is accepting a house edge of 3.6%. Hence he may as well place the Flop Bet. The house edge on the Bonus Bet is comparable with that of online slots and the player can take a call on that depending on his risk taking propensity.