तीन पत्ती

Teen Patti◈

Three cards, six ranked hands, and a betting structure that rewards you for not looking at them.

The six hands

Teen Patti's ranking order is not poker's. Because a hand is only three cards, a run is harder to make than a flush — so a sequence outranks a colour here. This is the single thing that most often catches out players arriving from a five-card game.

Full hand ranking chart with worked examples and tie-break rules →

The Teen Patti card game in one paragraph

Teen Patti — also written teenpatti, and widely known as 3 Patti — is a three-card vying game played across India. Each player receives three cards and the betting decides the round; the cards themselves never change. The rules below are the standard version played at most tables.

How the betting works

Before any cards are dealt, every player puts in the boot, the minimum stake that forms the starting pot. Cards are then dealt one at a time, three to each player, face down.

Blind and seen

Each player decides whether to look. A blind player bets without looking and pays the current stake. A seen player has looked and must pay at least double. That doubling is the whole tension of the game — information costs money, and playing blind is the cheapest way to stay in a hand you know nothing about.

Chaal, pack and show

On your turn you either chaal (bet and continue) or pack (fold, losing what you have staked). When two players remain, either can pay for a show — both hands are revealed and the stronger one wins.

Sideshow

A seen player may ask the previous seen player for a sideshow: a private comparison between just those two hands. The loser packs immediately. It can be refused, and it cannot be asked of a blind player.

How to play Teen Patti, step by step

1. Post the boot. Every player puts in the agreed minimum before any card is dealt.
2. Deal three cards to each player, one at a time, face down.
3. Decide blind or seen. Leave your cards face down and pay the stake, or look and pay double from then on.
4. Bet in turn. Chaal to stay in, pack to fold. A seen player may request a sideshow against the previous seen player.
5. Show. When two players remain, either pays for a show. The better hand takes the pot.

Nothing else happens. There is no drawing, no discarding and no second deal — the three cards you were given are the three cards you play.

Variations worth knowing

Almost every household plays at least one variation. The common ones change either which cards are wild or which hand wins:

• Muflis — the ranking inverts entirely. The lowest hand wins.
• AK47 — every ace, king, four and seven is a joker. Sixteen wild cards.
• Joker — one card is nominated wild for the round.
• Hukam — a trump suit is chosen and outranks everything else.
• 999 — traditional hands are ignored; the hand closest in value to 999 wins.
• Lowest joker — each player's own lowest card becomes their wild card.

Common questions