Underneath "house edge 3 card poker" lies a single number: the share of each stake a game keeps on average, known as the house edge. At table games it follows directly from the rules. A change in one payout or one dealer rule moves it, sometimes by more than the gap between two whole games. Knowing which rules matter lets a player compare tables in a few seconds and see what an hour of play is likely to cost.
The expected cost of play is the edge applied to the total amount staked, and the pace of a game decides how fast that total grows. A fast online table can deal several times more rounds per hour than a busy physical one, so a small edge applied quickly can cost more than a larger edge applied slowly. Multiplying the average stake by the rounds per hour and by the edge gives a fair estimate of what an hour at a given table is likely to cost.
Video poker is unusual because its edge can be read straight from the pay table on the screen. Two machines with identical cards and rules can differ only in what a full house and a flush pay, and that difference alone can move the return by two or three points. A full pay table, played with the correct holds, returns close to everything staked over time. Machines with trimmed payouts look the same from a distance, so the numbers in the table are what tells them apart.
The banker bet keeps a little over one percent after its commission, the player bet slightly more, and the tie keeps around fourteen percent despite its generous payout.
Side bets pay big amounts on unusual hands, and those payouts are funded by an edge that dwarfs the one on the main wager at the same table.
A wheel with one green zero keeps about 2.7 percent of each bet, and a second zero lifts that to about 5.3 percent while every payout stays identical.
Multiply the average stake by the number of rounds per hour and then by the house edge; the result is a fair estimate of the expected loss for that hour.
In the rules of the table, which fix the edge before the first hand is dealt and usually take about a minute to read.