How to play Teen Patti
2-8 players · Best three-card hand wins
Teen Patti — Hindi for "three cards", and also known as 3 Patti, Flash or Indian Poker — gives every player three cards face down and one round of betting to decide what they are worth. The twist that makes it its own game: you can bet without ever looking at your cards, and it costs you half as much.
Play chips only — never real money
PlayTash Teen Patti is played entirely with free chips. They cannot be bought, sold, traded, redeemed or cashed out, and there is no payment system anywhere on the site. Chips live inside a single match and vanish when it ends. Nothing you win or lose here has any value away from the table.
Objective
Win the pot — either by holding the best hand when two players pay for a show, or by betting until everybody else packs. Everyone starts with 1,000 chips, busted players are knocked out, and the match ends when one player holds the lot.
Hand rankings
Strongest to weakest. Every hand is exactly three cards — there is no draw and nothing shared.
| Hand | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Trail (Trio) | Three of the same rank | A♠ A♥ A♦ |
| Pure Sequence | Three in a row, all one suit | 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ |
| Sequence | Three in a row, mixed suits | 9♠ 8♦ 7♣ |
| Colour | Any three of one suit | K♦ 9♦ 4♦ |
| Pair | Two of the same rank | J♠ J♥ 6♣ |
| High Card | None of the above | A♣ K♦ J♠ |
Colour ranks below Sequence. That looks wrong to poker players, but with only three cards a flush is easier to make than a run — so here the run is worth more.
A-2-3 is a high run, not a low one. Unlike poker's A-2-3-4-5 it sits near the top. Most apps rank A-K-Q first and A-2-3 second; traditional Teen Patti puts A-2-3 above everything. Your host picks which before the game starts.
Blind and Seen — the heart of the game
Everyone is dealt in blind: your cards stay face down and you have not seen them. You may look whenever your turn comes, and the moment you do you become a seen player for the rest of the hand. What changes is the price.
| You are | You stake | The new stake becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Blind | 1× to 2× the current stake | whatever you staked |
| Seen (chaal) | 2× to 4× the current stake | half of what you staked |
Read those two rows together and the whole game falls out of them. A blind player and a seen player who push the stake to the same level have not paid the same: the blind player paid half. That is the trade — cheap chips for no information. Looking costs you nothing directly, but it doubles the price of every bet you make afterwards, which is why good players often stay blind far longer than feels comfortable.
Most tables cap how many bets you may place while blind — four by default — after which you must look before you can bet again.
How a hand works
- 1
The boot
Every player puts an equal ante — the boot — into the pot before the deal. The boot is also the opening stake that the first round of betting is priced against.
- 2
The deal
Three cards each, face down, one at a time. Nobody looks yet — everyone starts blind, and the player to the dealer's left bets first.
- 3
Betting goes round
On your turn you stake at the blind or seen price to stay in, or pack and forfeit what you have already put in. There is nothing to "call" here — everyone puts in their own amount each time round, and the pot just keeps growing.
- 4
The hand ends
Three ways: everybody but one player packs and that player takes the pot without showing anything; two players are left and one pays for a show; or the pot hits its limit and every remaining hand is turned over.
The show
A show is the paid comparison that ends a hand, and it only becomes available once two players are left. You pay for it, both hands are revealed, and the better one takes the pot.
- •A blind player can buy a show for one stake, and does not look at their own cards until after paying.
- •When both players are seen, either can buy one for twice the stake.
- •A seen player may never demand a show from a blind player. The blind player has paid half price precisely for the right not to be called out — they can only be waited out or out-bet.
- •If the two hands are exactly equal, the player who did not pay for the show wins the pot.
The sideshow
Also called a compromise. With three or more players still in, a seen player can pay their chaal and then ask the seen player who bet immediately before them to compare cards privately.
- •They can accept or refuse. Refusing costs nothing and play simply carries on.
- •If they accept, the two hands are compared where nobody else can see them, and the lower hand packs. The rest of the table learns only who went — never what either player held.
- •If the hands are equal, the player who asked is the one who packs. That is what stops a sideshow being a free look.
- •Both players must be seen. A blind player has nothing to compare, and cannot be dragged into one.
Table rules and variants
The host sets these in the lobby before the game starts.
Boot
The ante everyone posts before the deal, and the stake the first bets are priced against.
Pot limit
Cap the pot. When it is reached, everyone still in shows and the best hand takes it — so a hand can never run forever.
Blind limit
How many bets a player may make before they must look at their cards. Four by default.
Sideshow
Turn private comparisons on or off entirely.
Highest sequence
Whether A-K-Q or A-2-3 is the top run.
Muflis
The ranking inverts — the weakest hand wins, so 5-3-2 beats a Trail of Aces.
Joker
One card is turned face up after the deal and every card of that rank plays as a wild card.
Strategy tips
- ▸Stay blind longer than feels natural. While the stake is small, blind play buys the same pot for half the money — and it tells the table nothing about what you hold.
- ▸Watch who is still blind. A blind opponent is paying half your price to stay in, so betting them off a hand is expensive and slow. It is often better to build the pot against seen players.
- ▸Remember you cannot show against a blind player once you have looked. If you have a strong hand and the last opponent is blind, your only route is to keep betting until they pack or look.
- ▸Use a sideshow with a middling hand. It removes one opponent for the price of an ordinary chaal — but the tie goes against you, so do not ask on a hand you would not back.
- ▸A pair already beats about three quarters of all hands. Colour and Sequence are much rarer here than the poker equivalents feel, so do not overvalue high-card holdings.
- ▸Watch the pot limit. As it approaches, packing gets worse and worse value — everyone left is about to be shown down anyway.
About the game
Teen Patti is the three-card game of the Indian subcontinent, and a direct descendant of the British game Three Card Brag — which is why it shares Brag's quirks, like A-2-3 being a high run, rather than poker's. It is played across India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, and is especially associated with Diwali, when family tables run late into the night.
What keeps it interesting with only three cards and no draw is the blind-and-seen economy. Every other betting game gives all players the same price for the same seat; Teen Patti gives you a standing choice between knowing what you hold and paying half as much to stay in. Most of the skill lives in that decision and in reading who else has made it — which is why the table shows everyone who is still blind.
PlayTash runs Teen Patti for 2 to 8 players with free chips only. Empty seats can be filled with bots that understand blind play, and the host can set the boot, the pot limit, the blind limit and the variant before the game starts.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Teen Patti?
Teen Patti (Hindi for “three cards”) is a three-card game from the Indian subcontinent, also known as 3 Patti, Flash, Flush, Indian Flush or Indian Poker. Each player gets three cards face down, there is a single round of betting, and the best hand wins the pot. It is descended from the British game Three Card Brag.
Is Teen Patti the same as poker?
No. They share a betting shape, but Teen Patti is a relative of Three Card Brag, not of poker. There are no community cards, no draw and no five-card hands — you play the three cards you are dealt. The betting works differently too: there is nothing to “call”, and a player who has not looked at their cards pays half what everyone else does.
Can I play Teen Patti for real money on PlayTash?
No. PlayTash uses free chips that cannot be bought, sold, traded, redeemed or cashed out, and there is no payment system anywhere on the site. Chips exist inside a single match and disappear when it ends. Nothing you win or lose has any value away from the table.
What is the highest hand in Teen Patti?
A Trail (three of a kind), with three Aces the best possible hand. Below that come Pure Sequence, Sequence, Colour, Pair and High Card. Note the order differs from poker: with only three cards a flush is easier to make than a run, so Colour ranks below Sequence.
What do blind and seen mean?
You start each hand blind, meaning you have not looked at your cards. A blind player stakes one to two times the current stake. The moment you look you become a seen player, and every bet from then on costs two to four times the stake — double the blind price. Playing blind is cheaper but you are betting without information.
What is chaal in Teen Patti?
Chaal is the bet a seen player makes to stay in the hand. It is always at least twice the current stake, and at most four times it. Because a seen bet sets the new stake at half the amount staked, a seen player and a blind player who both raise the stake to the same level have paid very different amounts to do it.
What is a sideshow?
A sideshow, or compromise, lets a seen player pay their chaal and then ask the seen player who bet immediately before them to compare cards privately. That player can accept or refuse. If they accept, the two hands are compared where nobody else can see them and the lower hand packs — and if the hands are equal it is the player who asked who packs. It needs at least three players still in the hand.
What is a show, and when can I ask for one?
A show is the paid comparison that ends a hand, and it is only available once two players are left. A blind player can buy one for a single stake. Two seen players pay double. A seen player may never demand a show from a blind player — that protection is exactly what the blind player's half price buys. If the hands tie, the player who did not pay for the show wins the pot.
Is A-2-3 higher or lower than A-K-Q?
This is the one Teen Patti rule that genuinely varies between tables. A-2-3 is never a low run the way A-2-3-4-5 is in poker — it is always near the top. Most modern apps rank A-K-Q highest with A-2-3 just below it, while traditional Teen Patti and Three Card Brag put A-2-3 above everything. On PlayTash the host picks which applies before the game starts.
What is Muflis?
Muflis is a variant that turns the ranking upside down: the weakest hand wins. High Card becomes the strongest holding and a Trail the worst, and the tiebreaks flip with it, so a pair of 2s beats a pair of Aces and 5-3-2 beats everything. The betting is unchanged.
How many players can play Teen Patti?
PlayTash seats 2 to 8. The game is at its best with 4 to 7, where there are enough players for sideshows to matter but the deck still deals cleanly. Empty seats can be filled with bots that understand blind play.
What is the pot limit?
An optional cap on how big the pot may grow. When the pot reaches it, every player still in the hand shows their cards and the best one takes it. It stops a hand running forever when nobody is willing to pack, and the host sets it in the lobby.