How to Play Teen Patti in 5 Simple Steps

Teen Patti is a popular Indian game that is often referred to as Indian Poker. The game may be played with as little as 2 players, up to a maximum of 10 players. However, from experience, we can say that the ideal group is between 4 to 7 players.

The goal of Teen Patti is to maximise the Pot. In other words, to ensure the money inside of the Pot grows as much as possible! The process is both exciting and nerve-racking with the player having the highest-ranking three-card combo (or the last player left standing everyone else has folded) winning the game. Of course, the winner is awarded all of the money that has been stacked inside of the Pot, which can be a lot!!!

So are you feeling ready to play Teen Patti?

We have prepared one of the most thorough step-by-step guides on the web explaining how to play Teen Patti. So without further ado, let’s get started!

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1. Prepare the Card Deck

To play Teen Patti a 52-card deck is required. Make sure to remove all of the Joker cards from the deck and to thoroughly shuffle the cards.

2. Select a Dealer

One of the players is selected to be the dealer, who is also a participant player in the game.

To select the dealer in the first game of Teen Patti, each player must take one card (face down) from a freshly shuffled deck of cards. The player with the highest drawn card gets the honour of becoming the dealer. It’s as simple as that!

Players may take turns in being the dealer (and shift in a clockwise manner). Alternatively, the player that wins a game becomes the dealer in the next, and so forth.

3. Establish the Ante

Traditionally, the dealer begins the game by setting the Ante (Boot Amount) with the players.

The Ante (also referred to as the Boot Amount ) establishes the minimum bet that each player must contribute to the Pot. The Ante is extremely important because it becomes the base bet for the rest of the game. Certain dealers may cap the Pot equal to 1024 times the Ante whereas others may decide to play uncapped without a limit! This means that every bet that follows should be equal to or more than the Ante. In other words, every bet must be a multiple of the Ante.

The dealer is responsible for collecting the Ante from each player and placing it inside of the Pot, which is moved to the center of the table.

4. Deal the Cards

The dealer will distribute a card to each player starting from the left to the right (clockwise) until each player has 3 cards facing down. It is very important for the cards to be dealt face down.

Sometimes dealers prefer to do distribute the cards in a counterclockwise manner. In the greater scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter whether the cards are distributed clockwise or counter-clockwise just as long as the rule is consistent in subsequent games.

5. Start the Betting Process

The betting process begins after each player has received 3 cards face down.

The player on the left-hand side of the dealer usually starts the betting process. However, it is not uncommon for players on the right-hand side of the dealer to start too. Just as in the previous point, it doesn’t really matter whether it is the player on the left or right side of the dealer that starts, just as long as the rule that is chosen is held consistent in subsequent games.

Players in a game of Teen Patti can either:

1. Fold, which means pay nothing and give up everything that has gone into the Pot so far. Or;
2. Choose to wager an additional bet (either “Call” or “Raise”) to stay in the game.

Each player has to bet an amount that is equal to or more than the previous player.

A call means a player has decided to match the previous highest bet and;
A raise means that a player has decided to increase the previous highest bet. Once the value of the bet is raised, it becomes the new value for the current bet.

How much you can raise depends on whether you are playing as a Blind player or as a Seen player.

Playing Teen Patti as a Blind Player

Blind players, who choose not to look at the cards they are dealt with, have the option of:
a) folding (giving up),
b) calling the Ante or
c) raise to double it.

Blind players must bet an amount that is at least equal to the Ante (“calling the Ante”) or they can raise (to double the Ante). They cannot bet more than 2x the Ante. That amount that is bet goes into the Pot and becomes the minimum stake for the next player and so on. If the next player cannot meet the new minimum stake they must fold and forfeit the game leaving the money they had already placed into the Pot.

Blind players may opt to look at their cards when it becomes their turn. If they do, they would then become known as Seen players from thereon are required to bet at a minimum of 2x the current stake to remain in the game.

Playing Teen Patti as a Seen Player

Seen players, who choose to look at the cards they are dealt with, have the option of:
a) folding (giving up),
b) calling double the Ante or
c) raising to quadruple it.

Seen players must at least bet 2x the Ante “call double the Ante” or raise to quadruple the Ante (bet 4x the Ante). What this essentially means is that a Seen player must bet twice as much as a Blind player to continue playing the game. The amount that is paid by the players who have seen their cards is known as ‘Chaal’ in Hindi.

The Winner

Teen Patti betting rounds are unlimited. As the game progresses, the amount of money inside of a pot continually grows exponentially. Now that you understand how quickly the money inside of a Teen Patti Pot can grow, you can easily see that Teen Patti is like a game of poker on steroids!

When there are two players remaining on the table, they may decide to display their cards eventually. The player who has the highest-ranking three-card combo wins based on the card ranking shown below in order of strongest to weakest:

  1. Trail or Trio (strongest);
  2. Pure Sequence or Straight Flush,
  3. Straight or Sequence,
  4. Flush or Color,
  5. Pair (two cards of the same rank), and
  6. High Card (weakest).

We have prepared a FREE guide to help you thoroughly understand the Teen Patti sequence and rankings of each hand together with their probabilities.

However, a winner can also be decided when all the other players have folded, leaving just one player standing.

💰💰💰 The winner takes all of the money that is inside of the Pot. 💰💰💰

Certain players may voluntarily decide to Pack (Fold) if they have a weak hand so as to minimise their losses whereas others may fold because they are unable to meet the current stake. Players that fold sacrifice any money they have already contributed to the Pot.

Teen Patti Limits

  • Limits may apply to the amount a player might bet or raise.
  • A Fixed Limit is the maximum that can be raised according to the last bet. The maximum bet is always twice the last bet.
  • A Spread Limit is the maximum that can be raised. It can be any amount within the specified limit.
  • A Pot Limit is the maximum that can be raised, up to the size of the whole pot.

Sideshow Move (or Back Show)

To access a sideshow move, a player must have seen their cards and placed a bet on them.

The sideshow can be asked to the last player who actually placed a bet on their cards. Players are at the liberty to decide whether they accept the sideshow move request made by other players.

Tie

If the last two players in a game of Teen Patti decide to not Show or Pack the game, it will be considered as Tie. In this case, the amount collected in the pot will either be evenly split 50/50 among both the players or returned.

Show

If the last two players in a game of Teen Patti are left and one of them asks the other to Show, the following rules apply:
a) If a Seen player asks a Blind player to show his cards, the Seen player must bet four times that of the current stake.
b) If both the remaining players are Seen, then any one of them is asked to double the stake amount.
c) The Blind player does not have access to Show move.


Different moves in Teen Patti: An overview
Following are the different moves involved in the Teen Patti game.

To make a call indicates that the player will continue in the game, but won’t raise his bet, whereas, making a raise means that the player will be adding cash in the pot, thereby risking to win or lose more than the first bet.

However, one should note that that betting on Teen Patti is not the same as poker. In Teen Patti, you are required to have all the bets in equal amounts, meaning that once a player makes a bet of 2 coins with another player placing 4, the previous player will have to place 4 additional coins instead of just 2 to the earlier 2.

Teen Patti Variations
Teen Patti, being one of the most popular casino games among the Indian gamblers comprise of exciting game variants that include Joker, Lowest Card Joker, Muflis, AK47, 10X Boot, Maatha and so on. Exploring the various Teen Patti variants is super-fun, exhilarating and highly engaging, without a second thought!

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To end the Teen Patti games either of the two situations must arise: Except for one player, everyone Packs. That remaining player is the winner.
If two players remain at the end, one of them will be required to pay for the Show move. After this move, cards sequences of both the players will be shown to all and then compared to pick the winning combination.

Teen Patti Variations Explained 

Teen Patti Rules
The rules in the game of Teen Patti is simple and easy to grasp. The Aces is ranked as the highest with 2 being the lowest. The goal is to have the top 3-card hand and increase the pot before the game ends. Do bear in mind that it is important that you know the various hand rankings before getting into a game of Teen Patti similar to that of the betting rules.

Teen Patti Rules Explained 

You will be delighted to know that you can play Teen Patti for real money online with Teen Patti live games which are equally exciting as that of the Teen Patti games played at the land-based casinos.evently-

Some Teen Patti strategies for you
The game of Teen Patti is based on the element of chance, so sometimes you’ll get a good sequence and sometimes a bad sequence. If you’re having a bad sequence, it doesn’t mean you can’t win that game. Rather, you can employ some strategies to improve your chances of winning.

Let’s take a look at some of the best Teen Patti strategies.

Play blind in Teen Patti
If a player opts to play blind in Teen Patti, it means he hasn’t seen his cards yet. The bet placed by the player playing blind will be less than the players who have seen their cards. As a player playing blind, if you think that the players with seen cards have a weak hand, then you’ll have higher chances of winning. Obviously, this depends on luck, but you can become better at executing this strategy with practice and experience.

Prefer for sideshow option
When playing Teen Patti, you can use the sideshow option if you’ve seen your cards and the player who has bet before you has also seen the cards. If the sideshow is accepted, you and the other player will compare your hands, and the player with the lower ranking Teen Patti sequence must fold. You should only use this strategy if you’re confident enough that you have a better sequence than the last player.

Play chaal
In Teen Patti, chaal means that you’ve viewed your face-down cards before you place the bet. After seeing the cards, players can place their bet when their turn arrives. If a player thinks that he has a strong hand, then he can place his bet and even increase his bet. Playing chaal may also sometimes bluff your opponents into folding their hands.

Pack or fold
If you think that your cards are not strong enough to win, then the best thing to do is pack or fold. This will help in reducing your losses and also preserving your bankroll by not putting any money in the pot. If you decide to pack or fold in Teen Patti, it means the money you bet is forfeited