- Cards dealt
- Three, face downNo draws or discards
- Core decision
- Blind or seenChanges your stake size
- Side bets
- Priced higher edgeOptional, stake separately
Teen Patti, Andar Bahar and Dragon Tiger are, for most players in India, the most immediately familiar titles in a real-money lobby — rules many people already half-know from family gatherings and festivals, now playable for real stakes against other real players. Familiarity is exactly why it's worth being precise about the rules rather than assuming: a hand of Teen Patti has a specific betting structure most casual versions skip, and the side bets attached to all three games are priced very differently from the main game.
This guide covers the actual rules in order — how a Teen Patti hand plays out, the official hand rankings, the blind-versus-seen decision that shapes the whole game, the side show rule, then Andar Bahar and Dragon Tiger, which are simpler but easy to misread. Our game categories guide covers the pace and spend side of card games in general; this one is about the rules themselves.
The basic flow of a Teen Patti hand
Teen Patti ("three cards") deals exactly three cards face down to each player from a standard 52-card deck, with no draws, no discards and no card exchange — what you're dealt is what you play. Before cards are dealt, every player contributes a fixed boot amount, the minimum stake that starts the pot. Betting then proceeds around the table in turns, with each player choosing to bet, fold, or (where the table allows it) request a side show.
The hand ends either when only one player remains after everyone else folds — that player wins the pot without needing to show their cards — or at a showdown, where remaining players reveal their hands and the best ranking wins. Because a hand is only three cards with no drawing, every decision is based purely on your original three cards and how the betting in front of you has gone.
Hand rankings, highest to lowest
| Rank | Hand | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (highest) | Trail / Trio | Three cards of the same rank — three Aces is the highest possible hand |
| 2 | Pure Sequence | Three consecutive cards, all the same suit (e.g. 4-5-6 of hearts) |
| 3 | Sequence / Run | Three consecutive cards, mixed suits (e.g. 4 of hearts, 5 of clubs, 6 of spades) |
| 4 | Colour / Flush | Three cards of the same suit, not consecutive |
| 5 | Pair | Two cards of the same rank, plus one unrelated card |
| 6 (lowest) | High Card | No combination — the highest single card decides, then the next-highest |
Within each rank, ties are broken by card value (Ace typically high), and where values still match, by suit ranking rules specific to the table's variant. Knowing this order cold is the entire skill ceiling of the base game, since there is no drawing to improve a weak hand — every decision after the deal is about betting on the three cards you were already given.
Blind vs seen: the core betting decision
This is the mechanic that gives Teen Patti its distinct rhythm and the one most casual home versions play loosely. Every player chooses, each time it's their turn, whether to play blind or seen:
- Blind means betting without looking at your three cards at all, staking the current minimum bet — typically equal to the boot or a running multiple of it. It costs less per turn but gives you zero information about your own hand.
- Seen means you have looked at your cards, and from that point on you must typically stake double whatever a blind player at that point would stake. It costs more per turn, but every decision from then on is informed by what you're actually holding.
A player can switch from blind to seen at any point on their own turn simply by looking at their cards — but never back from seen to blind once they've looked. This asymmetry (seen bets cost double blind bets) is the game's central pricing mechanism: information about your own hand has an explicit, fixed cost built into the betting structure itself.
The one-line version
Blind is cheaper but uninformed; seen costs double but lets you decide with real information. Every hand is, underneath the cards, also a question of when it's worth paying to know what you're holding.
The side show (compromise) rule
A side show, sometimes called a compromise, lets a seen player privately request a card comparison with the seen player who bet immediately before them in the current round — without the whole table seeing either hand. The requested player can accept or decline. If accepted, the two hands are compared privately: the weaker hand folds immediately, and the stronger continues in the game against whoever remains.
A few conditions apply consistently across tables: a side show can only be requested between two seen players (never against a blind player), and it isn't available once only two players remain in the hand — at that point the game moves straight to a full showdown instead. The side show exists to let a hand resolve faster between two informed players without forcing everyone else to keep betting on a comparison that's already effectively decided.
Common variants you'll see in the lobby
Beyond the classic rules above, Teen Patti-style titles frequently ship with variant rule sets that change the ranking system or add wild cards. The names and exact rules differ by provider, so always check a specific table's info screen, but common patterns include:
- Joker variants designate one or more cards as wild, able to substitute for any card to form a higher-ranking hand.
- Muflis (lowball) variants invert the hand rankings entirely — the lowest hand wins instead of the highest, which changes every strategic decision from the standard game.
- AK47 and similar designate specific cards (often Aces, Kings, 4s and 7s) as wild in addition to, or instead of, a joker.
- Community-card variants deal shared cards face up that every player can use alongside their own three, closer in spirit to poker.
Each variant changes what counts as a strong hand, so playing a joker or Muflis table with standard-ranking instincts is a common and entirely avoidable source of confusion — read the specific table's rules screen before your first hand on any variant you haven't played before.
Andar Bahar: rules and payouts
Andar Bahar is mechanically much simpler than Teen Patti: there is no hand to build and no betting round to navigate, only a single bet on a binary outcome. A single card, the joker (sometimes called the house card), is drawn and placed face up. Cards are then dealt one at a time, alternating between an Andar (inside) position and a Bahar (outside) position, starting from whichever side the table's rules specify.
Dealing continues until a card is dealt that matches the joker's rank, on either side. You bet, before dealing starts, on which side — Andar or Bahar — that matching card will land on. Because the starting side is fixed by rule rather than chosen, the two sides carry a slightly different probability and payout, a detail worth checking on the table's own screen rather than assuming both sides are priced identically.
Dragon Tiger: rules and payouts
Dragon Tiger is Andar Bahar's simplicity taken one step further. One card is dealt to a position labelled Dragon, one to a position labelled Tiger, and you bet on which card will rank higher, using standard card values with no suits involved in the comparison. A Tie bet is also usually available, paying a much larger multiple for the rare case both cards share the same rank.
There are no draws, no decisions and no hand to build — a single comparison of two cards decides the round in seconds, which places Dragon Tiger among the fastest-paced formats in the card game category, closer in rhythm to a coin-flip bet than to a full Teen Patti hand.
How side bets really price against you
All three games commonly offer optional side bets alongside the main wager — a pair bonus, a suited-trail bonus on Teen Patti, or similar rarer-outcome bets on Andar Bahar and Dragon Tiger tables. These are staked in addition to your main bet, never in place of it, and they are priced to reflect how rarely they land: a bet on a specific rare combination pays a large multiple precisely because it wins far less often than the main bet does.
The house edge on these side bets is consistently higher than on the main game across nearly every provider and title — often several times higher. The practical risk isn't that a side bet is a bad option once; it's that placing the same small side bet out of habit on every single hand can, without ever feeling like a separate decision, roughly double your real spend per hand over a session. Treat every side bet as a deliberate, separate stake with its own line in your budget, exactly as covered in our game categories guide.
Table etiquette
- Decide your blind/seen approach before your turn arrives — the betting round moves quickly once it starts.
- Only request a side show when you're genuinely comparing hands, not as a way to slow the round down.
- Keep side bets deliberate rather than automatic — tap them on purpose, not out of habit on every hand.
- On Andar Bahar and Dragon Tiger, remember the outcome is fixed the moment the cards are dealt — there is no decision to make once your bet is placed.
- Read the specific variant's rules before your first hand if the ranking system looks unfamiliar (joker, Muflis or community-card tables).
Frequently asked questions
Highest to lowest: Trail/Trio (three of a kind), Pure Sequence (three consecutive, same suit), Sequence/Run (three consecutive, mixed suits), Colour/Flush (same suit, not consecutive), Pair, and High Card.
A blind player bets without looking at their cards, staking the current minimum. A seen player has looked and typically must stake double what a blind player would at that point. Blind costs less but gives no information; seen costs more but lets you decide based on your actual hand.
It lets a seen player privately compare hands with the seen player who bet just before them, if that player agrees. The weaker hand folds. It isn't available against a blind player or once only two players remain.
Andar Bahar deals a joker card, then deals alternately to Andar and Bahar until a matching card appears — you bet on which side it lands on. Dragon Tiger deals one card each to Dragon and Tiger, and you bet on which is higher, or on a Tie. Neither game involves drawing or in-hand decisions.
Side bets typically carry a significantly higher house edge than the main game in exchange for a bigger payout on rarer outcomes. They're optional and staked on top of the main bet — the real risk is placing the same small side bet out of habit on every hand, which can roughly double your real spend without feeling like a separate decision.