Best of Four Teen Patti means selecting your strongest three-card hand from four dealt cards. You compare the selected three cards, not a four-card poker hand. That single distinction explains why two pairs are not a final category and why discarding the lowest card can be a mistake.
This guide shows all four possible selections in worked hands, explains kickers and ace cases, and separates the selection rule from room-specific procedures. For the base game, see Teen Patti rules.
On this page
Best of Four at a glance
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| Feature | Format covered in this guide |
|---|---|
| Cards initially dealt | Four per player. |
| Cards used for comparison | The strongest permitted three. |
| Number of possible selections | Four: omit each card once. |
| Jokers | None in our examples. |
| Extra draw or replacement | None in our examples. |
| Final categories | Trail, pure sequence, sequence, colour, pair, high card. |
The name alone does not tell you when to discard, whether a discarded card is shown, or whether an app selects automatically. Those are room settings. This article explains how to identify the best hand; it does not claim a particular app supports the format or a specific interface.
Rules to confirm before the deal
Start by checking that “Best of Four” really means four cards dealt and three selected. If a room adds jokers, a replacement draw or another special rule, the examples below no longer describe every possibility.
Use the ordinary category order unless the room says otherwise: trail > pure sequence > sequence > colour > pair > high card. A pure sequence is three consecutive ranks of one suit. A sequence has consecutive ranks without all three suits matching; colour has one suit without consecutive ranks.
Also check the ace rule. A-K-Q and A-2-3 can be recognised sequences, but their relative order varies. K-A-2 is not a normal sequence: an ace does not connect the king to the two in a wraparound run. Our examples do not require choosing between A-K-Q and A-2-3.
Finally, check selection timing, what information opponents can see, and the treatment of exact ties. Do not assume a physical-table discard procedure matches an app’s automatic evaluator.
A reliable four-step selection method
- List the four candidates. Omit the first card, then the second, third and fourth. Four choose three equals four.
- Label each category. Look for repeated ranks, consecutive ranks and matching suits.
- Compare categories first. A low pure sequence beats a high pair under this hand order.
- Compare ranks within the winning category. For pairs, compare the pair rank before the kicker. For colour or high card, compare the sorted ranks in order.
This method is short enough to practise by hand and systematic enough to catch the most common errors. It also gives you an explanation for the selected hand rather than just an answer. Keep the hand rankings chart nearby until the category order becomes familiar.
Worked example 1: discard the king, keep the run
Your four cards are 7♥, 8♥, 9♥, K♣. An inexperienced player may keep the king because it is the highest individual rank. Listing every candidate shows why that is wrong.
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| Card omitted | Three cards kept | Category | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| K♣ | 7♥, 8♥, 9♥ | Pure sequence | Best: consecutive ranks, all hearts. |
| 9♥ | 7♥, 8♥, K♣ | High card | King high; neither a run nor one suit. |
| 8♥ | 7♥, 9♥, K♣ | High card | King high; gaps prevent a sequence. |
| 7♥ | 8♥, 9♥, K♣ | High card | Strongest high-card candidate, but still loses to the pure sequence. |
Keep 7♥–8♥–9♥. The discarded king has no value in the final comparison. This is the clearest reason not to use “always throw away the lowest card” as a shortcut.
Worked example 2: a pure sequence beats the pair
Your four cards are 8♥, 9♥, 10♥, 10♣. The pair is easy to spot, but it is not the strongest result.
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| Card omitted | Three cards kept | Category | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10♣ | 8♥, 9♥, 10♥ | Pure sequence | Best category available. |
| 10♥ | 8♥, 9♥, 10♣ | Sequence | Same ranks as the winner, but mixed suits. |
| 9♥ | 8♥, 10♥, 10♣ | Pair of tens | Eight kicker. |
| 8♥ | 9♥, 10♥, 10♣ | Pair of tens | Nine kicker; stronger pair candidate, but below both sequences. |
Keep 8♥–9♥–10♥. Notice the two separate comparisons: the nine kicker improves one pair candidate, while the suited run wins the overall decision. Optimising a kicker matters only after you have chosen the best category.
Worked example 3: keep the better kicker
Your four cards are Q♣, Q♦, A♠, 7♥. There is no sequence or colour, so the queen pair is the best available category.
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| Card omitted | Three cards kept | Category | Comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7♥ | Q♣, Q♦, A♠ | Pair of queens | Best: ace kicker. |
| A♠ | Q♣, Q♦, 7♥ | Pair of queens | Same pair, lower kicker. |
| Q♦ | Q♣, A♠, 7♥ | High card | Ace high, but the pair has been broken. |
| Q♣ | Q♦, A♠, 7♥ | High card | Same ranks as the other high-card candidate. |
Keep Q♣–Q♦–A♠. The ace improves this pair’s tie comparison against another queen pair. It does not make a pair of queens beat a pair of kings; the paired rank is compared first.
Special cases: two pairs and aces
Four cards contain two pairs
With 8♣, 8♦, K♠, K♥, you can keep a pair of kings with an eight kicker or a pair of eights with a king kicker. Keep the kings. Two pairs cannot remain in the final hand because two pairs require four cards and you must select three.
Either eight can accompany the kings. Those two candidates have the same ranks. Unless the room explicitly assigns a suit tiebreak, do not invent a preference for clubs or diamonds.
Four cards contain A-2-3 and a king
With A♥, 2♣, 3♦, K♠, keep A♥–2♣–3♦ if A-2-3 is recognised as a sequence. K-A-2, K-A-3 and K-2-3 are not ordinary three-card sequences. A-2-3’s position relative to other sequences is a separate question from whether it beats these high-card alternatives.
For ace-specific comparisons, read A23 in Teen Patti. If the room’s ranking differs, apply that ranking consistently to every candidate.
Best of Four compared with other formats
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| Format | Main change | What you evaluate |
|---|---|---|
| Classic Teen Patti | A fixed three-card deal. | The three cards received. |
| Best of Four | One extra dealt card creates a selection decision. | The strongest of four possible three-card subsets. |
| Joker Teen Patti | Designated cards can represent other cards. | The strongest completion allowed by the wild-card rules. |
| Muflis | Low-hand rules change which hand wins. | The hand under that room’s reversed or low-hand order. |
An extra card gives more options within your own deal. It does not guarantee that your selected hand beats another player’s best selection. Similarly, Best of Four does not imply that a discarded card is replaced. Treat a draw variant as a different ruleset unless the room explicitly combines them.
A quick practice hand
Try 4♣, 4♥, 4♠, A♦ before reading the answer. What would you discard, and why?
Answer: discard A♦ and keep the three fours. A trail is the highest category in our ruleset. Keeping the ace leaves only a pair of fours, regardless of which four you remove. A high individual card is not more important than the category it breaks.
Use the same routine with any four-card deal: write four candidates, name their categories, then resolve ties between candidates in the best category. Avoid choosing a discard solely by rank or by the visual appeal of matching suits.
Frequently asked questions
Do all four cards count at the show?
No. In the format described here, only the selected three-card hand is compared. The fourth card is not an extra kicker.
Can two pairs beat a trail in Best of Four?
No. Two pairs do not form a three-card category. You must select one pair and a kicker, which ranks below a trail under these rules.
Should I always discard the lowest card?
No. A low card may complete a pure sequence or trail. Evaluate all four three-card selections before choosing the discard.
Are jokers included in Best of Four?
Not in this guide’s ruleset. A room can combine variations, but joker selection and substitution rules would need to be stated separately.
When do I select or discard the fourth card?
That depends on the room. Check whether selection is manual or automatic, when it becomes final, and whether a discarded card is visible. The name Best of Four alone does not specify those procedures.
Rules reference and editorial scope
Pagat’s Teen Patti rules provide the base-game ranking context. The four-card selection method and worked examples here are original instructional explanations under the stated ruleset, not instructions for a verified app interface. To study substitution instead of selection, continue with Joker Teen Patti rules and examples, or browse the Teen Patti variations directory.
