A game of poker wouldn’t be where it is today if not for the invention of the poker chip. The yesteryears’ of poker in smoke clad wild west parlours saw the usage of bones, ivory or clay as tokens for the game. The tokens were just subject to easy replication and gaming venues put a stop to it by ordering manufacturing companies to make customized clay chips for them. The poker chips had their unique style identifiable with specific gaming houses, making it hard to forge.
Over the years, poker chips advanced from clay to ceramic to including microchips! Real Money Poker games worldwide now had a much-needed currency, replacing traditional notes and coins. A poker chip became symbolic as a game token that is used to wager. The chips in hand at the end of the game were cashed in for some real money, making it seamless and foolproof. The advent of online poker also saw the extension of poker chips online, making it a universal currency in both online and offline poker games.

When you buy-in to a poker game, you're exchanging money for poker chips. However, how the poker chips work depends on the type of game you are playing. A player receives a set of chips at the beginning of the game, also known as the ‘starting stack’. Based on the format and stake at play poker chips are assigned to a player with different values:
- A cash game player will receive the same number of poker chips as their buy-in amount. Ex: A Rs.1000 buy-in for a cash game will mean that a player will be assigned poker chips (your starting stack) that add up to Rs.1000 in value, at the beginning of the game. The number of chips in a player’s hand during a cash game is, therefore, a direct indication of the value of his winnings.
- A tournament poker player will receive a fixed number of poker chips and the value of these chips are not equivalent to the buy-in value. Ex: A Rs.5000 buy-in for a tournament will mean that a player will be assigned a fixed number of poker chips (your starting stack) as pre-determined by the poker site/room. Often the starting stack for a Rs.5000 buy-in online poker tournament will range anywhere between Rs.12000 - Rs.15000. Thus, in tournaments, a player’s chip stack is NOT representative of the value of their winnings. Winning guarantees are predetermined and announced by poker sites and are purely based on the position in which a player finishes. While the objective of a tournament remains to gather poker chips, the value of your chips at the end of the tournament will not determine your winnings.
Different coloured poker chips correspond to various monetary values. While there are no hard and fast rules or laws that govern the poker chips online or offline, there are a few thumb rules to assign values and ensure your gameplay remains unhindered. Here’s a thumb rule that could come in handy: Let’s assume we have four colours of poker chips: white, red, blue, green. We decide to organize a cash game with a Rs.1000 buy-in. Starting blinds at 5/10. Let’s assume: 1. Trail or Set (three of the same rank)
2. Pure sequence
3. Sequence (or run)
4. Colour
5. Pair (two cards of the same rank) and
6. High Card.

In a 3 Patti sequence, A-K-Q is the highest and A-2-3 is the second-ranked sequence.

1. Each player contributes to the boot money and receives three cards face-down.
2. Play in a teen patti game begins with the player next to the dealer and proceeds in a clockwise direction.
3. A player has the option to place a wager without seeing the cards (blind) or see the cards. Once the player chooses to view his/her cards, they have the option to ‘chaal’ or other action options based on the progress of the game.
4. In teen Patti, a player who places a blind bet is known as the blind player. A player who places wager after seeing the cards is referred to as the seen player.

A limited stake teen Patti game has a limit to the amount a player can wager at a given time. For example, if the boot amount is Rs.2, a player can wager only a maximum of four blinds, the maximum chaal will be Rs. 256 and the Pot Limit will be 2048. Once the Pot Limit is reached in a game of teen Patti, all players in the hand are forced to reveal the cards and the winner is declared taking home the pot. It is always advisable to play Limited when you start playing Indian 3 Patti.

In a teen Patti game, players tend to play hands beyond the first round or fold immediately. This is commonly referred to as loose or tight play in teen Patti. A tight teen Patti player is known to fold weak hands while a loose teen Patti player will wager more of these hands and likely to play till showdown most often.

The wagering continues in Indian Teen Patti until one of the below occurs:
- All but one player packs - The only remaining player wins the money in the pot, regardless of their cards
- All but two players pack. In this scenario, if one player requests for a 'show', both players must expose their cards to determine the winner.
The following 3 Patti rules need to be followed while playing show:
- Only a seen player can play a show with a blind player for four times the current wager.
- If both are seen players by wagering two times the current wager, either may ask for a show.
A blind player cannot ask for a show or sideshow. While a blind player cannot ask (nor can be asked) for a sideshow, the advantage they have is to ask for a show. In a teen Patti game a player can choose not to show and surrender the pot in return.

Three of a kind (or a trio) - Three of the same cards. The highest trio is Aces and the lowest trio is twos in a 3 Patti game.
Straight flush ( or a pure sequence) - A straight flush is three consecutive cards of the same suit. The highest pure sequence is A-2-3 followed by A-K-Q, K-Q-J and so on till 4-3-2. In a game of teen Patti a wrap around like K-A-2 is not considered a straight flush but is however a valid flush in a 3 Patti game.
Straight (sequence) - A straight is three consecutive cards not in the same suit. The highest sequence is A-2-3 to 4-3-2 which is the lowest sequence. K-A-2 in this case is not a valid hand in a teen Patti game.
Flush (colour) - All the 3 cards are of the same suit is known as a flush. If two players in a teen Patti game both have flushes, the player with the high card wins. If two players have the same card values, then the hands are ranked by suit beginning with spades first and clubs last.
Pair (double) - Two cards of the same rank is called a pair. The highest pair is aces and the lowest is deuces. If both players have pairs, the player with the higher value pair wins in a 3 Patti game. If both players have the same pair, the value of the third card will determine the winner.
No pair (high card) - If both players have the same high card, the remaining card values come into play. Probabilities in Indian 3 Patti The probabilities of all the teen Patti hands are listed below. Keeping in mind that the sequence in which the cards are dealt does not matter, the probabilities in a 52 card deck stand as below:

A Teen Patti game has several variations, often played in isolation or combination.
Best-of-four - Each player is dealt four cards, instead of the regular 3 and they must make the best possible 3 cards Indian Teen Patti hand.
Lowball - In this 3 Patti variant, the order of the hand rankings are reversed, with the least ranking now having the highest rank and vice verse.
Wild draw - In this teen Patti game, the dealer pulls out one card at random after dealing and nominates all other cards of the same rank as wild cards.
Low wild - In this Indian 3 Patti variant, a player’s lowest-ranked cards are deemed wild cards in that players hand only.
High wild - In this Indian 3 Patti variant, a player’s highest ranked cards are deemed wild cards in that players hand only.
Two-lowest wild - In this 3 Patti variant a player is dealt four cards and the two lowest cards taken together form a virtual wild card in that player's hand only. If the two lowest cards are a pair then that pair may be considered as a single wild card. In this version, if the two middle-rank cards are a pair, then the player does not have any wild cards.
Bust card draw - In this fun 3 Patti game, the dealer pulls out one card at random after dealing and nominates all cards of the same rank as bust cards. Any player holding any of the bust cards has to fold.
Stud - In this 3 Patti game each player receives a preset mix of a combination of face-down and face-up cards. The cards dealt face down to each player are called hole cards. The cards dealt face-up are called street cards. The combination of hole cards and street cards are determined based on the variation of the game you are playing.
Community - Similar to a game of poker, in this 3 Patti game players are dealt incomplete hands of facedown cards and then several face-up community cards are revealed at the centre of the table. The community cards can be used by each of the players to make their best teen Patti hand combination.
Versions are:
• Three-card community: Each player is dealt two face-down cards followed by one face-up community card in this 3 Patti variant.
• Five-card community: Each player is dealt two face-down cards followed by three face-up community cards in this 3 Patti variant. Some versions of this game may require players to compulsorily select any one face-down cards and any two face-up cards to make a three-card hand.