Andar Bahar and Teen Patti: House Edge and Cost per Hour

Andar Bahar and Teen Patti are the two largest India-facing table games. Both are played with a standard 52-card deck, and both are offered online in formats that differ from their live equivalents. The figure that matters to a player is the house edge, and for both games it is determined by rules that are often not stated in the game lobby. This page derives the edge from the payout table and the number of outcomes for the standard rule sets, states what each figure depends on, and converts the percentage to money per hour at a stated stake and round rate. The legal position of online real-cash play differs by state in India and is contested; nothing here resolves that, and no operator is named or recommended.

Andar Bahar: the standard rule set

Andar Bahar is a card game with a single dealer and no player decisions after the initial bet. One card is turned face up as the joker. The dealer then deals cards alternately to two sides, Andar and Bahar, starting with Andar. The side that receives a card matching the joker’s rank first wins. If the first card dealt to Andar matches, Andar wins immediately. If the first card to Bahar matches, Bahar wins. The game continues until a match appears.

In the standard online rule set, a bet on Andar pays even money (1:1) and a bet on Bahar pays 0.9:1, or 90% of the stake. Some operators offer 0.95:1 on Bahar, and a few offer even money on both sides with a different commission structure. The figure below uses the 0.9:1 Bahar payout, which is the most common.

The edge on each side comes from two sources: the commission on Bahar, and the fact that Andar has a structural advantage because it receives the first card. The probability that Andar wins is not 50%. It is 51.02% in the standard rule set, and Bahar wins 48.98% of the time. That asymmetry is what makes the two sides different prices.

Deriving the Andar Bahar edge

The probability that Andar wins is the probability that the first matching card appears in an odd position in the dealing sequence. With a 52-card deck and one joker removed, there are 51 cards left. Three of them match the joker’s rank (since one of the four cards of that rank is the joker). The remaining 48 do not match.

The chance that Andar wins on the first card is 3/51 = 5.88%. If the first card does not match, the second card is dealt to Bahar. The chance that Bahar wins on the second card is (48/51) × (3/50) = 5.65%. The sequence continues. Summing the probabilities for all odd positions gives Andar a 51.02% chance of winning, and Bahar 48.98%.

For an Andar bet at even money:

• Probability of winning: 0.5102
• Probability of losing: 0.4898
• Expected value per 1 unit staked = (0.5102 × 1) − (0.4898 × 1) = 0.0204

So the house edge on Andar is 2.04% of the stake.

For a Bahar bet at 0.9:1:

• Probability of winning: 0.4898
• Probability of losing: 0.5102
• Expected value per 1 unit staked = (0.4898 × 0.9) − (0.5102 × 1) = 0.4408 − 0.5102 = −0.0694

The house edge on Bahar is 6.94% of the stake.

If Bahar pays 0.95:1, the expected value is (0.4898 × 0.95) − (0.5102 × 1) = 0.4653 − 0.5102 = −0.0449, or 4.49%. If Bahar pays even money, the edge is (0.4898 × 1) − (0.5102 × 1) = −0.0204, or 2.04% — the same as Andar, but that rule set is rare.

The figure that is often quoted for Andar Bahar, around 2.15%, is close to the Andar edge but slightly higher. That figure typically assumes a 0.95:1 payout on Bahar and a different commission structure, or it includes a rounding of the win probabilities. The exact edge depends on the payout table, which must be stated.

Teen Patti: variant-dependent

Teen Patti is a three-card poker game. In the online real-cash format, the most common version is Teen Patti against a dealer, not against other players. The player and dealer each receive three cards, and the hands are ranked by standard poker hand rankings: trail (three of a kind), pure sequence (straight flush), sequence (straight), colour (flush), pair, and high card. The player wins if their hand outranks the dealer’s.

The house edge depends on the variant. In the standard dealer game with no side bets, the edge is typically between 2% and 5%, but that range is too wide to be useful. The figure depends on:

• Whether the dealer qualifies with a minimum hand (often a queen-high or better)
• Whether the player’s bet is paid at even money or at a different ratio
• The number of decks used (one or more)
• Whether there is a commission on winning hands

A common rule set uses a single 52-card deck, dealer qualifies with queen-high or better, and even-money payout on wins. Under those rules, the house edge is approximately 3.4%. If the dealer does not qualify, the player’s bet is returned and the hand is a push. That rule reduces the edge compared to a game where the dealer always plays.

Side bets change the edge substantially. A pair-plus side bet, for example, pays a fixed schedule for a pair or better and carries an edge that can exceed 7%. A 6-card bonus bet, which pays based on the combined six cards, has an edge that varies with the paytable and can be above 10%. Those figures are not part of the main game and should be evaluated separately.

Worked example: cost per hour at a stated stake

A percentage of turnover is not a quantity most players can feel. The following converts the edge to money per hour at a 10 stake per round and 60 rounds per hour.

For Andar Bahar, betting on Andar:

• Stake per round: 10
• Rounds per hour: 60
• Total turnover per hour: 10 × 60 = 600
• House edge: 2.04%
• Expected loss per hour: 600 × 0.0204 = 12.24

For Andar Bahar, betting on Bahar at 0.9:1:

• House edge: 6.94%
• Expected loss per hour: 600 × 0.0694 = 41.64

For Teen Patti, main game at 3.4% edge:

• Stake per round: 10
• Rounds per hour: 60
• Total turnover per hour: 600
• Expected loss per hour: 600 × 0.034 = 20.40

These are averages. In any given hour, the actual result will differ, often by a lot. The expected loss is the mean of a distribution, not a prediction of the next hour.

What people get wrong

The most common mistake is to treat the two sides of Andar Bahar as equivalent. They are not. Andar has a 51.02% chance of winning and pays even money; Bahar has a 48.98% chance and pays less than even money. The difference in edge between the two sides is 4.9 percentage points, which at 600 turnover per hour is 29.40 per hour. That is not a rounding error.

The mistake is natural because the game looks symmetric. Two sides, one card each, alternating. But the first card goes to Andar, and that first card has a 3/51 chance of matching. That single structural fact is the entire source of the asymmetry. Players who have not derived the probabilities often assume the game is a coin flip with a commission, and they bet Bahar because the payout looks close to even money. It is not close: 0.9:1 is a 10% reduction in the win payout, and the win probability is already below 50%.

A second mistake is to compare Teen Patti variants without checking the dealer qualification rule. A game where the dealer qualifies with jack-high has a different edge from one where the dealer qualifies with queen-high. The difference is small per hand but compounds over an hour. The rule is usually in the game’s help screen, not the lobby.

A third mistake is to treat side bets as part of the main game. They are separate wagers with separate edges. A player betting 10 on the main game and 10 on a side bet is not facing a 3.4% edge on 20; they are facing 3.4% on one 10 and a different, usually higher, edge on the other.

Rule sets and their edges

The table below lists the conditions that determine the edge. The figure changes with the rule set, so the rule set must be stated with the figure.

The Teen Patti figures are approximate because the exact edge depends on the full paytable and the number of decks. The Andar Bahar figures are exact for the stated payout and a single 52-card deck.

Legal position

Online real-cash gambling in India is regulated at the state level. Some states permit it, some prohibit it, and some have no specific law. The position is contested and changes. Nothing on this page should be read as saying that online Andar Bahar or Teen Patti is legal where the reader is. That is a question for the law of the relevant state, not for a house-edge calculation.

FAQ

Q: What is the house edge on Andar Bahar? A: On the Andar side, with even-money payout and a standard 52-card deck, the edge is 2.04%. On the Bahar side, with the common 0.9:1 payout, the edge is 6.94%. The figure depends on which side is bet and what the payout is.

Q: Is Andar Bahar a 50/50 game? A: No. Andar wins 51.02% of the time and Bahar 48.98%, because Andar receives the first card and that card has a 3/51 chance of matching the joker. The asymmetry is small per hand but determines the edge.

Q: What is the house edge on Teen Patti online? A: It depends on the variant. In the common dealer game with queen-high qualification, single deck, and even-money payout, the edge is about 3.4%. Side bets have separate and usually higher edges.

Q: How much does it cost per hour to play Andar Bahar? A: At a 10 stake per round, 60 rounds per hour, and a 2.04% edge on Andar, the expected loss is 12.24 per hour. On Bahar at 6.94%, it is 41.64 per hour. Actual results vary around those averages.

Q: Can the house edge be reduced by betting on both sides? A: No. Betting both sides does not reduce the total edge; it combines two negative expectations. The edge on the combined bet is the weighted average of the two edges, which is still negative.