Chinese Poker

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order and hand ranking
3. Setup
4. Arranging your hands
5. Scoring
6. Royalties
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Chinese Poker is a poker game without betting rounds. Each player gets 13 cards and sorts them into three poker hands: a back hand of five cards, a middle hand of five cards and a front hand of three cards. Then everyone reveals, and each hand is compared with the matching hand of every opponent. You win units (points) for every hand you beat and lose units for every hand that beats you. There is no bluffing and no folding – the whole skill is in arranging your cards.

• Players: 2–4, each for themselves; best with 4.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and paper and pencil (or the score pad) for the units. You play for points, not money.

Card order and hand ranking

Cards rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2; the Ace can also be low in the straight 5-4-3-2-A. Suits are all equal.

The back and middle hands are ordinary five-card poker hands. From best to worst:

Any hand of a higher kind beats any hand of a lower kind. Between hands of the same kind, the higher cards win: first compare the most important cards (the four, the three, the higher pair …), then the remaining cards one after another from the top. A straight is ranked by its top card, so 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest straight. If all cards are equal in rank, the hands tie – suits never break ties.

The front hand has only three cards, so only three kinds count there: three of a kind, one pair and high card. Three cards in sequence or of one suit are just high card.

Setup

1. Pick a first dealer (e.g. highest card cut); the deal passes to the left after each hand.
2. The dealer shuffles and deals 13 cards to each player, face down, one at a time clockwise starting on the left. With fewer than four players, the leftover cards are put aside unseen.

Arranging your hands

Look at your cards and split them into three hands:

• Back: five cards – must be your strongest hand.
• Middle: five cards – must be no stronger than the back.
• Front: three cards – must be no stronger than the middle.

Lay the three hands face down in front of you in a row: back nearest to you, then middle, then front. Take your time, but once your hands are down you may not change them. When everyone is ready, all players turn their hands face up at the same time.

A player whose hands are in the wrong order – say, a pair in front but only high card in the middle – has fouled (mis-set). To check the order, compare the three-card front with the middle in the usual way – in front only three of a kind, a pair or high card can count. A fouled hand automatically loses everything, see below.

Scoring

Every pair of players is settled separately: compare your back with their back, your middle with their middle, your front with their front.

• For each hand you beat, the opponent pays you 1 unit; for each hand that beats you, you pay 1 unit. Tied hands pay nothing.
• Scoop: if you beat all three of an opponent's hands, they pay you 3 extra units – 6 in total.
• Fouled hand: the player loses all three hands to every opponent and pays each of them as if scooped: 6 units, or more if that opponent's hands earn royalties (see below). Two fouled players pay each other nothing.

Add up your wins and losses against all opponents: that is your net score for the deal. Everyone's net scores together always add up to 0.

Example: Anna sets back 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ 4♣ 4♦ (full house), middle K♠ K♦ 9♣ 9♥ 3♠ (two pair), front A♣ Q♦ 5♥ (high card). Ben sets back J♥ 10♥ 6♥ 3♥ 2♥ (flush), middle Q♠ Q♣ 7♦ 7♣ 2♠ (two pair), front 6♠ 6♦ K♣ (pair). Anna wins the back (full house beats flush) and the middle (Kings beat Queens), Ben wins the front (a pair beats high card). Anna gets 2, pays 1: she is +1, Ben −1. If Carla had beaten all three of Ben's hands, Ben would pay her 6.

Royalties

Most players also pay a bonus, a royalty, for a very strong hand in the right place. The usual set, as given on pagat.com: the royalty replaces the normal 1 unit for that hand and is only paid if that hand wins – if both players have three of a kind in front, only the higher one collects 3 units. A fouled hand never earns a royalty, but it pays the royalties of the opponent's winning hands.

Other tables exist: in the Hawaiian Gardens casino and in the Vietnamese version described on pagat.com, four of a kind earns 8 units and a straight flush 10 units in the middle (4 and 5 at the back). Agree before playing whether you use royalties and which values.

Winning the game

Write down everyone's net score after each deal. Play an agreed number of deals, or stop at an agreed time – the player with the highest total wins.

Tips for beginners

• Start with the back: find your best five-card hand, then the best one you can make from the rest, and put the leftovers in front.
• Don't make the back too strong at the cost of everything else – two hands won are better than one monster.
• A pair in front is valuable: most front hands are only high card.
• Check the order before you lay your cards down. A fouled hand is the most expensive mistake in the game.

Variants

All optional – agree beforehand.

• 2-4 scoring: 1 unit for each hand won, plus 1 extra unit to whoever wins two or three of the three hands against an opponent (instead of the scoop bonus).
• Surrender: before the hands are revealed, a player may give up and pay each opponent an agreed amount (e.g. 3 units) instead of playing.
• Special hands: a few 13-card hands win automatically and must be announced before revealing, e.g. six pairs, three straights or three flushes (3 units each from every opponent) and a dragon, one card of every rank A to K (13 units).
• Open-Face Chinese: everyone gets five cards and places them face up in their three rows. Then, in turn, each player takes one card at a time and places it face up in a row until all 13 are placed; cards can never be moved. Scoring is the same, usually with bigger royalties. With Fantasyland, a player who sets a pair of Queens or better in front (without fouling) gets all 13 cards at once on the next deal. In Pineapple, after the first five you take three cards at a time, place two and discard one face down.