Pok Deng

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card values and points
3. Hand types
4. Setup
5. Playing a hand
6. Settling bets
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Pok Deng is Thailand's favourite banking game. One player is the dealer (banker); everyone else bets against the dealer alone. Everybody gets two cards and may take one more. As in Baccarat, only the last digit of your total counts, so 9 is the best score. A two-card 8 or 9 is a Pok and wins at once, and special hands – two cards of one suit, a pair, three of a kind – multiply the payout: that multiplier is the deng.

• Players: one dealer and 1–16 others (2–17 in all); best with 4–9.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and chips (or counters, matches, buttons) – e.g. 50 each, the dealer more. Play for chips only.

Card values and points

Add up your cards and keep only the last digit – that is your points (taem), from 0 to 9.

Example: 7♠ + 8♥ = 15 → 5 points. J♣ + 6♦ = 6 → 6 points. 4♦ + 3♠ + K♥ = 7 → 7 points.

Hand types

From best to worst:

Deng (the multiplier) for Pok and normal hands:

• Two cards of the same suit or a pair (same rank): 2 deng, e.g. 5♥ 3♥ or 9♠ 9♦. A Pok with 2 deng is a Pok Deng.
• Three cards of the same suit: 3 deng, e.g. 3♣ 10♣ 5♣.
• Anything else: 1 deng.

Setup

1. Dealer: agree who holds the bank. The dealer may keep it for several hands; at home, pass it on regularly (e.g. to the left every five hands) so everyone gets a turn. A dealer who wants to give up the bank should announce it at least three hands in advance.
2. Bets: before the deal, every player except the dealer puts a bet in front of them. The dealer may set a minimum and maximum bet.
3. Deal: the dealer shuffles and deals two cards face down to each player, one at a time, going round the table in either direction and ending with themselves. The rest of the deck is the stock.

Playing a hand

1. Pok: everyone looks at their cards. A player with Pok (8 or 9 in two cards) says so and turns the cards face up at once.
2. Dealer's Pok: the dealer checks their own two cards. If the dealer has Pok, they show it and all hands are settled immediately – nobody draws.
3. Otherwise, each Pok player is paid straight away (a Pok beats any hand without Pok). Then, in the order of the deal, each other player may draw one card face down from the stock or stand with two cards. Nobody may take more than one extra card.
4. Dealer's turn: before drawing, the dealer may "catch" some players – for example everyone who took a third card – and settle with them using the dealer's two-card hand. Then the dealer may draw a third card and settles with everyone else.

Settling bets

Compare each player's hand with the dealer's:

1. The better hand type wins (Pok > Tong > Three yellows > Normal).
2. Same hand type: the higher points win.
3. Same type and points: it's a tie – the player takes their bet back.

The winner is paid bet × the deng of the winning hand. If the dealer wins, the player pays that amount to the dealer; if the player wins, the dealer pays it. (Tong against three yellows pays only 2 ×: 5 deng minus 3.)

Example: Anna deals. Ben bets 10, Carla 5, Dan 4. Ben holds 5♥ 3♥ – Pok 8 with 2 deng (same suit). He shows it and Anna, with 7♦ K♠ (7 points), pays him 2 × 10 = 20 at once. Carla has 3♣ 10♣ (3 points), draws and gets the 5♣: 8 points, three of one suit, 3 deng. Dan stands on 4♠ 3♦ (7 points). Anna stands too. Carla beats Anna's 7 and wins 3 × 5 = 15; Dan's 7 against 7 is a tie – he takes his 4 back.

Winning the game

There is no fixed end. Play as long as you like, passing the bank round the table so everyone deals equally often. Whoever has the most chips when you stop is the winner.

Tips for beginners

• Stand on 5 or more, draw on 3 or less. 4 is the classic borderline hand – many draw on it.
• Two matching cards are worth keeping. A 2-card flush or pair on 6 or 7 pays double if it wins; drawing breaks the pair and usually the flush.
• As dealer, use the catch. If your two cards are fair (4 or 5), catch the players who drew – their starting hands were probably weak – before you decide whether to draw.
• Bet small. The dealer wins or loses against everybody at once, and deng multiply losses as well as wins.

Variants

All of these are optional – agree on them before the game.

• Straights (riang): three cards in sequence count as a special hand worth 3 deng, a straight flush 5 deng. Ace is high (Q-K-A counts, A-2-3 and K-A-2 do not); some tables play the Ace low instead.
• Deng decides ties: with the same hand type and points, the hand with more deng wins the difference in deng (e.g. 3 deng against 1 wins 2 × the bet). Only equal deng is a tie.
• Forced draw: a player with fewer than 4 points in two cards must draw.
• Several hands: a player may bet on more than one hand ("legs"), each dealt its own cards. A shared hand can also be dealt right after the dealer, and anyone may bet on it.
• Lucky 9 (Philippines): the same idea without deng or special hands. Each player and the banker get two cards; a two-card 9 is a natural and stands. Everyone else may take one more card (the details of when to draw vary from table to table – agree on them first). The higher points win 1 to 1; a tie returns the bet.