Pusoy Dos

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order
3. Setup
4. What you can play
5. Playing
6. End of a hand and scoring
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Pusoy Dos is the Philippine version of Big Two, a climbing game from China. Each player in turn must beat the previous play with a higher card or combination – or pass. Besides single cards, pairs and triples you can also play five-card poker hands such as a straight or a full house. Whoever gets rid of all their cards first wins the hand and scores points. The name comes from Filipino: pusoy is the local word for poker and dos means "two" – "Poker Two", after the highest card, the 2.

The rules are those of Big Two with three differences that matter at the table: the suit order (diamonds are highest), the starting card (3♣) and positive scoring with a bonus for finishing on a 2.

• Players: 2–4, each playing for themselves – best with 4.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers, and paper and pencil for the score.

Card order

The 2 is the highest rank, the 3 the lowest:

2 (highest) – A – K – Q – J – 10 – 9 – 8 – 7 – 6 – 5 – 4 – 3 (lowest)

The suits also have an order. It only matters when two cards have the same rank:

♦ Diamonds (highest) – ♥ Hearts – ♠ Spades – ♣ Clubs (lowest)

So the 2♦ is the best card in the game and the 3♣ the lowest. A 7♥ beats a 7♠, but any 8 beats any 7.

Setup

1. Deal: pick a dealer at random. The dealer shuffles and deals out all the cards one at a time, face down, so each player gets 13 cards (their hand).
2. Sort your hand by rank and keep it hidden.
3. Who starts: the player holding the 3♣ begins. Their first play must include the 3♣ – alone or as part of a pair, triple or five-card hand.

What you can play

A play is always one of these combinations:

Comparing singles, pairs and triples: the higher rank wins. If the ranks are the same, the higher suit wins. For pairs, compare the higher-suited card of each pair: 9♦ 9♣ beats 9♥ 9♠, because ♦ beats ♥.

Five-card hands

There are five kinds, from weakest to strongest:

1. Straight: five cards in rank sequence, of mixed suits, e.g. 6-7-8-9-10. The 2 counts below the 3 for straights only, and the Ace may be at either end but never in the middle. So the lowest straight is A-2-3-4-5, the highest 10-J-Q-K-A; J-Q-K-A-2 is not a straight. The straight with the higher top card wins; if the top cards have the same rank, the suit of the top card decides.
2. Flush: five cards of the same suit, in any ranks. A flush in a higher suit beats any flush in a lower suit. Between two flushes of the same suit, the higher top card wins.
3. Full house: three cards of one rank plus two of another, e.g. J J J 4 4. The higher triple wins.
4. Four of a kind: four cards of one rank plus any fifth card, e.g. 7 7 7 7 Q. The higher four wins. Four cards on their own are not a valid play.
5. Straight flush: a straight in which all five cards have the same suit. The higher top card wins; if they are equal, the higher suit wins.

Any five-card hand of a stronger kind beats any hand of a weaker kind – every flush beats every straight, every full house beats every flush, and so on.

Example (flushes): Anna plays a spade flush 3♠ 6♠ 9♠ Q♠ A♠. Ben has a heart flush with a low top card – hearts are the higher suit, so he can play it, even though his cards are low. A club flush would never beat Anna's.

Playing

Play goes in rounds: series of plays onto a pile in the middle of the table.

1. Lead: the first player of a round – the leader – plays any valid combination face up in the middle. In the first round, the leader is the holder of the 3♣.
2. Beat or pass: going round the table (to the left), each player either beats the last play or passes. - To beat it, play the same number of cards and a better combination: a higher single on a single, a higher pair on a pair, a higher triple on a triple, a stronger five-card hand on a five-card hand. You can never beat a single with a pair. - You may always pass, even if you could beat the play. Passing does not stop you from playing again when your turn comes round, as long as the round is still going.
3. End of the round: when all the other players have passed after someone's play, the round is over. The cards in the middle are put aside face down. The player who made the last play leads the next round with any combination.

Example (a round of play): Anna holds the 3♣ and leads it as a single. Ben plays 6♣. Carla passes. Dan plays 10♠. Anna plays K♦. Ben passes. Carla now plays 2♣ after all. Dan, Anna and Ben pass. Carla puts the pile aside and leads again – with a pair of 4s to get rid of low cards.

End of a hand and scoring

As soon as one player has played their last card, the hand is over. That player wins it; the others do not get a chance to beat that last play.

Pusoy Dos is usually scored with positive points:

The other players score nothing. So going out on a 2 – ideally with the 2♦ as your last single – is worth twice as much. Keep a running total.

Example: Ben goes out with a pair of 2s: 4 points. Carla goes out on a 5: 1 point.

For the next hand, the winner deals, and again the holder of the 3♣ starts.

Winning the game

Agree beforehand how long to play – a number of hands, a time limit, or a target such as 21 points. The player with the most points wins.

Tips for beginners

• Count the 2s that have been played – knowing which 2s are still out tells you when your card is safe.
• Five-card hands get rid of many cards at once. Build them early, and don't break them up for a single play.
• Save a 2 to go out with: the bonus makes it worth twice as much – or more – than an ordinary finish.
• Watch players with few cards left. When someone has one card, lead pairs or five-card hands rather than singles they could beat.
• Winning a round only helps if you have something good to lead afterwards. Sometimes it is better to pass.

Variants

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

• Play on to the end: the hand continues until only one player has cards left. The first player out scores 5 points, the second 3, the third 1 and the last nothing.
• Penalty scoring (as in Big Two): everyone else scores a penalty per card left – 1 point each for 1–9 cards, 2 each for 10–12, 3 each for 13 – and the fewest points wins.
• Winner leads: after the first hand, the winner of the previous hand leads with any combination instead of the holder of the 3♣.
• Passed is out: once you have passed, you may not play again until the round is over.
• Other straights: some groups count A-2-3-4-5 or 2-3-4-5-6 as the highest straight, or don't allow a 2 in straights at all.
• Three players: deal 17 cards each and place the last card face up; whoever holds the 3♣ takes it too and starts (if the face-up card is the 3♣, the dealer takes it and starts).
• Two players: deal 13 or 17 cards each and leave the rest aside face down; the holder of the lowest card dealt starts.