Chinese Poker

Chinese Poker

is played with 13 cards per player with a standard 52 card deck. This means it can be played with a maximum of 4 players a time. The player has to set his cards up in two lines of 5 ( the middle and back rows) and one line of three cards (the front row). Players always have to make the front the lowest and the back the highest hand. Straights and flushes dont count in the three card hand. All the cards are placed face down on the table, in three lines front, middle and back. When all the players have put there 13 cards down, they will announce if they want to play or not (starting left from the dealer and going clockwise). Then they will tell if they have royalties before they reveal their hands. If a player gets three flushes or straights he is the winner of the hand, it does not matter what the other players have.

Scoring

In Chinese poker players play for points, before the game starts the players agree on how much money per point they will play. Players get points for there front,middle or back line beating another players corresponding line. So you can also win money if you dont have the best overall hand. It is also possible to play different money per points in the same game, because the hands are compared head to head. Players A and B could be playing for $2 while C and D are playing for $20 per point.

Scoring systems

There are two systems of scoring most used by casinos nowadays the 2-4 scoring method and the 1-6 scoring method. With the first method you win 1 point for each of the three hands that you win, there is also 1 unit awarded to the player that wins two out of the three hands, or all of the three hands. If there is a tie, no money will be exchanged between players, one player will win 2 hands and take 3 points (2 for the hand 1 for overall) or two different players win both one hand (both win 1 point and there is no point for overall). With the 1-6 method you receive 1 point for each of the three hands you win and 3 units if you win all three hands.

Royalties

Royalties are sort of bonus points that are awarded to players with very strong or different hands. It depends on which variation of Chinese poker you are playing, but the amount of points per royalty can differ. For example in some variations a royalty is always 1 point but in other versions four of a kind in the back is one point and a straight flush in the back is two points. Some games only give one player royalties, for example one player has four 9’s and another player has four 10’s then the player with the tens only gets royalties.

In other games players can claim multiple royalties per hand and there are also games with royalties per player capped at one. Royalties must always be claimed before the hands are open. Royalties must be declared prior to the revealing of the hands.

A couple of examples of royalties:

• Straigt flush
• Four of a kind
• Full house or better in the middle
• Three of a kind in the front

Then there are also naturals, a special type of royalties, in which a player gets rewarded immediately and does not have to set his hand. Examples of Naturals:

• Three straights
• Three flushes
• Six pairs (in all three hands)
• 13 unique cards ( 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K,A
• No face cards (also called ‘No people’)

Surrendering

You can also surrender in Chinese poker (although not in all variations), you will pay a greater amount then when you lose 2 out of 3 hands, but less than the amount when you get ‘scooped’ which means you lose all three hands. If you are surrendered you dont have to pay royalties to your opponent.