Learn How to Play Chinese Poker in just 5 minutes

If you haven’t heard of Chinese poker, then you are in for a surprise. It is one of the most popular games among chinese people but is played all over the world. It is a really fun game to play. Also, pretty easy to learn. Now a lot of tournaments takes place related to the game and thousands of people take part. There is an event in World Series Of Poker too where the cash bonus for the winners is huge.

Chinese Poker is a card game that is played between 2-4 players and it is one of the variations of poker. All you need to know is the poker hand rankings to get started with it. It only takes about 5 minutes to learn this amazing game. In this article, you’ll learn about the history of the game, Rules for the game, Common Terminologies used in the game and some popular FAQ’s. 

Chinese Poker History

Before we get on to the rules of Chinese Poker, Let’s look at the history of the game about where the game was started and how did it become one of the most popular poker variations ever.

As the name suggests the game was first originated in China. The dates go back a long way in the ’90s where the game was first seen playing. The first tournament was held in the year ’95 and ’96. Some of the first winners of the tournament include John Tsagaris in ’95 and Steve Zolotow and Gregory Grivas in ’96.

Since then, the Chinese Poker has grown a lot in terms of popularity and fame and is now known to the whole world. It is now played in almost all the Casinos in the US and many others.

The stakes involved in the Chinese poker might be low compared to Texas Hold’em Poker, but it is still a really good game to play and enjoy. Even the beginners can do well in this game as there’s a lot of luck going on rather than skills in this game.

There is a saying in Chinese poker that even when a player loses the game, they blame the cards and luck since luck plays a huge role in this game and still take pride about how they play and approach the game.

Related: Other Popular Variations of Poker

Chinese Poker and the rules to play the game

Ok, before we get onto to the rules of Chinese Poker, we need to first understand and learn the Poker hand rankings. I’ll get on to rules directly keeping in mind you guys already know the poker hand rankings. If you don’t then you can learn them from here.

Chinese Poker doesn’t involve Betting of any sort during the game. The amount is fixed during the starting of the game and the player that wins that round gets that amount.

There is no Small Blind or Big Blind involved like Texas Hold’em Poker.

Related: Texas Hold’em Rules

Some of the most used terminologies in Chinese Poker

Before we get onto rules, let’s understand some of the commonly used terminologies in Chinese Poker.

Here each player gets 13 cards and they have to form 3 hands using those cards. The hand rankings for those 3 hands are as follows:

• Front Hand or Top Hand – This is the hand that is formed using 3 cards. This must be the weakest hand among the three.
• Middle Hand – This is the hand that is formed using 5 cards.  This hand must be stronger than the Top Hand, but weaker than the third Hand.
• Bottom Hand – This is the hand that is formed using 5 cards. This hand is the strongest hand among the three.

Some other terminologies

• Scoop – If a player wins all 3 hands against another player, then it is known as Scoop.
• Mis Set – If the player forms a stronger hand for the front hand than the middle hand, It is known as Mis Set. If the player Mis-set his hand, then he has to pay the remaining players who are still playing the amount equal to the Scoop.
• Pusoy – It is another name used for Chinese Poker.

Rules

I’ll explain the rules in 10 simple steps and is very easy to learn.

1. The game is played between 2-4 players and each of the player receive 13 cards face-down.
2. There are no betting rounds in this variation of poker but instead, each player must agree to a certain value (Amount) before they play the hand.
3. After the players receive their 13 cards they must arrange these cards into 3 groups of 3 different hands.
4. The first hand or group must include 3 cards and these cards must be the worst of the 13 cards. This hand is called the Front Hand or the Top Hand.
5. The second hand or group must include 5 cards and these cards must be better than the first hand but worse than the third hand. This hand is called the Middle Hand.
6. The third hand or group must also include 5 cards and these cards have to be the best hand among the other 2 groups. This hand is called the Bottom Hand.
7. After each player decides their hands they place the cards face-up on the table with the remaining players doing the same.
8. Each player scores each hand against the corresponding hand of each other player.
9. You win one point for each hand you win against other players. The player that wins the most hand wins that round.
10. There are also bonus points for players that win all three of their hands with the other player. Winning all three hands are known as Scoop.

These are the ten easy steps that are involved in playing Chinese Poker. If you still have doubts about playing Chinese Poker, then you can watch the tutorial on Youtube.

Open-Face Chinese Poker

There is another variant of  Chinese Poker called as the Open-face Chinese Poker. This version is even more complicated than the normal version. There is a slight variation of rules for this version. The rules are mentioned below.

• Each player is dealt with 5 cards first instead of 13 and they must build the top hand (including 3 cards) with those five cards.
• After that, each player draws one card per turn from the deck and continues to build their hands to complete Middle Hand and the Bottom Hand.
• There are way more decisions and excitement since you have to draw each card one at a time.

This version of the game is much more challenging and involves Skill rather than luck. This version of Chinese Poker is not that famous and is not present in most of the Casinos. But, you can still play the game at home with your friends and have fun at it.

Hope you enjoyed reading it and learned something new. Have a nice day. 🙂

General FAQ’s

What is Chinese Poker?

Chinese Poker is a variation of poker and is played between 2-4 players. Each player receives 13 cards and they have to form 3 sets of poker hands with them. Each player has to form 2 sets of 5 cards and 1 set of three cards.

Where was Chinese Poker originated from?

As the name suggests the game was first originated in China. The dates go back a long way in the '90s where the game was first seen playing. The first tournament was held in the year '95 and '96. Some of the first winners of the tournament include John Tsagaris in ’95 and Steve Zolotow and Gregory Grivas in ’96.

What are the different types of Chinese Poker?

2-7 Chinese Poker, Double deck Chinese Poker and Open-Face Chinese Poker.

How do you win in Chinese Poker?

After each player makes their 3 sets of hands, Each player scores each hand against the corresponding hand of each other player. You win one point for each hand you win against other players. The player that wins the most hand wins that round.

Hope you guys have understood the bassics of Chinese Poker. If you enjoyed reading this, then please Share and comment. 
Have a great day. Thanks for reading. :)