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Chinese poker is popular in Southeast Asia under
different local names. In the United States it is
known as Chinese Poker. Chinese Poker is usually
played among four players, each competing with the
others. In a variation of the game, three players
play against the house. A standard deck of 52 cards
is used. At the start of the game 13 cards are
singly dealt to each player after the deck is
shuffled and cut.
The objective of Chinese Poker is to arrange the 13
cards into three poker hands that will be ranked
against the corresponding hands of the other
players. Two of the hands are to be of five cards.
These are known as a “back” hand and a “middle”
hand. The third hand known as “front hand” is to be
of three cards. The standard ranking of poker hands
are royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind,
full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two
pairs, one pair, and high card in decreasing order
of rank.
According to the ranking of poker hands, the back
hand must be higher ranked than the middle hand,
which must be higher ranked than the front hand. The
front hand merits special discussion since it has
only three cards. The only allowed combinations for
the front hand are three of a kind, one pair, and
high card. Straight and flushes do not apply to the
front hand. After making their hands the players lay
them face up as follows. The back hand is placed
closest to the player, the middle hand in the middle
and the front hand farthest away from the player.
The scoring for Chinese poker is usually done in
units. The players decide before hand how much a
unit will be worth. Typical values for a unit are
$1, $10 or $100. The common system of scoring is as
follows. For every corresponding hand that a player
beats he wins one unit and for every corresponding
hand that he loses to he loses one unit. First the
front hands are compared. The player whose front
hand is highest ranked wins three units and does not
lose any; hence he has a net winning of 3 units. The
player whose front hand is the second highest ranked
wins two units and loses one unit; hence he has a
net winning of 1 unit. The player whose front hand
is the third highest ranked wins one unit and loses
two units; hence he has a net loss of 1 unit. The
player whose front hand is lowest ranked loses three
units and does not win any; hence he has a net loss
of 3 units. The other two hands are similarly
scored.
In a modified version of Chinese Poker, three
players play against the house. In this case
comparisons are made against the house only. If a
player’s front hand is higher ranked than the
house’s he wins one unit and if his other two hands
are lower than the houses then he loses two units,
his net loss being one unit.
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