Chinese poker is played between two to four players.
The game is played for points, where each point
is worth a set amount of money.
Each player gets thirteen cards to arrange into
three hands, two five card hands and one three card
hand. These hands are called the back, middle and
front hand.
The hands will be compared against the corresponding
hands of the other players. The objective is to
arrange a set of hands that will beat the corresponding
hands of the other players. There are often several
possible ways to arrange the thirteen cards given
to you and the only rules you have to follow are
that the back hand must be of a higher value than
the middle hand, and the middle hand must be higher
than the front hand. The value of each hand is determined
by standard poker rules. The front hand, with only
three cards, cannot have a flush or straight.
Hand order: Back > Middle > Front.
After arranging all hands the players compare their
hands to each other and the winner in each individual
game receives a number of points, determined by
how much they won.
In each round with
four players there are six transactions of points.
(See scoring for further information on this.)
Hand
Values
The hands are evaluated as poker hands in the following
order:
1. Royal Flush
2. Straight flush
3. Four of a kind
4. Full house
5. Flush
6. Straight
7. Three of a kind
8. Two Pair
9. Pair
In Chinese Poker the lowest straight possible is
Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5
In the third hand (front hand) straights and flushes
do not count.
Winning
a round
The scoring may seem complicated, but to summarise:
• If your hands outrank at least two
out of the three hands of another player, you win
over that player
At FutureBet.com 2-4 scoring is used which in general
means that if you win two out of three hands you
get two points and if you win all three hands you
get four points.
Scoring
When the players are done arranging their hands
and the cards are put down. Each player compares
their hands with each of the other players and are
rewarded points according to one of several systems.
The six comparisons that are made are:
• Player1 vs. Player2 • Player1
vs. Player3 • Player1 vs. Player4
• Player2 vs. Player3 • Player2
vs. Player4 • Player3 vs. Player4
2-4 scoring
This is the most common scoring and can be described
in two rules:
1. A player that
wins two out of three hands gets two points. 2. A player that wins all three hands gets
four points.
These rules are derived from the following set of
rules:
The player with the higher Back hand gets
one point.
The player with the higher Middle hand gets
one point.
The player with the higher Front hand gets
one point.
Bonus points, if any, are added to each player's
total.
The player with the higher total gets an
additional point called the overall point.
The player with the higher total collects
the difference between the two scores.
Without bonuses a player can potentially win 12
points, 4 points from each of the other players.
Examples:
Player 1
Player 2
Player 3
Player 4
K,J,5
High Card
A,Q,T
High Card
K,Q,5
High Card
T,6,6
Pair
C: 2,3,4, J, K
Flush
9,9,8,3,2
Pair
9,8,7,6,5
Straight
8,8,5,3,2
Pair
H:2,6,9,T,A
Flush
4,4,4,7,7
Full House
C: A,Q,J,7,3
Flush
A,K,Q,J,T
Straight
Player1 vs Player2: L-W-L, Result -2p
Playes1 vs Player3: L-W-L, Result -2p
Player1 vs Player4: W-W-L, Result 2p
Player2 vs Player3: W-L-W, Result 2p
Player2 vs Player4: W-W-L, Result 2p
Player3 vs Player4: W-W-L, Result 2p
1-4 scoring
This is the same as 2-4 scoring only there will
be no overall point for winning two out of three
hands. (Bonuses always count and surrender always
applies, 2 points)
1-6 Scoring
This system is sometime called the mandarin way.
In this system winning two out of three is worth
one point and winning all three is worth six points.
(Bonuses always count and surrender always applies,
3 points) Without bonuses a player can potentially
win 18 points, 6 points from each of the other players.
Bonuses
In addition to the basic payoffs described so far,
at some tables players pay bonuses for high ranking
hands. Typical bonus payments are:
•
Straight Flush in back/Middle hand 4 points
• Four of a kind in back/middle hand 3 points
• Three of a kind in front hand 2 points
• Full house in middle hand 1 point
Surrender
Surrender is a scoring option in which a player
agrees to throw his hand away and pay a set amount
to each opponent. The amount is 2 points for a 2-4
game, 3 points in a 1-6 game.
If two players surrender they tie.
Rake
At FutureBet.com a small fee is taken for each played
hand, the amount varies depending on the amount
per point and the number of players at the table.
