Chinese Poker

Chinese poker is a card game that's been played in the Asian community for many years. It has recently gained popularity in the broader world of poker players, especially among the high stakes poker professionals.

Chinese Poker is a fun game with alot to recommend:

* It is easy to learn. Anyone who knows the rank of Poker hands can begin playing with just a few minutes of instruction.

* There is a large element of luck, so, even a beginner has a real chance of winning

* There is still enough skill in the game that experts have a significant advantage when playing poor players.

Chinese Poker - Basic Game Play

Four players are each dealt 13 cards.The idea is to arrange those cards into 3 poker hands: two 5-card poker hands and a single 3-card hand. The cards are arrayed in three rows in front of the player. These hands are called the back, middle and front hand.

The row closest to the player must be a better poker hand than the middle row and the middle row must be a better hand than the front row (the 3-card row)

Once all players have arranged their hands, they are turned over and compared in turn to determine the winner.

The game is played for points, where each point is worth a set amount of money.

First all back rows are compared and the winner gets points from the losing players. Then the middle row is compared and points awarded. Finally the front row is compared and points awarded.

Winning a round
If your hands outrank (at least) two out of the three hands of another player, you win over that player.

Scoring

When the players are done arranging their hands and the cards are put down.
Each player compares his/her hands with each of the other players
and are rewarded points according to the house scoring system.

The six comparisons that are made are:

• Player 1 vs. Player 2
• Player 1 vs. Player 3
• Player 1 vs. Player 4
• Player 2 vs. Player 3
• Player 2 vs. Player 4
• Player 3 vs. Player 4

Scoring Systems

There are several Chinese Poker scoring systems.
At PokerRoom.com (the only online poker site to host chinese poker games)
They use 2-4 scoring

2-4 scoring 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.

Most of this Article (and the example hand below) comes courtesy of the
Wiki-Encyclopedia Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License.

An Example Hand

For purposes of scoring, assume the following imaginary reveal:

The hands, of course, are as follows:

Each player now compares all three hands against each other player's three hands.

So, if they're playing for $1 a point (a point = hand won or lost)
each player ends up winning or losing money as follows:

Alex: -$5 ($1 to Bob, $1 to Carol, $3 to Debbie)
Bob: -$3 ($1 from Alex, $1 to Carol, $3 to Debbie)
Carol: +$1 ($1 from Alex, $1 from Bob, $1 to Debbie)
Debbie: +$7 ($3 from Alex, $3 from Bob, $1 from Carol)