Chinese Poker♠

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Closed thirteen-card poker

Chinese Poker is known in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia as Sap Sam Cheung and Pusoy. This is whole-hand setting before showdown; Open-Face, with incremental placement, is not used here. We choose Pagat’s self-contained basic settlement: corresponding rows without optional royalties, scoop bonuses or automatic natural hands. Those additions have other schedules and cannot be assumed from the game’s name.

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Deal and three rows

There are 2–4 individuals using one 52-card pack without jokers. Choose dealer by lot; shuffle, cut at the right and deal 13 face down each clockwise. Undealt cards are unused. Privately divide all 13 into front 3 nearest the centre, middle 5 and back 5 nearest yourself. There are no community cards, draws, discards or betting rounds. Rearrange until committing; after declaring ready, do not change. Everyone finishes setting before a simultaneous reveal.

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Comparing poker hands

Five-card order, highest first: straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, trips, two pairs, pair, high card. Royal is the highest straight flush. Ranks descend A,K,Q,J,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2; A also completes low A–2–3–4–5, but never wraps a run. Compare the principal group: quads, full-house trips or pair rank. Equal groups use remaining kickers descending; two pairs compare higher pair, then lower. Flush and high-card hands compare all cards descending, straights by their top. Suits never break ties.

Front 3 cards recognise only trips, pair and high card. Straights and flushes do not count there.

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Valid order and fouling

Back must not be weaker than middle, and middle must not be weaker than front. Across three and five cards, compare the same categories, then group rank and available kickers; a missing kicker is below any actual card. Wrong order or card counts foul the hand. A valid opponent wins all 3 rows against a foul regardless of cards; two fouls score 0 against one another. Before the reveal, correction is allowed only if you have not committed ready.

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Pairwise settlement

Settle every pair of participants separately: front against front, middle against middle, back against back. Win a row for 1 notional unit, lose for −1, tie for 0. Two wins and a loss therefore give +1, all three wins +3: no extra scoop bonus. Add results against all opponents to a ledger starting at 0. Our agreed session is 8 deals, with dealer moving left. Highest total wins; equal totals share position.

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A strong back is not everything

A sets front 2♠,2♥,A♦; middle 7♣,7♦,9♠,5♥,3♦; back 10♣,J♣,Q♣,K♣,A♣. B sets front 3♠,3♥,4♦; middle 6♣,6♦,8♠,5♣,2♦; back 9♣,9♦,10♥,10♠,A♠. Both settings are legal. B wins front, pair 3 against pair 2. A wins middle, pair 7 against pair 6, and back, straight flush against two pairs. A’s result is −1+1+1=+1, B’s −1.

← On a small screen, scroll the diagram horizontally. →

Common questions