Chinese poker is a card game that has been played in the Asian community for many years. It has begun to gain popularity in the broader world of game players because it has all the features of a good gambling game:
It is easy to learn.
Anyone who knows the rank of Poker hands can begin playing after a few minutes of instruction.
There is a large element of luck, so that a beginner has a real chance of winning, even against experienced opponents. Also, it is plausible for poor players to attribute bad results to their cards rather than their plays.
There is still enough skill in the game that experts have a significant advantage when playing poor players.
Although it is basically a four player game, it plays well with 2, 3, 5, or even more players. It is fun to play. Unexpected results and interesting hands are common.
Playing a Hand
In Chinese Poker, each player receives a 13 card hand from a standard 52 card deck. He then has to divide his cards into three Poker hands, two containing five cards each and one three card hand. The only restriction is that both five card hands must outrank the three card hand (Note: straights and flushes do not count in the three card hand). The higher ranking of the five card hands, called the Back hand, is placed face down on the table in front of the player. Then the other five card hand, called the Middle hand, is placed face down in front of the Back hand. Finally, the three card hand, called the Front hand, is placed (again face down) in front of the middle hand. When all four players have set their hands, the cards are turned face up and the deal is scored.
Scoring
Many variations of scoring are in common use. Refer to the external links for more information.
The game of poker has many variations, most of them created in the United States in the mid-1900s. The standard order of play applies to most of these games, but to fully specify a poker game requires details about which hand values are used, the number of betting rounds, and exactly what cards are dealt and what other actions are taken between rounds. Any game may also use any betting structure.
They can be divided into the following groups:
Draw poker: Games in which players are dealt a complete hand, hidden, and then improve it by replacing cards. The most common of these is Five-card draw.
Stud poker: Games in which each player receives a combination of face-up cards and face-down cards in multiple betting rounds. The most common of these are Seven-card stud and Five-card stud.
Community card poker: Games in which each player’s incomplete hidden hand is combined with shared face-up cards. The most common of these is Texas hold ‘em and Omaha hold’em.
Miscellaneous poker: Other games, or hybrids of the foregoing games.
It is not uncommon for players in home games to invent ad-hoc variants during a playing session. Such games rarely achieve the popularity of the well-known variants, for the good reason that the well-known variants have been selected for playability over many years. “Playability” varies with the players, though, so it is quite common for a single group of players with shared tastes to become accustomed to one of these variants. When joining an established group as a new player, it is important to fully understand the rules of any such game that they commonly play.
The game of poker is played in hundreds of variations, but the following overview of game play applies to most of them.
Depending on the game rules, one or more players may be required to place an initial amount of money into the pot before the cards are dealt. These are called forced bets and come in three forms: antes, blinds, and bring-ins.
Like most card games, the dealer shuffles the deck of cards. The deck is then cut, and the appropriate number of cards are dealt face-down to the players. In a casino a “house” dealer handles the cards for each hand, but a button (any small item used as a marker, also called a buck) is rotated among the players to determine the order of dealing and betting in certain games. In a home game, the right to deal the cards typically rotates among the players clockwise, but a button may still be used.
After the initial deal, the first of what may be several betting rounds begins. Between rounds, the players’ hands develop in some way, often by being dealt additional cards or replacing cards previously dealt. During a round of betting, there will always be a current bet amount, which is the total amount of money bet in this round by the player who bet last in this round. To keep better track of this, it is conventional for players to not place their bets directly into the pot (called splashing the pot), but rather place them in front of themselves toward the pot, until the betting round is over. When the round is over, the bets are then gathered into the pot.
After the first betting round is completed (every participating player having called an equal amount), there may be more rounds in which more cards are dealt in various ways, followed by further rounds of betting (into the same central pot). At any time during the first or subsequent betting rounds, if one player makes a bet and all other players fold, the deal ends immediately, the single remaining player is awarded the pot, no cards are shown, no more rounds are dealt, and the next deal begins. This is what makes it possible to bluff.
At the end of the last betting round, if more than one player remains, there is a showdown in which the players reveal their previously hidden cards and evaluate their hands. The player with the best hand according to the poker variant being played wins the pot.
There are several excellent books on poker strategy, and this article will only attempt to deal with the basics that must be mastered by the beginner. A list of articles on the material summarized here appears below.
Hand strength
Once a player has mastered the rank of hands, it is more important to realize their relative strength at a poker table. Approximately half the five-card hands in any given game will be less than a pair of twos, but only about one-fourth of five-card hands in the long run will be better than a pair of Aces. A full house is such a good hand that it is far more likely to be the best hand on the table than a 7 high (the lowest possible hand) is to be the lowest hand at a given table.
One mistake made by many beginners is to bet hands that are unlikely to win in the showdown, hoping that they will eventually improve. In the long run, this is a losing strategy against experienced players. For example, in draw poker, any hand less than a pair should generally be folded at the earliest opportunity. In other games, such as Texas Hold ‘Em where only two cards are dealt before the betting round, unmatched combinations of low cards are unlikely to result in a winning hand.
Improvement and pot odds
Athough improvement is possible with virtually every hand, most beginners forget that players with better hands may also improve their hands on the draw, and that in the long run the player with the better hand before a draw is likely to have the better hand after the draw as well. Generally, if you have reason to believe that your opponent has a better hand than you at any given point of a betting round, the appropriate action is to fold. However, if the money in the pot is large compared to the bet required to stay in (the “pot odds”), a call is possible. This is particularly the case when a player is attempting to fill a straight or flush. However, the approximate odds of filling an outside straight on the next draw is about 6-1, and the odds of similarly filling a flush is about 5-1. As such, calling is not recommended if the money that could be won gives a lesser payout on the bet.
One bet made by beginners that rarely pays off is to fill an “inside straight” – a straight with one of the middle cards missing. The odds against filling such a straight on a single draw are roughly 13-1 against and should not be considered unless the pot odds are particularly good.
Bluffing
Beginners, even talented beginners, see bluffing as a way to “buy” the pot. However, bluffing seldom works against poor players (who tend to overestimate the strength of their hand to begin with) and does not work for long against expert players if a player bluffs too frequently. Although all players should bluff occasionally to make their large bets on good hands look less credible, consistent and constant bluffing generally leads to large losses.
In large games it is difficult to bluff because of the high chance that someone has a good hand. It is also more sensible for your opponents to call than fold if the pot is large unless they are sure their hand is dead. Paying $10 to call with $100 in the pot is good value for anyone with more than a 10% chance of winning.
Position play
Generally, players who have to bet first need stronger hands to open the betting than players who bet later. This is because the raw odds of a better hand being on the table increase based on the number of players who have not had the opportunity to bet. For example, in a six-player game of draw poker, it is recommended that a player check in the first betting position unless they have at least a pair of aces. However, the last player to bet (the dealer) may open the betting if no-one else has spoken with as little as a pair of twos. One expert Hold ‘Em player recommends folding if you are the first player to the left of the blind unless you have the strength to raise.
A unit of play consisting of a deal, one or more rounds of betting, and possibly a showdown.
A set of five cards with a certain value. For example, the hand A♥ 10♥ 9♥ 5♥ 3♥ is a “flush”, a hand that is valuable because each card is of the same suit.
A player’s set of non-communal cards.
The second and third definitions are often used interchangeably. For example, in Texas hold ‘em, a player holding A♣ K♠, with a board of A♥ K♣ K♦ 7♠ 3♦, might say, “my hand is ace-king”. However, his best 5-card hand (the portion of the hand which determines value) is the kings-over-aces full house.
General rules
The following general rules apply to evaluating poker hands, whatever set of hand values are used.
Individual cards are ranked A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 (low).
Individual card ranks are often used to evaluate hands that contain no pairs or other special combinations, or to rank the kickers of otherwise equal hands. The Ace is ranked low in ace-to-five and ace-to-six lowball games.
Suits have no value.
The suits of the cards are mainly used in determining whether a hand fits a certain category (specifically the Flush and Straight flush hands). In most variants, if two players have hands that are identical except for suit, then they are tied and split the pot. Sometimes a ranking called high card by suit is used for randomly selecting a player to deal.
A hand always consists of five cards.
In games where more than five cards are available to each player, hands are ranked by choosing some five-card subset according to the rules of the game, and comparing that five-card hand against the five-card hands of the other players. Whatever cards remain after choosing the five to be played are of no consequence in determining the winner. (For example, when comparing identical full houses, there are no “kickers”.)
Hands are ranked first by category, then by individual card ranks.
That is, even the minimum qualifying hand in a certain category defeats all hands in all lower categories. The smallest Two pair hand, for example, defeats all hands with just One pair or No pair. Only between two hands in the same category are card ranks used to break ties. The highest single card in each flush or straight is used to break ties (the Ace-through-five straight is the lowest straight, the Ace being a low card in this context). Within two Two pair hands, the higher pairs are first compared. If they tie, then the secondary pairs are compared, and then finally the kicker.
The order in which cards are dealt is unimportant.
For ease of explanation, hands are shown here neatly arranged, but a poker hand has the same value no matter what order the cards are received in.
Ranking of hands
The most common ranking of hands is as follows:
Royal flush: Five cards in sequence and of the same suit, starting from the Ace down to the 10. Example:A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠ (Note: A Royal Flush is not a category of hand in and of itself, it is simply the highest-valued straight flush, and thus also the highest-valued hand. Since it is mentioned often in the context of hand rankings, it is worth noting in this list.)
Straight flush: Any five cards in sequence and of the same suit. Example:Q♦ J♦ 10♦ 9♦ 8♦
Four of a kind: A hand with four cards of the same rank. Example:4♣ 4♦ 4♥ 4♠ 9♥
Full house: A hand with three cards of one rank and two of another. Example:8♣ 8♦ 8♠ K♥ K♠
Flush: Five cards of the same suit. Example:K♠ J♠ 8♠ 4♠ 3♠
Straight: Five cards in sequence. (The ace can be considered higher than the king, or lower than the two.) Example:5♦ 4♥ 3♠ 2♦ A♦
Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank. Example:7♣ 7♥ 7♠ K♦ 2♠
Two pair: Two cards of one rank, two of another. Example:A♣ A♦ 8♥ 8♠ Q♠
One pair: Two cards of the same rank. Example:9♥ 9♠ A♣ J♠ 4♥
No pair: Also known as a high card hand. The following example is considered “Ace high.” Example:A♦ 10♦ 9♠ 5♣ 4♣
The hands are ranked in this order because of their relative probabilities, with rarer hands ranking above more common hands.
An additional hand type, five of a kind, exists when wild cards are used. Five of a kind outranks the straight flush (and therefore the royal flush too) making it the most valuable hand.
Variations
Some games called lowball or low poker are played where players strive not for the highest ranking of the above combinations but for the lowest ranking hand. There are three methods of ranking low hands, called Ace-to-five low, Deuce-to-seven low, and Ace-to-six low. The ace-to-five method is most common. A sub-variant within this category is high-low poker, in which the highest and lowest hands split the pot (with the highest hand taking any odd chips if the pot does not divide equally). Sometimes straights and/or flushes count in determining which hand is highest but not in determining which hand is lowest (being reckoned as a no-pair hand in the latter instance), so that a player with such a holding can win both ways and thus take the entire pot.
Certain variants use hands of only three cards, either high or low. Three-card low hands can be ranked by any of the three methods above, although with three cards they become ace-to-three (rather than ace-to-five), deuce-to-five, and ace-to-four. The ace-to-three method is the most common, just as the ace-to-five method is most common method for five cards. Three-card high hands are ranked in one of two ways: either with or without straights and flushes. Without them (which is the most common, and used such games as Chinese poker), the hands are simply no pair, one pair, and three of a kind. If you add straights and flushes, the order of hands should be changed to reflect the correct probabilities: no pair, one pair, flush, straight, three of a kind, straight flush. This order is used, for example, in Mambo stud.
Some poker games are played with a deck that has been stripped of certain cards, usually low-ranking ones. For example, the Australian game of Manila uses a 32-card deck in which all cards below the rank of 7 are removed, and Mexican stud removes the 8s, 9s, and 10s. In both of these games, a flush ranks above a full house, because having fewer cards of each suit available makes flushes rarer.
Some games add one or more unconventional hands, or have special exceptions to the rules above. For example, in the game of Pai gow poker as played in Nevada, a Wheel (5-4-3-2-A) ranks above a king-high straight, but below an ace-high straight. This is not the case in California, where the nearly identical game is played under the name Double-hand poker using traditional hand values.
Poker is a card game, the most popular of a class of games called vying games, in which players with fully or partially concealed cards make wagers into a central pot, which is awarded to the remaining player or players with the best combination of cards. Poker can also refer to video poker which is a single-player game seen in casinos much like a slot machine.
In order to play, one must learn the basic rules and procedures of the game, the values of the various combinations of cards , and the rules about betting limits. Some knowledge of the equipment used to play is useful. There are also many variants of poker, loosely categorized as draw poker, stud poker, community card poker (a.k.a. “widow game”), and miscellaneous poker games. The most commonly played games of the first three categories are five-card draw, seven-card stud, and Texas hold ‘em, respectively; each being a common starting point for learning games of the type. Dealer’s choice is a way to play poker where the dealer chooses what type of poker to play.
A game of Texas hold ‘em in progress. “Hold ‘em” is currently the most popular form of poker.
References
Brunson, Doyle (1979). Doyle Brunson’s Super System, Cardoza. ISBN 1580420818.
Sklansky, David (1989). The Theory of Poker (3rd Ed), Two Plus Two Publications. ISBN 1880685000.
Vorhaus, John (2002). Killer Poker, Lyle Stuart. ISBN 0818406305.
Ernest, James; Selinker, Mike; Foglio, Phil (2005). Dealer’s Choice: The Complete Handbook of Saturday Night Poker, Overlook Press. ISBN 1585676543.
Caro, Mike (1978). Caro’s Book of Poker Tells, Cardoza. ISBN 1580420826.
The standard poker hands in descending order.
A game of Texas hold ‘em in progress. “Hold ‘em” is currently the most popular form of poker.
