Weird-Ass Gambling Games Explained: Chinese Poker

READ MORE: Chinese Poker, Poker

Whether it’s called “Sap Sam Cheung,” “Luosong Pai Jiu,” “Pepito,” or (our favorite) “Pusoy,” Chinese Poker is a favorite pasttime of some of the poker pros in Vegas. Four players are required, with each player getting a full quarter of the deck (13 cards) on the deal. From there, they arrange their cards into hands. Pagat’s Rules will explain:

“Each player must divide their 13 cards into a “back” hand of 5 cards, a “middle” hand of 5 cards and a “front” hand of 3 cards. Considered as poker hands, the back hand must be better than the middle hand, and the middle hand must be better than the front hand. The standard poker ranking is used…”

In straightforward Chinese Poker (with no special high-hand type bonuses), the four players (let’s call them North, South, East, and West) at the table each contribute three units, let’s say $3, to the pot. North plays South, East, and West head-to-head and hand-for-hand to determine points. If North takes all three tricks from East, but only two out of three from West, and loses two of three to East, his score is +3/+1/-1 respectively, for a total of +3. Everyone plays heads-up and totals their scores, with the +3 North player keeping his three dollars and collecting three more from the pot. Think of it as head-to-head round robin PaiGow. Not that PaiGow has ever made a ton of sense to us either. PokerRoom has it online without a download required, and we’re guessing you can probably play it free there to check it out.

Rules of Card Games: Chinese Poker [Pagat.com]
PokerRoom