Importantly, when setting your hands in Chinese poker, your weakest or lowest-ranking hand must appear on the top row, your second-strongest hand must appear in the middle, and your strongest or highest-ranking hand must appear on the bottom. The poker hand rankings are just like the regular five-card poker hands we all learned when we first learned how to play poker. You set five-card hands on both the “middle” and “bottom” rows. You can’t make a straight or flush out of the three-card hand you set up top. The highest-ranking hand you can make on the top row is three of a kind, followed by a pair, then ace-high, king-high, and so on. On the “top” (shown on the left side in the picture) goes the three-card hand. What is meant by “setting” your three poker hands? Look at the photo up above - those are some examples of Chinese poker hands that have already been set. Let’s back up and explain in more detail just how the game works. We’re getting ahead of ourselves, though. It also increases the chance players might “foul” their hands in the way they set them. That presents an added challenge when it comes to arranging their Chinese poker hands. However they have to “set” their three poker hands as they go, starting with the first five cards and then adding one card at a time after each new card is dealt to them. In open-face Chinese poker players are only dealt five cards to begin, and then are dealt one card at a time thereafter, totaling 13. Players then reveal their cards all at once, and the hands are compared in order to determine how points are awarded. The traditional version involves players being initially dealt 13 cards each, from which players arrange or “set” three different poker hands - a three-card hand, and two five-card hands. Introducing Chinese pokerįirst off, the game played at the WSOP back in the 1990s was the traditional “closed” version of Chinese poker, which is different from open-face Chinese poker that has become popular more recently. Here is a quick guide explaining how to play Chinese poker and a few strategy tips for new players. It can be played either heads-up, or with three or four players. It has a lot of action when compared to some other poker variants. Some might recall Chinese poker being featured at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure a few years ago.Ĭhinese poker rules are not that difficult to learn and the game can be very entertaining to play. The game then enjoyed a comeback during the early 2010s.

Chinese poker is a fun poker variant that has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity over recent years.ĭuring the mid-1990s, Chinese poker was actually featured in bracelet events at the World Series of Poker for a couple of years before being dropped.

Free open faced chinese poker online