Chinese Poker vs Pusoy Dos: What's Different
Chinese poker (pusoy) arranges 13 cards into three ranked hands; pusoy dos is Big Two, a shedding game where you race to empty your hand.
On this page · 4 sections
| Chinese poker (pusoy) | Pusoy dos (Big Two) | |
|---|---|---|
| Game type | Hand arrangement / scoring | Shedding / climbing |
| Cards per player | 13 (four players) | 13 (four players) |
| Objective | Beat opponents row by row | Be first to empty your hand |
| Turns | Set once, then reveal | Take turns beating the last play |
| Uses poker hands | As three final scored hands | As playable combinations to out-rank |
| Winner | Highest net points across rows | First to shed all cards |
Despite near-identical names, Chinese poker and pusoy dos are completely different games — the table above lays out how completely. Chinese poker, called “pusoy” in the Philippines, is a hand-arrangement game: you sort 13 cards into three ranked poker hands and score them against opponents. Pusoy dos is the Filipino name for Big Two, a shedding game where you race to play off every card by beating the previous play. Same 52-card deck, opposite goals.
The mix-up is natural. “Pusoy” is just the Filipino word for poker, and “pusoy dos” reads like “poker two.” But once you sit down, the two could hardly play less alike.
Chinese poker (pusoy) in brief
In Chinese poker, each of four players gets 13 cards and arranges them into a back of 5 cards, a middle of 5, and a front of 3. The rule that must always hold is back ≥ middle ≥ front in strength; setting them out of order is a “foul” that costs the whole hand. Once everyone has set, hands are revealed and scored row by row against every other player — so you can win the front while losing the back. It’s a game of static optimization: no turns, just one crucial arrangement. The popular open-face variant keeps the three-row structure but deals the cards one at a time.
Pusoy dos (Big Two) in brief
Pusoy dos is a climbing game, nearer to President than to poker. All 52 cards are dealt out, 13 each. Play runs like this:
- The player holding the lowest card (often the 3 of a low suit) leads first.
- Each player in turn must beat the previous play with a higher single, or a higher combination of the same size — pairs, straights, flushes, full houses — or pass.
- When everyone passes, the last player to have played clears the table and leads a fresh round with anything they like.
- The first player to shed all their cards wins the hand.
The quirk that gives the game its edge: the 2 is the highest single card, not the lowest, so 2s are gold. Poker-style five-card combinations exist, but they work as playable groups you drop to out-rank the previous play, never as a final scored hand.
Where poker hand rankings fit
Both games lean on the standard poker hand rankings, but put them to different work:
- Chinese poker scores three separate made hands at showdown. A strong back — say a flush — earns points against every opponent holding a weaker back.
- Pusoy dos uses five-card groupings only as weapons to beat the previous five-card play. Their strength matters in the moment you drop them, not as any final tally.
The same five cards illustrate it. Hold a king-high flush: in Chinese poker you’d sit it in the back row and hope it out-scores three opponents’ back hands. In pusoy dos that flush only does anything if someone just played a lower flush or a straight you can cap — and if the current play is a full house, your flush can’t touch it, because a full house out-ranks a flush as a combination. So you’d hold it and wait for a spot where it plays. Same cards, entirely different job.
Which should you learn first?
If you already play Hold’em or Omaha, Chinese poker is the shorter jump — it’s made hands scored at a showdown, and the skill is squeezing the most out of three of them without fouling. Pusoy dos is a change of gears: a tactical shedding race in the family of Big Two, Tien Len, and President, where timing your combinations and hoarding your 2s beats reading hand strength.
The safest move at a table, though, is to ask which one someone means when they say “pusoy.” In many Filipino homes “pusoy” is Chinese poker and “pusoy dos” is Big Two — and setting up a 13-card arrangement game when everyone expected a shedding race clears the room fast. Start with the full Chinese poker rules, or browse the wider family on the poker variants hub.
Frequently asked
Are Chinese poker and pusoy dos the same game?
No. The names sound alike but the games are unrelated. Chinese poker — 'pusoy' in the Philippines — is a hand-arrangement game using standard poker hands. Pusoy dos is the Filipino name for Big Two, a shedding game where you race to play off all your cards.
What does 'pusoy' mean versus 'pusoy dos'?
'Pusoy' is the Filipino word for poker and refers to Chinese poker, where you set 13 cards into three ranked hands. 'Pusoy dos' translates roughly to 'poker two' and names Big Two, a different game built around beating the previous play with a higher card or combination.
How do you win at pusoy dos?
By being the first player to shed all your cards. Players take turns beating the previous play with a higher single or a higher poker-style combination of the same size, and whoever empties their hand first wins the hand.
Why is the 2 the highest card in pusoy dos?
It's the defining quirk of Big Two: rank order runs 3 up through the picture cards and the ace, and then the 2 sits above everything. A lone 2 beats any other single card, which makes 2s the most valuable cards to hold.
Which game is closer to real poker?
Chinese poker. It scores complete made hands at a showdown, so the skill is maximizing three hands the way you'd read poker strength. Pusoy dos borrows poker combinations but is really a shedding game in the family of President and Tien Len — emptying your hand has no equivalent in Hold'em or Omaha.