Rules of Chinese Poker: How to Play and Score

Chinese poker is a 13-card game where each player splits their cards into three separate poker hands — a five-card “back,” a five-card “middle,” and a three-card “front” — then compares each hand, one at a time, against every opponent to score points. Unlike Hold’em or draw, there’s usually no betting round during the deal: the skill is entirely in how you arrange your 13 cards. The one iron rule is that your hands must rank in order, back strongest and front weakest, or you foul and lose the round.

What you need

• A standard 52-card deck.
• Two to four players. With four players, all 52 cards are dealt (13 each). With two or three, extra cards stay in the deck, unused.
• A way to track points. Play is for units, and totals are settled at the end of the session.

The deal and the three hands

Each player receives 13 cards, dealt face-down. You then arrange them into three hands, placed in front of you in three rows:

• Back (bottom): five cards. Must be the strongest of your three hands.
• Middle: five cards. Must be no stronger than the back.
• Front (top): three cards. Must be the weakest.

The ordering requirement is absolute: back is greater than or equal to middle is greater than or equal to front. If you set them out of order — say a full house in the middle behind only two pair in the back — you have fouled.

Fouling: the mistake to avoid

A fouled hand (misset) is one whose three parts aren’t in the required order. A fouled player loses to every opponent who set a valid hand, typically surrendering the maximum for the round — often the same points as being scooped in all three hands. Because a foul is so costly, always double-check the order before you reveal.

How scoring works

Once everyone reveals, you compare hand by hand against each opponent separately:

• Your back vs. their back, your middle vs. their middle, your front vs. their front.
• You win 1 unit for each hand you win and lose 1 unit for each you lose. Ties (called “copies”) score nothing.

Against three opponents you’re running three separate three-hand comparisons, so your round result is the sum.

The scoop bonus

Beating one opponent in all three hands is a scoop. Most games pay a bonus for it — commonly the “2-4 method,” where a normal 2-1 hand win nets you 1 unit, but a clean sweep pays 4 units (or 3, by house rule). Agree on the bonus before you start.

A worked example

You and one opponent each hold 13 cards. You set:

• Back: flush (A-J-9-6-2 of hearts)
• Middle: two pair (K-K-7-7-4)
• Front: pair of fives (5-5-2)

Your opponent sets a straight in the back, a pair of queens in the middle, and ace-high in the front.

Hand	You	Opponent	Result
Back	Flush	Straight	You win
Middle	Two pair	Pair (Q)	You win
Front	Pair (5s)	A-high	You win

You beat them in all three — a scoop. Under the 2-4 method that’s 4 units for the round.

Royalties (bonuses)

Premium holdings earn extra royalties on top of the hand-by-hand score. Values are a house convention, but common awards include:

• Back: straight flush or four of a kind.
• Middle: a full house or better (worth more in the middle because it’s harder to justify keeping there).
• Front: three of a kind (a strong three-card hand).

Fix your royalty table before dealing so there are no arguments at showdown.

Betting and settlement

Chinese poker is a points game, not a bet-per-street game — there are no rounds of raising like in five-card draw. Each unit is assigned a money value at the start (say 1 unit = $1), and the running point totals are settled up when you stop. Some faster home variants add “surrender,” letting a player pay a fixed penalty instead of revealing a hopeless hand.

How it compares to other poker games

Chinese poker keeps poker’s hand hierarchy but throws out community cards, drawing, and street-by-street betting. The whole game is a puzzle: how to carve 13 cards into three legal hands that beat the table. For the wider map of variants and how each one deals and scores, see rules for different poker games.

Practical takeaways

• Split 13 cards into back (5), middle (5), front (3), in descending strength.
• Never foul — verify back is greater than or equal to middle is greater than or equal to front before revealing.
• Score 1 unit per hand won against each opponent; a scoop pays a bonus.
• Agree on royalties and the scoop bonus up front.

Chinese poker rewards patience and clean arithmetic over aggression. Master the hand rankings first, then practice carving hands, and return to the how-to-play hub for more variants.