Chinese Poker – Rules, Variations & Strategies 2026

Evaluation

The front hand is compared to every other front hand based on the Poker hand rankings verGLIchen. If both hands are of equal strength, neither player receives a point or unit. The middle hand and back hand are evaluated in a similar way.

There are different systems for Chinese Poker point allocation. On 2-4, a player gets 1 point/unit for each hand won and 1 point/unit if he wins 2 of 3 hands. On 1-6, a player gets 1 point/unit for winning a hand and 3 points/unit for winning all three hands.

Fouling

The Chinese Poker rules state that the back hand must be the strongest hand. The middle hand must be the second strongest hand. The front hand must be the weakest hand. If that is not the case, from Fouling or One illegal hand spoken. The player's entire hand is invalid and, when evaluated, the opponents are credited with six points and, if necessary, additional points for royalties.

Scoop

A scoop occurs when a player all three hands wins against another player. In this case the points are doubled. A scoop is not part of the standard variant, but is often introduced in combination with Surrender as it creates additional strategic possibilities.

Surrender

When you play with Surrender, this means that you have the opportunity to forego putting hands together and to give up before the showdown . You automatically lose your hand with 0:2. Since this is less than a scoop, it may make sense to give up a hand to avoid a scoop.

Royalties

Some strong hands are rewarded with additional points. These include, for example, straight flush, four of a kind, full house and three of a kind.

Naturals are special royalties such as six pairs, four three of a kind or 13 different cards (dragon = dragon)

The royalties play an important role for the Points awarded in Chinese Poker . That is why it is important to agree on a uniform assessment of royalties.

The following Overview zeIGT the royalties and points that you also get for these special hands:

You can get a lot of points with these Naturals achieve:

Chinese poker variants

Chinese Poker is played in different variations. In the previous section we described the standard game. In this section we will focus on two popular variants .

Open Face Chinese Poker

Open-Face Chinese Poker (OFC) is an attractive One alternative to the standard game. All cards are open. In addition, the gameplay is slightly different than the standard One.

Excursus – Fantasyland

If a player in a legal hand without fouling at least two queens he ends up in fantasy land. What does that mean? In the next hand, the player is dealt all 13 cards at once. In addition, the player may place his cards face down, so that a total of One immense advantage arises.

Pineapple Chinese Poker

Pineapple Chinese Poker or Pineapple Open-Face Chinese Poker (POFC) is a special variant of OFC in which the players receive three cards each after the initial five cards, of which they have to keep two and put One back. This procedure continues until all players have 13 cards. If a player Fantasyland reached, he is dealt 14 cards in One fell swoop in the next round. One card must be put back.

Double Deck Open Face Chinese Poker

Double Deck Open-Face Chinese Poker is featured two decks of cards played to allow more than four players to participate. It is also possible to play POFC with two decks of cards. Sometimes the rules are slightly different because, for example, 5 of a kind can be achieved. But it is also possible to use the standard rules.

Chinese poker strategy for beginners

We have put together some tips for beginners that will help you master the game faster and develop successful strategies.

Put your hands together in a balanced manner

It is common for beginners to try One möGLIchst strong back hand to put together. Then the remaining cards are used to build a middle hand that is as strong as possible. In the end you are usually left with a weak front hand. This is a mistake.

Learn and use royalties

Even if Chinese Poker is always considered Poker game for beginners is called, there is a special feature with royalties that you have to learn in addition to the normal poker hand ranking. Since the Royalties lots of points It is crucial that you recognize every opportunity and form the royalties correctly and name them before filing.

Strategy tip for open-face Chinese poker: act flexibly

In Open-Face Chinese Poker, hands are formed gradually. It makes sense to start all three hands so that One strong base is present. With each additional card you can skillfully expand your three hands, always with an eye on your opponent's cards.

Poker Hand Rankings Learn Chinese Poker

Since there are players who Chinese Poker as the first variant We would like to point out that the order of the cards from highest to lowest value is as follows:

A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2

The Ranking of hands You basically already know this from other games like this Draw Poker and Texas Hold'em Poker. All details can be found in the Poker cheat sheets :

You have to know the poker hand rankings, otherwise you won't be able to put together hands that have any value. Card games like poker are also available in simple versions with One healthy demands tied together.

Strategy for advanced players: How to improve your game

At this point we have to point out that Chinese Poker comes with a immense happiness factor and One relatively small strategy factor is connected. That's why even advanced players can only influence the outcome of the game to a limited extent. Depending on the variant, the strategic share can be larger or smaller.

Put together optimal hands

Advanced players regularly manage to put the cards together to form the optimal hands. That's the only One sustainable Chinese poker strategy in the base game. However, there are variants in which you can also implement other strategic components.

Optimize Scoop & Surrender

When you play with Scoop & Surrender, you can ensure that you do so by giving up in appropriate situations loses fewer points than with a scoop. This is helpful for particularly weak hands. You also have the advantage of not having to pay any royalties after a surrender.

Two advanced tips for open-face Chinese poker