Chinese Poker is a fun game that's greatly influenced by luck but still requires a degree of skill to play well. The players (typically four, although it can be played with two or three) are each dealt a 13-card hand from a standard 52-card deck. The player divides his cards to make three poker hands, two of five cards and one of three. The hands are further divided in order of rank and placed face down, with the higher-ranking five-card hand (called the Back hand) placed first; the second five cards, or Middle hand, placed in front of it; and finally the three-card Front hand in front of the Middle hand.
When all the players have set their hands, the cards are turned face up and the deal is scored by determining the winner of each of the three hands in turn. The trick lies in trying to optimize the cards you’re dealt in order to make the best three hands possible. So the optimal strategy might be to sacrifice the strongest Back-hand option for a slightly weaker hand: for example, in order to make stronger Middle and Front hands. Different scoring systems are in operation, but typically one point is awarded for each winning hand, with a bonus point awarded if a player wins all three hands (a sweep). Prior to the game, the players decide among themselves how many points are to be played for and what the stake is in terms of dollars per point.
In 1995 and ’96, the World Series of Poker featured a Chinese Poker event, and the game remains popular among tournament players, but it’s not generally offered in Las Vegas casinos. A call to the poker room at the Wynn revealed that the principal explanation for this derives from the fact that Chinese Poker is essentially controlled by the players, who set the terms of the game and keep their own scores. This makes it hard for the house to regulate it. It can also be somewhat time-consuming.
Under some circumstances, however, you may see Chinese Poker being played in the bigger card rooms. Bellagio allows players to play Chinese Poker among themselves while they’re waiting for a table to fill, but as soon as the other players arrive, they must switch to the regular game.
The Wynn is slightly more flexible and has recently accommodated games of Chinese Poker on the weekend, when demand has existed among enough high-limit players to fill a table. (It even expressed potential willingness to offer a regular game, if sufficient interest proved forthcoming.) More commonly, however, it will offer Chinese Poker as part of a "mixed game," where players might play eight hands of Chinese Poker followed by eight hands of Texas Hold ’Em or deuces to seven lowball. You could think of seeking Chinese Poker in a Vegas casino as an equivalent to ordering "off menu" in a restaurant: If you have a big enough bankroll and you’re in a high-end establishment, management might be prepared to accommodate you. But in most Las Vegas poker rooms, it’s more like ordering wheat grass in Denny’s and you’re likely to get short shrift.
There is, to our knowledge, at least one online poker room -- the aptly named www.pokerroom.com -- that currently offers Chinese Poker, while you’ll also find it widely available in the card rooms of Southern California. For more information, check out www.thesmolens.com, a site hosted by a Chinese Poker enthusiast that includes lots of information about the game.
