Chinese Poker

Rules
13 cards are dealt to each player. The object of the game is to arrange them into 2 hands of 5 cards and one of 3 cards that beat the hands made by the other players.

The 3 hands consist of a "Back" hand of 5 cards, a "Middle" hand of 5 cards and a "Front" hand of 3 cards. The back hand must beat the middle hand, and the middle hand must beat the front hand. If not, the player must pay a penalty to each opponent. Only 3 hand types are possible for the front hand: 3-of-a-Kind, pair, and high card. Straights and flushes normally don't count (see Clean Sweeps below).

Click on each card to select it from your total of 13, and to make it part of your front, middle, or back hand.

For example :

The back hand, a straight flush, beats the middle hand, 4-of-a-Kind, which beats the front hand, 3-of-a-Kind.

Game stakes are quoted in dollars per unit. Each player compares his 3 hands against those of each of the other players once the hands are played. Therefore in a 4-player game each player makes 3 separate comparisons, one against each other player.

For each corresponding hand of another player that you beat you win 1 unit. And for each hand that beats you, you lose 1. In the case of matching hands, you neither win nor lose. For example:

Player A
Front Hand	Middle Hand	Back Hand

Player B
Front Hand	Middle Hand	Back Hand

Player C
Front Hand	Middle Hand	Back Hand

Player D
Front Hand	Middle Hand	Back Hand

Remember, your back hand goes head-to-head against each of the other players' back hands, middle vs. middle, etc. Therefore:

A vs. B
A wins every hand. A wins 3 units from B.

A vs. C
A wins the back, C the middle and front. C wins 1unit from A.

A vs. D
D wins the back, A the middle and front. A wins 1 unit from D.

B vs. C
C wins every hand. C wins 3 units from B.

B vs. D
D wins the back and front, B the middle. D wins 1 unit from B.

C vs. D
D wins the back, C the middle and front. C wins 1 unit from D.

Totaling everything; A gains 3, B loses 7, C gains 5 and D loses 1.

English Harbour Poker offers 2 versions of Chinese Poker, Western and Eastern.

When selecting a Chinese Poker table from the Lobby, please remember to check the Type column for what rules the table you're about to join uses, either Western or Eastern.

A player who wins the majority of segments earns an additional point in Western Chinese Poker,

In other words, if a player wins 2 of 3 segments against another player, he earns 2 units for his winning segments, loses 1, and gains 1 for winning the majority of segments. The player therefore nets +2 from that opponent.

Players in Eastern Chinese Poker are awarded bonuses for certain hands:

If a player wins precisely 2 hands against a particular opponent we know that they would earn 2 units for his winning hands and lose 1 for his losing hand for a net +1 from that opponent. If a bonus hand is involved, the winning hand earns only the bonus hand points. Therefore, if a player wins all 3 hands with a 4-of-a-Kind in the back, he wins 6 units.

What's more, the bonus doubles if the hand is of the same type as the opponent's, but of higher rank. For instance, if you have two players, and player A's back hand is K K K K 5 and Player B's is 9 9 9 9 3 , Player A earns a bonus of 8 units, not 4.

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Clean Sweep Hands
One of several hands with a special ranking that wins automatically. Here they are in descending order.

Click Submit Natural if you have a Clean Sweep. If multiple players have Clean Sweep hands, the hands of higher rank wins the total unit value for that hand; the value for the lower ranking Clean Sweep hand won't be subtracted. If 2 Clean Sweep hands have the same ranking, they tie. No money is exchanged between these 2 players, but instead they collect from the others. If you don't declare a Clean Sweep, it plays as a regular hand.

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Rake

English Harbour Poker reserves the right to change the rake structure at any time

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Surrender
A player may surrender their hand before the showdown. Their hand won't be compared with other players' hands, but the player must pay each opponent 3 units.

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More Rules

• If a player is not able to set front, middle, and back hands in the proper ranking order, the hand fouls and the player must pay a penalty to each opponent who didn't surrender:
• Against a Clean Sweep hand, the value of the Clean Sweep hand
• Against a normal hand, 3 units plus any opponent's bonus
• A player fouls if they declare a Clean Sweep but cannot produce it. Unless an opponent has already declared their intention to surrender

Dealer Puck
Chinese Poker uses a dealer puck to start payment at the end of each game. The individual to the immediate right of the puck is the first to compare their hand with the others, and so on around the table. Any player who is low on cash is therefore prevented from gaining or losing more than what he had available at the start of the game.

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Disconnection Policy
If you disconnect, the hand will progress even though you've been disconnected. You will have the duration of the hand to reconnect and resume the hand.

It is the players' responsibility to ensure their connection is reliable. English Harbour Poker allows you to determine reliability by displaying the network connection from your computer to our servers. Your Internet Connection status is displayed in the lower left corner of the screen. The degrees of connection are as follows: Good, Fair, Poor, or Not Connected. If the connection drops to Fair, it is recommended that you either finish your hand and reconnect, or wait for a better time to resume play.

English Harbour Poker is not responsible for any funds lost due to disrupted gaming.

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