Card Games Rules

Card Games Rules

A new card game starts in a small way, either as someone's invention, or as a modification of an existing game. Those playing it may agree to change the rules as they wish. The rules that they agree on become the house rules under which they play the game. A set of house rules may be accepted as valid by a group of players wherever they play, as it may also be accepted as governing all play within a particular house, café, or club.

When a game becomes sufficiently popular, so that people often play it with strangers, there is a need for a generally accepted set of rules. This need is often met when a particular set of house rules becomes generally recognized. For example, when Whist became popular in 18th-century England, players in the Portland Club agreed on a set of house rules for use on its premises. Players in some other clubs then agreed to follow the Portland Club rules, rather than go to the trouble of codifying and printing their own sets of rules. The Portland Club rules eventually became generally accepted throughout England and Western cultures.

It should be noted that there is nothing static or official about this process. For the majority of games, there is no one set of universal rules by which the game is played, and the most common ruleset is no more or less than that. Many widely played card games, such as Canasta and Pinochle, have no official regulating body. The most common ruleset is often determined by the most popular distribution of rulebooks for card games. Perhaps the original compilation of popular playing card games was collected by Edmund Hoyle, a self-made authority on many popular parlor games. The U.S. Playing Card Company now owns the eponymous Hoyle brand, and publishes a series of rulebooks for various families of card games that have largely standardized the games' rules in countries and languages where the rulebooks are widely distributed. However, players are free to, and often do, invent house rules to supplement or even largely replace the standard rules.

If there is a sense in which a card game can have an official set of rules, it is when that card game has an official governing body. For example, the rules of tournament bridge are governed by the World Bridge Federation, and by local bodies in various countries such as the American Contract Bridge League in the U.S., and the English Bridge Union in England. The rules of skat are governed by The International Skat Players Association and in Germany by the Deutscher Skatverband which publishes the Skatordnung. The rules of French tarot are governed by the Fédération Française de Tarot. The rules of Poker's variants are largely traditional, but enforced by the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour organizations which sponsor tournament play. Even in these cases, the rules must only be followed exactly at games sanctioned by these governing bodies; players in less formal settings are free to implement agreed-upon supplemental or substitute rules at will.

Hands for Poker

Best Poker Hands

Royal Flush: An Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten in the same suit.
In the event of a tie:
Two or more Royal Flushes
split the poker pot.

Straight Flush: Five cards in sequence, of the same suit.
In the event of a tie:
Highest rank at the
top of the sequence wins.

Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank, and one side card.
In the event of a tie:
Highest four of a kind wins.
In community card games where players have the same four of a kind, the highest fifth side card ("kicker") wins.

Full House: Three cards of the same rank, and two cards of a different, matching rank.
In the event of a tie:
Highest three matching cards wins the pot. In community poker card games where players have the same three matching cards, the highest value of the two matching cards wins.

Flush: Five cards of the same suit.
In the event of a tie:
The poker player holding the highest ranked card wins. If necessary, the second-highest, third-highest, fourth-highest, and fifth-highest cards can be used to break the tie.

Straight: Five cards in sequence.

In the event of a tie:
Highest ranking card at the top of the sequence wins. Note: The Ace may be used at the top or bottom of the sequence, and is the only card in poker which can act in this manner.

Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank, and two unrelated side cards.

In the event of a tie:
Highest ranking three of a kind wins. In community card games where players have the same three of a kind, the highest side card, and if necessary, the second-highest side card wins.

Two Pair: Two cards of a matching rank, another two cards of a different matching rank, and one side card.
In the event of a tie: Highest pair wins. If players have the same highest pair, highest second pair wins. If both players have identical pairs, highest side card wins.

One Pair: Two cards of a matching rank, and three unrelated side cards.
In the event of a tie: Highest pair wins. If poker players have the same pair, the highest side card wins, and if necessary, the second-highest and third-highest side card can be used to break the tie.

High Card: Any hand that does not qualify under a category listed above
In the event of a tie: Highest card wins, and if necessary, the second-highest, third-highest, fourth-highest and smallest card can be used to break the tie.

Poker Chinese

Chinese 13 Card Poker

Chinese Poker is played with a standard 52-card deck. Up to four players can play.

Each poker player receives 13 cards, face down, one at a time, in rotation. A hand is dealt to all four positions even if vacant. The hand must be arranged with three cards in front, five cards in the middle, and five cards in the back, where the back hand should rank higher or equal to the middle hand, and the middle hand should rank higher than the front hand. Standard poker rankings apply. Straights and flushes do not count in the front hand except in the event of an automatic win.

Scores are kept by points. Each part of the hand is assigned one point. Each point is given a monetary value for each game.

Hands are then compared with each player, one at a time. The poker player with the higher ranking hand in the front segment wins one point. The player with the higher ranking middle hand wins one point. The player with the higher ranking back hand wins one point.

If two out of three of the players' hands ranks higher than an opponent's hand, the first player wins two points. For example, the player would win two points, minus one point (the one an opponent won) plus one point for a majority of segments win, thereby, winning two points total.

If all three parts of the player's hand ranks higher than the opponent's hand, the winner gets four points. (The player wins three points (net win), one point for winning each of the three hands minus zero points (the opponent didn't win any) plus one point for the majority of hands won, totaling four points.)

Automatic Win

There are also hands known as an "automatic win" and the player may declare the win by placing the stack of cards down on the table. However, the player must declare the automatic win before the hands are opened, otherwise the hands will play the way the player sets. The automatic win hands are as follows:

1. The Dragon Hand: Ace through King of any suit. This hand beats all other automatic win hands.
2. Any 13-card hand that has six pairs. Note that four-of-a-kind can be counted as two pairs.
3. Any 13-card hand that has suited cards in all three parts.
4. Any 13-card hand that has straights in all three parts.

A Straight Flush can be used as a Straight or a Flush for bonus hands.

Improperly Set Hands

A hand is set improperly if: Any part of the three segment hands has the wrong number of cards; or, any part of the three segment hands are set out of ranking order. Any player that sets his or her hand improperly must pay four points to all of the other players.

Eastern, Western and Mandarin Bonus Points Variations

Eastern Version point awarding Variation: The play of the poker game is the same as 13 Card Poker. In addition to the basic point system as in 13 Card Poker, bonus systems of awarding points is used for making certain hands in the front, middle and back positions. In addition to the basic point system, points can be earned on bonus hands as follows: (a) Bonus point hands in the back: (1) straight flush-five (5) points; (2) Four of a kind- four (4) points. (b) Bonus point hand in the middle: (1) straight flush - then (10) points; (2) Four of a kind - eight (8) points; (3) Full house - two (2) points. (c) Bonus point hands in the front: (1) Three of a kind - three (3) points. If a player wins two out of three hands, the player is awarded two points for their winning hands and loses one point to his opponent for a total of one point from that opponent. When a bonus hand is involved, the winning hand earns only the bonus hand points.

Western Version point awarding Variation: The play of the poker game is the same as 13 Card Poker. In addition to the basic point system, this point system awards one additional point to the poker player who wins the majority of hands. If a player beats his opponent two out of three hands, they receive a total of two points for their winning hands.

Mandarin Version point awarding Variation: The play of the game is the same as 13 Card Poker with opportunities to earn extra points. A player earns one point for each winning hand as in 13 Card Poker. Three of a kind in the front hand triples the point value. A bonus can be received which awards additional points for making certain hands in the front, middle and back positions. If a bonus hand is present, the points for that bonus hand are then added on. Two special bonus situations can occur, the "shot" and the "home run." A "shot" situation occurs when a player wins all three hands against an opponent. The regular point value for each hand is doubles and added to the total. A "home run" situation occurs, only in a four-handed game, when a player wins all three hands on the showdown against all three of their opponents. The regular point value for each hand is tripled and added to the total.