Chinese Poker
 

i tried the crappy search function and couldnt come up with any useful results, so i thought id start a new post.

ive been reading up on chinese poker a bit. my friends and i have been playing the same game for about a decade (we call it 13 card paigow -- we also play 18 card paigow 5-5-5-3, which is way more fun). anyway, i read that pokerroom.com has chinese poker on their website, but i cant find it anywhere on the client.

does anyone play chinese poker at pokerroom.com or any other online sites?

does anyone know if a book exists on chinese poker? from what ive read, the game is a big money side game at a lot of the big money tourneys.

from my decade of playing, the 13 card version (as opposed to our 18 card version) is pretty straight forward. much like 7 card paigow, there is a "right" way to play each hand and a "wrong" way to play each hand, which makes it a little odd that the game is becoming so popular right now.

can i hear what other people think about the game and can you let me know where you play it?

thanks!

KingMedicine

Re: Chinese Poker
 

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does anyone know if a book exists on chinese poker? from what ive read, the game is a big money side game at a lot of the big money tourneys.

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Don Smolen's book is highly regarded:

http://www.thesmolens.com/Don/Chinese/Order.asp

"CHINESE POKER - the Book
CHINESE POKER is a comprehensive treatment of the game. It covers strategy, tactics, variations and how they affect play, and much more. Practice problems show how the principles are applied "at the table". Much of this material is available nowhere else. CHINESE POKER is no longer in print, but is available electronically."

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from my decade of playing, the 13 card version (as opposed to our 18 card version) is pretty straight forward. much like 7 card paigow, there is a "right" way to play each hand and a "wrong" way to play each hand, which makes it a little odd that the game is becoming so popular right now.

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I agree that the basic 13-card Chinese poker game is mostly automatic once you learn the basics. To make the game a lot more interesting, make the middle hand lowball.

Re: Chinese Poker
 

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To make the game a lot more interesting, make the middle hand lowball.

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i started twitching when i read this.
thanks for the link. do you play the game online at all? if so, where?

Re: Chinese Poker
 

Smollens' book is excellent, and mentions several variations. I like playing 2-7 lowball in the middle, but find it a simpler game in the long run.

Pokeroom still has Chinese poker. If you can't find it on the client, try the applet, or perhaps they have a dedicated client for CP.

Another site with CP is Tigergaming. There used to be some great CP games on the net a few years ago, but they burned brightly and died quickly-- too much juice for the advantage player.

CP used to be played at the WSOP. A bunch of RGP's simmed the game, developed optimal play, and killed the game. I think Smollens may have been part of that group.

Re: Chinese Poker
 

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To make the game a lot more interesting, make the middle hand lowball.

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i started twitching when i read this.

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I personally like it better...I can see how some people wouldn't though.

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thanks for the link. do you play the game online at all? if so, where?

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I haven't played Chinese online at all.

Re: Chinese Poker
 

PokerRoom.com has Chinese Poker, but not in the download client. If you go to the website and to "Poker" it's on the bottom half of the page. It's a Java applet (which works quite nicely, but it's not as good as their real poker applet). Getting a game can be tricky, but not impossible.

The Quirky Kirko

Re: Chinese Poker
 

Just a little add-on, there are some posts by FossilMan and Ed Miller about CP and the Smolsen book and simulation program somewhere, I just can't find them. They were about two months ago in Books and Software I believe.

-beset7