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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.