13 Card Poker

 

Live Gambler is proud to offer the "Eastern" variation of 13 Card Poker, also popularly known as ‘Chinese Poker'. Unlike conventional forms of stud or draw poker, 13 Card Poker is played using a points system, with bonuses awarded for a variety of special hands, or sequences of special hands. 13 Card Poker is simple to learn and exciting to play, this poker game has quickly caught on in most parts of the world, and has become a favorite amongst numerous top poker professionals in North America and Europe.

 

 

 

 

 

13-Card Poker, also known as Chinese poker and occasionally, Russian poker, is a popular card game that has been enjoyed by card players and gamblers across Asian communities. It is not surprising that the game has been steadily gaining further popularity due to its numerous features. The game is truly an exciting gambling game.

The elements of 13-Card poker truly leads to much excitement. The rules of the game are simple as just basic knowledge of the so-called poker hand rankings is required to play. For those who love excitement and unpredictability, 13-Card poker requires a great deal of luck. A beginner has a better chance of winning in the short term even when playing against seasoned opponents. Poor players could not be easily deterred by their losses because they could more easily attribute weak results to their own cards instead of to their plays.

Likewise, advanced players could still very much apply their strategies and techniques to secure significant and greater advantage over opponents. Another selling point is that the format of the game leads to frequent and unexpected wins along with high ranking hands. Lastly, only few players (two, three, four, or more) are needed or required to enjoy and play the 13-Card poker.

The card game’s popularity is also bolstered by its inclusion in numerous gaming events. In 1995 and in 1996, 13-Card poker was featured in the World Series of Poker. In the 1995 event, there was a $1500 event and a $5000 event. The game has also been played frequently as side game in many other major poker tournaments. Particularly, the Bellagio, Wynn, and Venetian casinos (all in Las Vegas), have been widely known to help spread the popularity of the 13-Card poker.

In this game, every player receives 13 cards that compose a hand out of a standard 52-card deck. Each has to divide his cards into three hands: two hands containing five cards (the middle and the back) and the other one containing three cards (the front). After all players have set hands, each of them would announce (in clockwise turn from the dealer’s left) whether he is playing his hand or not.

Many aficionados and card gaming enthusiasts assert that 13-Card poker is not actually poker. However, every player could still find appropriate edge to make the game exciting and worth playing. There must be enough and valid reasons why more and more card players prefer to play this game over other poker and card games. As mentioned, a great element of luck is crucial.

The best aspect of 13-Card poker is that any physical violence, sulking, and shouting matches among players over alleged string bets would not take place until later in the game. Take note that aggression is not in any way a factor in this card game. It is just a languid movement of cash around the table or a larger accumulation of chips in front of good players. Thus, 13-Card poker is the pro’s top favorite airplane game. It is not surprising as well that its popularity is getting bigger online.

How to Play 13 Card Poker:

• Each player of 13 card poker is dealt 13 cards. The object is to arrange them into 3 groups consisting of 3-cards (front group), 5-cards (middle group), and 5-cards (back group).
• Players of 13 card poker then compare group-against-group with other 13 card poker players and each group that ranks higher than your opponent's corresponding group earns you 1 unit.
• In 13 card poker player's back group must be stronger than his middle hand, and his middle group must be stronger than his front group. Otherwise, the player pays a penalty to each opponent for "wrong arrangement" or "Invalid Hand".
• During the game of 13 card poker the dealer button is used to determine who initiates the comparison of their groups. The player with the dealer button will compare his groups with each other player at the table starting with the player to his left, then continuing comparisons clock-wise around the table. In 13 card poker the player to the left of the dealer is next to compare groups; he starts by comparing with the player to his left and then continues clock-wise around the table until he has compared with all players. Finally the next person after the dealer make his comparison with the last player at the table by which point all groups at the table will have been compared.
• After each 13 card poker hand has completed, the dealer button moves one place to the left.
• Note that in the event of a 13 card poker player having a flush or a straight with cards of the same rank in more than one hand, the suit of the high card determines which the stronger hand is and thus where the hand must be placed.

Suits in 13 Card Poker rank as follows (lowest - highest): Diamonds , Clubs , Hearts , Spades

NOTE: No player in 13 card poker can win or lose more than he had at the start of the hand.

Example Hand of 13 Card Poker:

Say you're dealt the following cards:

You could arrange them like this:

     Front          Middle          Back     

The back hand, a straight flush, beats the middle hand, 4-of-a-Kind, which beats the front hand, 3-of-a-Kind. Once the hands are played, each player compares his 3 groups against those of each of the other players. So in a 4-player game, each player makes 3 separate comparisons, one against each other player. You win 1 unit for each corresponding group of another player that you beat and lose 1 for each group that beats you. When the groups match, you neither win nor lose.

Example of Play of 13 Card Poker:

               Player A:

Front          Middle          Back     

 

               Player B:

Front          Middle          Back     

 

               Player C:

Front          Middle          Back     

 

               Player D:

Front          Middle          Back     

 

Don't forget, your back group goes head-to-head against each of the other players' back groups, middle vs. middle, etc, so:

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

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

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

Eastern 13 Card Bonuses:

 

 

• If a player wins exactly 2 groups against a particular opponent, he'd earn a net +1 from that opponent.
• When a bonus group is involved, the winning group earns only the bonus points. So if a player wins all 3 groups with a 4-of-a-Kind in the back, he wins 6 units (2 units for the front and middle groups and the bonus 4 units for the back group).
• The bonus is awarded only if that group beats another player's group. For example, if player A has Full House in the middle group, and player B has 4-of-a-Kind, then player A will lose 8 points to player B for this middle group.
  
  

13 Card Poker Clean Sweeps

A Clean Sweep is one of several groups with a special ranking that wins automatically. Here they are in descending order:

1. 13 Colors - 13 Cards of one suit - 13 pts
2. Dragon - One of every Rank - 13 pts
3. 12 Colors - Exactly 12 Cards of one suit + kicker - 8 pts
4. 3-of-a-kind + 5 Pairs (4-of-a-Kind can count as 2 pairs) - 4 pts
5. 3 Straights - Straights in front, middle, and back rows - 3 pts
6. 3 Flushes - Suited cards in front, middle, and back rows - 3 pts
7. 6 Pairs (4-of-a-Kind can count as 2 pairs) - 3 pts

 

If you have a Clean Sweep, click CLAIM
If multiple players have Clean Sweep groups, the higher ranking group wins the total unit value for that group; the value for the lower ranking Clean Sweep group won't be subtracted (eg. Player A has Dragon and Player B has 6 Pairs. Player A wins 13 points from Player B). If 2 Clean Sweep groups have the same ranking, they tie. No money is exchanged between these 2 players, but they collect from the others. If you don't declare a Clean Sweep, it plays as a regular group.

Additional Rules for of 13 Card Poker

1. If a player fails to set front, middle and back groups in the proper ranking order, the group fouls and the player pays a penalty to each opponent:
   
   • Against a Clean Sweep hand, the value of the Clean Sweep hand.
   • Against a regular hand, 3 units + any opponent's bonus.
2. A player fouls if he/she declares a Clean Sweep but can't produce it.
   
   

Disconnection Policy

If you are disconnected from the internet while a game is going on, you have the duration of the game to reconnect and resume. The game will progress even if you've been disconnected. It is up to the player to ensure his internet connection is reliable. We help you determine the reliability of your internet connection by displaying the network connection strength from your computer to our servers. Internet Connection status is displayed in the lower left corner as "Good", "Fair", "Poor", or "Not Connected". If the connection dips to Fair, either finish your hand and reconnect, or wait for a better time to resume play. By joining and starting a game with the indicated internet connection strength, a player is deemed to have accepted this Disconnection Policy.

Stakes Levels

 

13 Card Poker Double Combo

13 Card Poker Double Combo is a variant of 13 Card Poker. The structure of this poker game is exactly the same as in 13 card poker. The game 13 Card Double Poker Combo is played with a maximum of 3 players. The difference between 13 card poker and 13 card double combo poker is that in double combo, when a player won every hand (front group, middle group and back group). the won chips will be doubled.