- Chinese Casino Games
- Chinese Card Games List
- Chinese Gambling Game At Casino
- Chinese Gambling Game Crossword Clue
Casinos and gambling are a huge part of Asian culture and have been for centuries. In fact, Vegas is no longer considered the gambling capital of the world. That title has been taken over by the tiny nation of Macau, which is off the coast of China.
Chinese Gambling Games. Chinese Mahjong is a game for four players that originated in China. Chinese Mahjong involves skill, strategy, and calculation, as well as a certain degree of chance. Depending on the variation which is played, luck can be anything from a minor to a dominant factor in success. Panguingue, also known as Pan for short, is a gambling Rummy game which is popular in the southwest USA. From four to eight players can take part in one game. It is played with eight decks of standard cards from which the 8's, 9's and 10's have been removed - 320 cards altogether.
You'll notice many good luck charms in Chinese restaurants or even just spending some time watching other Asian television programming. That's because luck, chance, and fortune are tied into the culture.
The casinos in Macau cater largely to Asians, so paying attention to which games are available there can be helpful if you want to know which Asian casino games are worth trying.
In this post, I list some of the most popular Asian casino games along with notes about how to excel at each of them.
1 – Sic Bo
One of the first games I ever played in a casino was called sic bo, which is played with three 6-sided dice.
I was familiar with the probabilities when rolling three dice because I played Dungeons and Dragons as a teenager.
Besides baccarat, sic bo is probably the most popular game in any Asian casino. https://gorilla-software.mystrikingly.com/blog/play-pompeii-online. It's also popular in Atlantic City, which has a devoted Asian clientele.
Many Las Vegas casinos no longer offer sic bo, although many of them might have a single table available. Mathtype 7 4 3 x 5.
The game of sic bo reminds me a little bit of roulette, because you have a table full of betting options. The payoffs for all the bets are always at a rate lower than the odds of winning.
Unlike roulette, though, sic bo doesn't offer a host of bets that all have the same house edge. The casino's edge varies based on which bet you take in sic bo. The best thing to do, mathematically, is to always take the bet with the lowest house edge.
Betting on small (or betting on big) is your best bet. The house edge is 2.78% for either of those bets. A bet on small wins if the total of the three dice is less than 11, but you lose if there's a 3. A bet on big wins if the total of the three dice is more than 10, but you lose if it's a total of 18. In fact, on either of these bets, if you get three of a kind, you lose.
Most of the other bets at sic bo have a house edge greater than 10%. Those bets just aren't worth making, although you'll see people placing those bets all the time.
2 – Baccarat
Baccarat isn't specifically an Asian game, but it's the most popular game in Macau. In American casinos, slot machines dominate the gambling floor. In Asian casinos, baccarat tables do.
Baccarat seems complex, but that's mostly because the rules are complicated. There's no strategy to winning at baccarat, and the odds are almost as good as betting on a coin toss with your buddy, which is close to a 50/50 proposition.
Always bet on the banker, as that's the bet with the lowest house edge (1.06%). You CAN bet on the player, but you face a slightly higher house edge (1.24%).
But never, under any circumstances, bet on a tie. The house edge for that bet is 14.36%.
Those percentages vary slightly based on how many decks and which other rules conditions are in effect at your table, but they're not too far afield at all. 32 red casino.
3 – Fan Tan
Fan tan uses a cup and a wand along with a stack of white buttons to play. You play on a large table, and the middle of that table is covered with a plastic dome. The edges of the table are where the players make their bets.
The game begins when the dealer puts the cup over a random number of buttons. You can then choose from any of the bets on the table. After that, the dealer uses the wand to count how many buttons he had in the cup.
These buttons are counted off in groups of four, and the outcome is determined by the last set of buttons, which always consists of one, two, three, or four buttons.
The payout odds for all of the bets are the same as the odds of winning, but the casino takes a 5% commission. This makes the house edge in fan tan 5%, regardless of which bet you place. Casinos in eastern oklahoma.
4 – Pachinko
Pachinko reminds me of a pinball machine, only instead of being oriented horizontally, it's oriented vertically. It's basically the Japanese answer to slot machines.
In fact, instead of casinos, Japan has pachinko parlors, some of which also offer slot machine games.
It's illegal to bet real money in Japan, so pachinko is played for balls, which are later exchanged for money or other prizes.
For an end run around legal gambling, the pachinko market is huge. Revenue from pachinko parlors is more than that of gambling in Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore.
5 – Pai Gow (and Pai Gow Poker)
Pai gow is basically an Asian version of dominoes. The tiles are put into stacks of four. There are eight of these. Then, players make bets.
When the bets are all placed, players each get a stack of tiles and have to use those four tiles to create two hands of two tiles each. One of these is the 'front hand,' and the other is the 'rear hand.'
If one hand wins, and the other hand loses, it's treated as a push. A push is what happens in casino gambling when there's a tie. The player doesn't lose his bet, but he doesn't get any winnings either.
Pai Gow Poker is an Americanized version of pai gow that's played with playing cards instead of tiles. Both land based and online Pai Gow Poker use poker hand rankings, but the gameplay is similar.
Pai Gow Poker is a great casino poker game to play, by the way, because it's relatively slow and results in a push a lot of the time. This results in a lower than usual hourly loss rate when compared with other casino table games.
6 – Niu Niu
Betting on small (or betting on big) is your best bet. The house edge is 2.78% for either of those bets. A bet on small wins if the total of the three dice is less than 11, but you lose if there's a 3. A bet on big wins if the total of the three dice is more than 10, but you lose if it's a total of 18. In fact, on either of these bets, if you get three of a kind, you lose.
Most of the other bets at sic bo have a house edge greater than 10%. Those bets just aren't worth making, although you'll see people placing those bets all the time.
2 – Baccarat
Baccarat isn't specifically an Asian game, but it's the most popular game in Macau. In American casinos, slot machines dominate the gambling floor. In Asian casinos, baccarat tables do.
Baccarat seems complex, but that's mostly because the rules are complicated. There's no strategy to winning at baccarat, and the odds are almost as good as betting on a coin toss with your buddy, which is close to a 50/50 proposition.
Always bet on the banker, as that's the bet with the lowest house edge (1.06%). You CAN bet on the player, but you face a slightly higher house edge (1.24%).
But never, under any circumstances, bet on a tie. The house edge for that bet is 14.36%.
Those percentages vary slightly based on how many decks and which other rules conditions are in effect at your table, but they're not too far afield at all. 32 red casino.
3 – Fan Tan
Fan tan uses a cup and a wand along with a stack of white buttons to play. You play on a large table, and the middle of that table is covered with a plastic dome. The edges of the table are where the players make their bets.
The game begins when the dealer puts the cup over a random number of buttons. You can then choose from any of the bets on the table. After that, the dealer uses the wand to count how many buttons he had in the cup.
These buttons are counted off in groups of four, and the outcome is determined by the last set of buttons, which always consists of one, two, three, or four buttons.
The payout odds for all of the bets are the same as the odds of winning, but the casino takes a 5% commission. This makes the house edge in fan tan 5%, regardless of which bet you place. Casinos in eastern oklahoma.
4 – Pachinko
Pachinko reminds me of a pinball machine, only instead of being oriented horizontally, it's oriented vertically. It's basically the Japanese answer to slot machines.
In fact, instead of casinos, Japan has pachinko parlors, some of which also offer slot machine games.
It's illegal to bet real money in Japan, so pachinko is played for balls, which are later exchanged for money or other prizes.
For an end run around legal gambling, the pachinko market is huge. Revenue from pachinko parlors is more than that of gambling in Las Vegas, Macau, and Singapore.
5 – Pai Gow (and Pai Gow Poker)
Pai gow is basically an Asian version of dominoes. The tiles are put into stacks of four. There are eight of these. Then, players make bets.
When the bets are all placed, players each get a stack of tiles and have to use those four tiles to create two hands of two tiles each. One of these is the 'front hand,' and the other is the 'rear hand.'
If one hand wins, and the other hand loses, it's treated as a push. A push is what happens in casino gambling when there's a tie. The player doesn't lose his bet, but he doesn't get any winnings either.
Pai Gow Poker is an Americanized version of pai gow that's played with playing cards instead of tiles. Both land based and online Pai Gow Poker use poker hand rankings, but the gameplay is similar.
Pai Gow Poker is a great casino poker game to play, by the way, because it's relatively slow and results in a push a lot of the time. This results in a lower than usual hourly loss rate when compared with other casino table games.
6 – Niu Niu
You won't see niu niu in many (or any) American casinos, but visit some of the gambling halls in southeast Asia, and it's ubiquitous. You can also find versions online in casinos catering to Asian gamblers.
Chinese Casino Games
Niu niu is a card game where the playing cards have the same values they would have in baccarat:
- Aces are worth one point.
- Numbered cards are worth their ranking (e.g. the two card is worth two points).
- The jack, queen, and king are worth zero points.
Any time the total becomes 10 or greater, the number is converted to a single digit. A total of 11 becomes a one, a total of 13 becomes a three, etc. The 10 is just dropped.
You can bet on either or both of the following:
- Double
- Equal
Each player gets five cards, and so does the dealer. The cards get sorted into whichever hand would be best. Here are the possible hands, from best to worst.
- A niu niu is a three-card hand worth zero points and a two-card hand worth zero points.
- A three-card hand worth zero points combined with a two-card hand worth more than zero points is the second best hand. The higher the number of points in the two-card hand, the better the hand is.
- Any hand where you can't make a three-card hand with zero points.
If there's a tie, you compare the highest ranked card in each hand to determine the winner. Aces always count low for this purpose.
If there's still a tie, the suit of the highest ranked card breaks the tie. See the suits from high to low.
- Spades
- Hearts
- Clubs
- Diamonds
If you placed an 'equal' bet, you win even money if you chose the winning side. But you have to pay a 5% commission.
If you placed a 'Double' bet, you win a prize based on a pay table, but you still pay a 5% commission.
7 – Yee Hah Hi
If you ever wanted to play sic bo but without all the counting, you could try Yee Hah Hi. The game is a variation of sic bo. But instead of numbered pips on the dice, each side has a picture on it.
Yee Hah Hi dice have six different symbols in three different colors.
- The Coin
- The Crab
- The Fish
- The Gourd
- The Rooster
- The Scorpion
The symbols come in the following colors.
- Blue
- Green
- Red
You can bet on things like 'all are the same color' or 'two of the dice are the same color.' The house edge for this game is actually surprisingly good at just 1.11%.
Conclusion
That's my list of seven Asian gambling games worth trying. But it's not even close to a comprehensive list. You probably have some favorite casino games that are also popular in Asia.
Which games would you add to this list?
This page is based partly on information from Ka Lun, Anthony Horsley Sr, Don Smolen, Richard Dewhirst, Alan Ho, Brandon Bahti and several anonymous correspondents.
Introduction
This Chinese gambling game is popular in Hong Kong and parts of Southeast Asia and is also played to some extent in the USA. It is known by several different names.
- In Cantonese it is called Sap Sam Cheung (十三張), which means 13 cards, and in Vietnamese it is known by the similar name Xập Xám Chướng.
- In Chinese, it is also sometimes called Luosong Pai Jiu (羅宋牌九), which I think means Russian Pai Gow. The game is indeed distantly related to Pai Gow.
- In the USA it is often known as Chinese Poker or sometimes Russian Poker, but note that some people also use the name Chinese Poker to refer to the climbing game Big Two. In Hawaii it is called Pepito.
- In the Phillipines it is known as Pusoy, again not to be confused with Pusoy Dos, which is Big Two. Another name sometimes used is Good, Better, Best, referring to the three hands of a player.
The aim is to arrange your 13 cards into three poker hands - two of five cards and one of three cards - which will beat the corresponding poker hands made by the other players.
A recent development is Open Face Chinese Poker, in which after the first five cards, hands are built face up one card at a time.
Players, Cards, Stakes and Deal
There are four players, each playing for themselves. A standard 52 card pack is used.
Before playing it is necessary to agree on a stake. Below I will describe the payments in terms of units; one unit can be worth whatever the players agree in advance - $1, $10, $100, etc.
The cards are shuffled, cut and dealt out singly: 13 cards to each player.
Arrangement of cards
Each player must divide their 13 cards into a 'back' hand of 5 cards, a 'middle' hand of 5 cards and a 'front' hand of 3 cards. Considered as poker hands, the back hand must be better than the middle hand, and the middle hand must be better than the front hand. The standard poker ranking is used - so the hand types from high to low are: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pairs, one pair, high card (see the page on ranking of poker hands). There are no wild cards.
Since the front hand has only 3 cards, only three hand types are possible: three of a kind; one pair; high card. There is no value in having a front hand with three consecutive cards or three cards of the same suit: 'straights' or 'flushes' in the front hand do not count.
Video roulette machine. Players place their three hands face down in front of them, the front hand nearest the centre of the table and the back hand nearest themselves.
Showdown and Scoring
When everyone is ready, all the players expose their three hands and each pair of players compares the corresponding hands. In the simplest system of payments, you win one unit for each corresponding hand of another player that you beat and lose one for unit each hand that beats you. When the hands are equal you neither win nor lose. Here is an example:
The result would be as follows:
Players | front winner | middle winner | back winner | North | East | South | West |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
North v East | North | North | North | +3 | -3 | ||
North v South | South | South | North | -1 | +1 | ||
North v West | North | North | West | +1 | -1 | ||
East v South | South | South | East | -1 | +1 | ||
East v West | East | West | West | -1 | +1 | ||
South v West | South | South | West | +1 | -1 | ||
Total | +3 | -5 | +3 | -1 |
Notice that although West's back hand is the overall best hand (aces full), West loses on balance because of the weaker middle and front hands. East could have done slightly less badly by putting the sevens in the middle hand, which would then have beaten West. Notice also that it is not legal for East to put the jacks in the front hand, because it would then not be possible to make a middle hand that was better and a back hand that was better still from the remaining ten cards.
Special Hands
It is possible to play using just the payments described above. However, many players add two further features to the stakes: increased payments for certain hands, and some special 13-card hands that win automatically. If you are playing with these it is important to agree in advance exactly which ones are allowed and how much each is worth.
A typical scale of increased payments is as follows:
- If you win the front hand with three of a kind, you receive 3 units instead of 1 for that hand.
- If you win the middle hand with a full house, you receive 2 units instead of 1 for that hand.
- If you win the back (or middle) hand with 4 of a kind, you receive 4 units instead of 1.
- If you win the back (or middle) hand with a royal flush or straight flush you win 5 units instead of 1.
These bonuses only count for you for hands that you win. For example if A and B each have a 3 of a kind in front, but B's is higher, A will pay B 3 units for it. A's 3 of a kind will still count against the other players if it wins.
Example:A has 6-6-6, 4-4-4-9-9, K-K-K-8-8 and B Best way to bet on roulette. has Q-Q-7, J-J-J-2-2, 5-5-5-5-A. A wins 3 for the front hand, but B wins 2 for the middle and 4 for the back, so altogether A pays 3 units to B.
When special hands are allowed, the following 13-card hands win automatically against any ordinary hand, if declared before the hands are exposed. When two special hands come up against each other, the higher wins the full specified amount and the lower loses its value (though it can still win against the other players). After the special hands have been dealt with, the remaining players expose their cards and settle up among themselves in the normal way. A typical schedule of special hands, in ascending order, is:
- Six pairs: a hand with six pairs and one odd card. When two players have six pair hands, compare the highest pair; if the highest pairs are equal compare the second highest pair, and so on. Win 3 units.
- Three straights: the back and middle hands are five card straights and the front hand is a three card straight (i.e. three cards of consecutive rank). If two players have three straights, compare the highest (back) straights first, then if these are equal the middle straights, and finally, if all else is equal, the front straight. Win 3 units.
- Three flushes: the back and middle hands are flushes, and the front hand is a three-card flush (three cards of one suit). If two players have this, the player with the better back hand wins; if tied the better middle hand; if those are also tied, the better front hand. Win 3 units.
- Complete straight: the hand has one card of each rank: A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K. Suits can be mixed. If two players have this, they are tied. Win 13 units.
A player who has a special hand can choose not to declare it, but instead to set three hands of 5, 5 and 3 cards in the normal way. This loses the right to an automatic win, but it may occasionally be possible to win more units in the normal settlement, when extra payments can be won.
Variations
There seem to be numerous variations in the way the payments are organised. Here are the ones I have so far discovered.
- Three of a kind in the front hand: 2 extra units
- Full house in the middle hand: 1 extra unit
- Four of a kind in the back or middle hand: 3 extra units
- Straight or royal flush in the back or middle hand: 4 extra units
This variation is often combined with the overall point variation above.
- Three of a kind in the front hand: 2 extra units
- Full house in the middle hand: 2 extra units
- Four of a kind in the back hand: 4 extra units
- Four of a kind in the middle hand: 6 extra units
- Straight or royal flush in the back hand: 6 extra units
- Straight or royal flush in the middle hand: 8 extra units
The special hands, in ascending order, are:
- Three flushes: 3 units
- Three straights: 4 units
- Six and a half pairs: 4 units
- Five pairs and one three of a kind: 5 units
- Four threes of a kind and an odd card: 6 units
- All cards are the same colour: 10 points
- Small: all cards are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8: 10 points
- Big: all cards are 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A: 10 points
- Three fours of a kind and one odd card: 16 units
- Three straight flushes: 18 units
- All 12 picture cards plus any 13th card: 18 units
- All thirteen cards of one suit: 26 units
A special hand, if declared before the cards are exposed, beats any normal hand and wins the number of units specified in the table (a player wins from the bank, or the bank wins from all players). If the bank and a player both have special hands, the holder of the higher scoring hand wins the difference between their values.
- Three of a kind in front: 3 units instead of 1
- Full house in the middle: 2 units instead of 1
- Four of a kind at the back: 4 units; in the middle: 8 units
- Straight flush at the back: 5 units; in the middle: 10 units
- Three straights: 3 units
- Three flushes: 3 units
- Six pairs: 3 units
- Five pairs and one triplet: 6 units
- Complete straight A to K with mixed suits: 13 units; if all 13 cards are of one suit: 26 units.
Chinese Card Games List
Chinese Gambling Game At Casino
- Three of a kind in front: 3 units instead of 1
- Full house in the middle: 2 units instead of 1
- Four of a kind at the back: 4 units; in the middle: 8 units
- Straight flush at the back 7 units; in the middle: 14 units
- Three straights: 4 units
- Three flushes: 4 units
- 12 red cards and 1 black or 12 black and 1 red: 4 units
- All black or all red: 6 units
- Six pairs: 4 units
- Complete straight A to K with mixed suits: 13 units
- All 13 cards of one suit: 39 units
A player wins two out of three hands against an opponent receives 1 unit from that opponent. For winning all three hands the payment is 6 units. A player who wins all three hands against every other player is paid 9 units (instead of 6) by each. For winning with particular hands in particular positions there are additional payments as follows:
- Straight flush: 5 units at the back; 10 units in the middle
- Four of a kind: 4 units at the back; 8 units in the middle
- Full house: 2 units in the middle
- Three of a kind: 3 units at the front
A player who surrenders pays 3 units to each opponent.
Some play with an extra side bet on the number of aces held. One aces is worth 1, two aces 2, three aces 6, four aces 8. Between two players, the player with fewer aces pays the difference in units, in addition to the payments for the Chinese Poker game.
Chinese Gambling Game Crossword Clue
Payments are made in chips and it is not possible to win or lose more chips than you had in front of you at the start of the deal. Settlement is in clockwise order staring with the dealer. Any 13-card special hands are settled first, followed by all other payments. Specifically, if the players in clockwise order are A (dealer), B, C, D then settlements are made in the order A vs B, A vs C, A vs D, B vs C, B vs D, C vs D. Example: A starts with only 8 chips. A wins all three hands against B and loses all three against C. B pays A 6 chips, but A pays only 2 chips to C, because each chip is either doubled or lost, and A's first 6 chips have already been 'used' to justify the win from B. Therefore A ends up with 8+6-2=12 chips. A neither pays to nor receives from D since the transactions with B and C have already accounted for all A's chips. Players can buy additional chips from the house after the settlement and before the next deal.
https://lmyp.over-blog.com/2021/02/telecharger-adobe-pdf-reader-64-bits.html. The casino takes a fixed rake per hand, and part of this is used to build jackpots that are offered for certain unusual events - for example when a player has a straight flush, three of a kind, and a pair and loses all three hands to another player.
Other Chinese Poker web pages
Further information can be found on Don Smolen's Chinese Poker page. From there you can also order his excellent book on the tactics of this game, and obtain his CPOKER computer program.
Rules for a version of Chinese Poker can also be found under the name Pusoy on this archive copy the Bicycle Cards web site.
Rules for Chinese Poker can also be found at the Asian Games Site vinagames.com, where it is possible to play Chinese Poker on line.
Playing Chinese Poker Online
With Phong Le's Chinese Poker Analyser you can compare the power of alternative divisions of 13 cards into three hands, and play Chinese Poker (Xap Xam) against one, two or three computer players.