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English Name = "Big Two" | ||
What is it?
- A card game played with 4 people and it's every-man-for-himself.
- Each player is dealt 13 cards, one at a time, from a standard 52 card pack.
- The deal traditionally proceeds anticlockwise.
- The player with the 3♦ leads first on the very first round and that card must be part of the first lead. In all subsequent rounds the winner of the previous round deals and leads first.
- Each lead is either a Singleton, a Pair, a Triple, or 5 cards being either a Straight (蛇 se4), a Flush (花 fa1), a Full House (XX fu1 lo4), a Four-of-a-Kind (四條 sei3 tiu4), or a Straight Flush (同花順 tung4 fa1 sun6). To follow, a player must throw the same number of cards, but their value must be higher. i.e. Firstly compare category (Straight Flush > Four-of-a-Kind > Full House > Flush > Straight), then face-value down the line, then suit (just like in Poker). Suits are ranked ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ in descending order. If a player can't or doesn't want to follow then they can say "Pass" or knock on the table. A player who passes can follow on the next turn if they want. When 3 players pass consecutively, the 4th player (being the one who followed last) wins the round.
- Play traditionally proceeds anticlockwise.
- The aim of the game is to get rid of all your cards first. The only benefit of winning a round is that you get to lead the next round.
- Card order is 2 A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 in descending order, but note that in straights, 2 is low and A is high or low, i.e. A 2 3 4 5, 2 3 4 5 6 and A K Q J 10 are legal straights, but 2 A K Q J is not.
Therefore A 2 3 4 5 > 2 3 4 5 6 > A K Q J 10 > ... > 7 6 5 4 3. - When a player has only one card they must immediately announce it, otherwise they are prohibited from winning during that round.
- When the player to your right has only one card, and either you want to lead a singleton or someone already has, you must play your highest card. i.e. You're not allowed to deliberately cause someone with one card to go out (i.e. win). Failure to do this means you incur everyone else's penalties when the player with one card goes out.
- Scoring is one point per card held when the first person gets rid of all their cards, but with 10, 11, and 12 the points are doubled, and with 13 the points are tripled. Causing someone to get a double or triple is called frying them.
- At a time agreed by the players the game ends and the person with the least number of points is the winner.
- When playing for money, each player with a worse score than you must pay you the difference between your two scores, and you must pay each player with a better score than you the difference between your two scores.
Example: Scores are A=81, B=40, C=107, D=63, so A must pay B 81-40=41 units, and D 81-63=18 units. B doesn't pay anyone. C must pay A 107-81=26 units, B 107-40=67 units, and D 107-63=44 units. D must pay B 63-40=23 units.
The final result for A is -41-18+26= -33.
The final result for B is +41+67+23 = +131.
The final result for C is -26-67-44 = -137.
The final result for D is +18+44-23= +39. - This seems quite complicated when you try to work it out but it actually simplifies to Σsi - 4si where si is the score for player i, in other words: add up all the scores to get Σsi, multiply each score by 4 to get the four 4si's, then find the differences and multiply by the dollars-per-point. Note that subtracting a constant from all 4 scores doesn't affect the calculation, so to further simplify, you can subtract the best player's score from all scores to make the best player's score zero.
Applying the fast calculation method to the example above gives Σsi = 81 + 40 + 107 + 63 = 291 and 4si = (324, 160, 428, 252) so Σsi - 4si = (-33, 131, -137, 39).
- The Cantonese Romanization used in this page is that of Sidney Lau, HK.
| Created: 30 Mar 1997 | Copyright © 1997 Andrew White / whitey.net | Updated: 24 Nov 2008 |