About this game
Big two (also known as deuces and various other names), is a card game of Chinese origin. It is similar to the games of president, crazy eights, cheat, winner, and other shedding games. The game is very popular in East Asia and South East Asia, especially throughout China, Indonesia, Macau, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore. It is played both casually and as a gambling game. It is usually played with two to four players, the entire deck being dealt out in either case (or sometimes with only 13 cards per player, if there are fewer than four players). The objective of the game is to be the first to play of all of one's cards. It is sometimes confused with tien len (a.k.a. thirteen); the two games differ primarily in that big two involves poker hands, while tien len does not.This card game has many other names, including big deuce and top dog. In Mandarin Chinese it is 大老二, pinyin: dà lǎo èr; in Cantonese, 鋤大D, sho tai ti (among other transliterations, including chor dai di, and rendered in jyutping tonal notation as co4 daai6 di2), or simply dai di. It is cap sa in Hokkien, 十三, meaning "thirteen" (coming from the number of cards dealt to each player), a name is commonly used in Indonesia. In Malta, it is often referred to as ciniza ('Chinese') or giappuniza ('Japanese'), due to its Asian origin. In English, it is sometimes ambiguously called Chinese poker because of its use of poker hands, but this name more often applies to another game of an entirely different nature.
Single cards: Any card from the deck, ordered by rank with suit being the tie-breaker. (For instance, A♠ beats A♥, which beats K♠.)
Pairs: Any two cards of matching rank, ordered as with singular cards by the card of the higher suit. (A pair consisting of the K♠ and K♣ beats a pair consisting of K♥ and K♦.)
Triples: Three equal ranked cards, three twos are highest, then aces, kings, etc. down to three threes, which is the lowest triple. In some variations, a triple can only be played as part of a five-card hand.
Five-card hands: There are five (var. 2) different valid five-card hands, ranking from low to high as follows (the same ranking as in poker, where applicable):
Straight (also known as a snake in Cantonese or mokke in Malaysia): Any 5 cards in a sequence (but not all of the same suit). Rank is determined by the value of the biggest card, with the suit used only as a tie-breaker. Therefore 3-4-5-6-7 < 2-3-4-5-6, since 2 is considered the largest card in the 2-3-4-5-6 straight. The largest straight is A-2-3-4-5, second 2-3-4-5-6, third 10-J-Q-K-A while the smallest straight is 3-4-5-6-7.
Flush (also known as a flower or sama bunga in Malaysia): Any 5 cards of the same suit (but not in a sequence). Rank is determined by Face value of the cards (highest first, then each lower card in order). Suit (♠,♥,♣,♦) is used to break ties. In some popular variations, flushes are not permitted as a playable hand, and thus it is the lowest possible combination.
Full house: a composite of a three-of-a-kind combination and a pair. Rank is determined by the value of the triple, regardless of the value of the pair. Also known as a Fullen.
Four-of-a-kind + One card (nicknamed King Kong, tiki, or Bomb or ampat batang in Malaysia): Any set of 4 cards of the same rank, plus any 5th card. (A four-of-a-kind cannot be played unless it is played as a five-card hand) Rank is determined by the value of the 4 card set, regardless of the value of the 5th card. It is also known as a poker. (Some play the Four-of-a-kind hand as the beat all, therefore nicknamed the bomb, King Kong, or also tiki.). In some variations, when a bomb was dealt, it immediately make the 2s to be the lowest cards in the game (with 2 of diamonds becoming the lowest)
Straight flush: A composite of the straight and the flush: five cards in sequence in the same suit. Ranked the same as straights, suit being a tie-breaker.
