Big two

For other uses, see Big two (disambiguation).

Big two

大老二 or 鋤大弟
A 3-player Big Two game begun with a pair-3
Origin	Hong Kong
Alternative names	Big deuce, deuces, top dog, Chinese poker; dà lǎo èr; sho tai ti, chor dai di, co daai di, dai di; cap sa; ciniza, giappuniza; pusoy dos, chikicha, sikitcha, Filipino poker, Mot Hai Ba
Type	Shedding-type
Players	2-4
Age range	all
Cards	52
Deck	Anglo-American
Rank (high→low)	2, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, Spades, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds
Chance	Moderate

Big two (also known as deuces, capsa, pusoy dos, dai di and various other names) is a card game of Cantonese origin. The game is popular in East Asia and in Southeast Asia, especially throughout mainland China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore. It is played both casually and as a gambling game. It is usually played with two to four players. The objective of the game is to be the first to play off all of one's cards.

Names

This game has many names, including big deuce and top dog.

In Mandarin Chinese it is 大老二 (da lao er, pinyin: dà lǎo èr). In Cantonese it is 鋤大弟 (chor dai di, jyutping: co⁴ daai⁶ di²).

It is 十三 (cap sa) in Hokkien, "thirteen", a name which is commonly used in Indonesia. In Malta, it is often referred to as ciniza ("Chinese") or giappuniza ("Japanese").

A variant is called pusoy dos in Filipino, or in other Philippine dialects, chikicha.

Rules

The entire deck is dealt. The cards are dealt out among the players as far as they can go, while retaining an equal number of cards for each player. If there are leftover cards, they are given to the player holding the diamond 3. The Joker cards are not used.

At the beginning of each game, the player with the diamond 3 starts by playing it singly or as part of a combination. Play proceeds; each player must play a higher card or combination than the one before, with the same number of cards. Players may also pass, declaring that they do not want to play, or do not hold the necessary cards to make a play possible.

When all but one of the players have passed in succession, the turn is over. A new turn is started with all players, initiated by the last player to play.

The game ends when one player runs out of cards.

Examples of valid combinations by number of cards, the five-card combinations ranked from strongest to weakest with the rank determined by the fully-visible card

Combinations

Cards may be played as singles or in groups of two, three or five. The leading card to a trick sets down the number of cards to be played; all the cards of a trick must contain the same number of cards. The highest ranking card is 2 instead of A. The combinations and their rankings are as follows:

• Singles: Any card from the deck, ordered by rank with suit being the tie-breaker.
• Pairs: Any two cards of matching rank, ordered as with singular cards by the card of the higher suit.
• Triples: Three equal ranked cards.
• Five-card hands: There are five different valid five-card hands, ranking from low to high as follows:

• Straight: Any 5 cards in a sequence, but not all of the same suit. Rank is determined by the value of the highest card, with the suit used only as a tie-breaker.
• Flush: Any 5 cards of the same suit, but not in a sequence. Rank is determined by the value of the highest cards. Suit is used to break ties.
• Full house: a three-of-a-kind and a pair. Rank is determined by the value of the triple.
• Four-of-a-kind + One card: Any set of 4 cards of the same rank, plus any 5th card. Rank is determined by the value of the 4 card set.
• Straight flush: Five cards in sequence in the same suit. Ranked the same as straights, suit being a tie-breaker.

Scoring

The most common version of scoring is as follows.

For each player with cards, 1 card is 1 point, except if they have 10 or more cards, in which case 1 card is 2 points. The points are paid to the winner. For example, if North wins, and East, West, and South respectively still had 3, 11, and 8 cards left, then East scores −3, West scores −22, South scores −8, and North scores +33.

Any unused 2's, four-of-a-kinds, or straight flushes doubles the points paid to the winner. If the winner ends the game by discarding a 2, a four-of-a-kind, or a straight flush, points will also be doubled. For example: if North wins with a 2 as a last discard, and East, West, and South respectively still had 3, 9, and 8 cards left, and West had an unused Straight Flush, and South had an unused 2, then East would score −6, West would score −36, South would score −32, and North would score +74.

See also

• Chinese poker
• Dou di zhu (similar rules, played with three players)
• Gnau
• Zi pai
• Four color cards
• Daguai luzi also known as wild escape or the joker's way