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
Players	2-4
Age range	all
Cards	52
Deck	Standard 52-card deck
Rank (high→low)	2,A,K,Q,J,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3 Spades are the trump, followed by Hearts, then Clubs, and Diamonds are the lowest
Chance	Moderate

Big two (also known as deuces, capsa, pusoy dos, dai di and other names) is a shedding-type card game of Cantonese origin. The game is popular in East Asia and 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.

Big two is usually played with two to four players played with a standard 52-card deck. 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 "thirteen" (cap sa, pe̍h-ōe-jī: cha̍p-saⁿ) in Hokkien, 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 chikicha in other Philippine dialects.

Rules

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

At the beginning of each game, the player with the 3♦ starts by playing it singly or as part of a combination. Each subsequent player must play a higher card or combination than the one before, with the same number of cards. Players may pass their turn, meaning they choose not to play or they do not have the cards to make a play.

When all but one of the players have passed in succession, the turn is over and cards that were played remain in a waste-pile. A new turn is started with all players, initiated by the last player to play.

The game ends when one player has played all of the cards in their hand.

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 2, 3 or 5. The leading card(s) to a trick sets down the number of cards to be played; plays in that trick must contain the same number of cards as was led and of a higher value, or the player must pass.

Card value is first determined by rank in the following order, highest to lowest: 2,A,K,Q,J,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3. Then by suits with Spades ♠ as the trump, followed Hearts ♥, then Clubs ♣, and the lowest is Diamonds ♦. The highest ranking card is 2♠, and the lowest is 3♦. The trick playing 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 lowest to highest 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. The suit is a tie-breaker.
• Flush: Any 5 cards of the same suit, but not in a sequence. Rank is determined by the suit of the flush. The value of the highest card 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 card. Rank is determined by the value of the 4 cards.
• 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, each card is 1 point, unless if they have 10 or more cards in which case each 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 remaining, 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 playing a trick of a 2, a four-of-a-kind, or a straight flush, points are also be doubled. For example: North wins with a 2 as their last card played; East, West, and South respectively still had 3, 9, and 8 cards left. West had an unused Straight Flush, and South had an unused 2; 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
• Balatro (video game)