Joker Chinese Poker (Extra Suit) Rules
Overview
Joker Chinese Poker is a four-player variant of Chinese Poker (Shisanzhi, 十三支): each player receives 17 cards, picks 13 and sets them into a 3-card Front, a 5-card Middle and a 5-card Back, with the Front lower than the Middle and the Middle no higher than the Back, then compares row by row with the other three players. An extra set of spades and 3 wild Jokers make five of a kind and the Paired Flush possible; scoring is by scoops (not losing any row to a player) plus bonuses for big hands.
This variant differs from ordinary Chinese Poker in two ways:
- Extra suit (加一色): The deck has one extra full set of spades compared with a normal deck, so every spade (for example, the A♠) appears twice.
- Jokers: The deck contains 3 Jokers, which are true wild cards and can stand in for any rank and any suit.
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Players | 4 |
| Deck | 68 cards: a standard 52 + an extra set of 13 spades + 3 Jokers |
| Cards per player | 17: use 13, discard 4 |
| Goal | Make your three rows "not lose" to each opponent, scoop opponents and earn bonus points |
| Scoring unit | units |
Hand: From the deal, arranging and comparing until all four players' scores are calculated. The four scores always add up to 0 (whatever units someone wins, someone else loses).
Cards and Dealing
- The 68 cards are shuffled and dealt evenly to the four players, 17 each, using up the deck exactly.
- This variant has no cut card and no Bonus cards.
- Rank order: A is highest, 2 is lowest.
- Suits have no rank. Hands of the same type and ranks are a tie.
- The extra set of spades is completely identical to the original spades, with no ranking between them.
- The 3 Jokers have no ranking among themselves either.
- The dealer for the first hand is chosen at random; after each hand, the dealer moves one seat counterclockwise. The dealer only affects the order in which hands are revealed and how tied places are listed; it does not affect scores.
How to Play
- Deal: Each player receives 17 cards, visible only to themselves.
- Arrange: Choose 13 of your 17 cards and split them into three rows:
- Front: 3 cards
- Middle: 5 cards
- Back: 5 cards
- The remaining 4 cards are discarded and not compared.
- Check the order: Your three rows must satisfy "Front < Middle ≤ Back" (see "Legal Arrangements and Fouls"). An arrangement that doesn't cannot be played.
- Compare: Once all four players have arranged, the rows are revealed simultaneously and compared head-to-head against each of the other three players, in the order Front, Middle, Back. Your Front is only compared with other players' Fronts, your Middle with Middles, and your Back with Backs.
- Score: The four players' scores for the hand are calculated as described in "Scoring", and then the next hand begins.
Hand Rankings
Hand Ladder (Highest to Lowest)
| Rank | Hand | Made of | How ties are broken |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Natural Five of a Kind (正五枚) | Five real cards of the same rank (no Jokers) | Rank |
| 2 | Joker Five of a Kind (鬼五枚) | Five of the same rank, including Jokers (4 real cards + 1 Joker, 3 real + 2 Jokers, 2 real + 3 Jokers) | Rank only, regardless of the number of Jokers |
| 3 | Straight flush | A straight all in one suit | Straight rank |
| 4 | Four of a kind | Four cards of the same rank + any kicker | Four of a kind first, then the kicker |
| 5 | Full house | Three of a kind + a pair | Three of a kind first, then the pair |
| 6 | Paired Flush (對子同花) | Five cards of the same suit, including two cards of "the same rank and the same suit" | Two pair > one pair; between two-pair hands, compare the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the kicker; between one-pair hands, compare the pair, then the other three cards in order |
| 7 | Flush | Five cards of the same suit | Card by card, starting from the highest |
| 8 | Straight | Five cards of consecutive ranks | Straight rank |
| 9 | Joker Trips (鬼三條) | Three Jokers (only possible in the Front) | There are only 3 Jokers, so at most one player can have this in a hand; no comparison needed |
| 10 | Three of a kind | Three cards of the same rank (plus two kickers in the Middle and Back) | Three of a kind first, then the kickers in order |
| 11 | Two pair | Two pairs + one kicker | Higher pair, then lower pair, then the kicker |
| 12 | One pair | Two cards of the same rank (plus 1 kicker in the Front; plus 3 kickers in the Middle and Back) | The pair first, then the kickers in order |
| 13 | High card | No made hand | Card by card, starting from the highest |
Notes:
- Straight ranks: 10-J-Q-K-A is the highest, A-2-3-4-5 the lowest. An Ace can play low (as 1) or high, but a straight can only go up to the Ace; there is no J-Q-K-A-2 straight. The same applies to straight flushes.
- The Front has only 3 cards, so it can only be high card, one pair, three of a kind or Joker Trips; there are no straights or flushes in the Front.
- Paired Flush exists only because of the extra suit. Without Jokers, two cards of the same rank and suit can only come from the two sets of spades; with Jokers, a Joker can stand in for a card of any suit, so it is not limited to spades.
- There is no "three of a kind flush": the same card (same rank and suit) can count at most twice in a row, and a Joker cannot become a third identical card.
- Joker Trips beat any three of a kind but lose to a straight. Three Jokers placed in the Middle or Back, together with the other two cards, always make four of a kind or better, so Joker Trips can only appear in the Front.
How Jokers Are Counted
- A Joker can represent any rank and suit.
- You do not choose what a Joker represents: it is always counted automatically as "the best hand that row can make".
- Except for five of a kind, a hand of a given type is equally strong with or without Jokers. For example, 9-8-7-6-5 ties "Joker + 8-7-6-5" (Joker as 9); "Joker + 9-8-7-6" (Joker as 10) beats 9-8-7-6-5.
- Only five of a kind distinguishes natural from Joker: a Natural Five of a Kind always beats a Joker Five of a Kind. A Natural Five of a Kind in 2s beats a Joker Five of a Kind of "three Aces + two Jokers".
- Joker Five of a Kind hands are compared by rank only: "four Aces + 1 Joker" beats "three Queens + 2 Jokers".
Examples of automatic counting:
| Cards in the row | Counted as | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| 5, 7, Joker | Pair of 7s | The Joker pairs with the highest card |
| A, Joker, Joker (Front) | Three Aces | Both Jokers count as Aces |
| 4, 5, 6, 7, Joker | Straight 4-5-6-7-8 | Completed as the highest possible straight |
| 2, 3, 4, Joker, Joker | Straight 2-3-4-5-6 | Completed as the highest possible straight |
| A, A, K, K, Joker | Aces full (A-A-A-K-K) | Completed as the highest possible full house |
| A, K, 5, 2 of one suit + Joker | Paired Flush (A-A-K-5-2) | A flush with a Joker always counts as the highest possible Paired Flush, never just a flush |
| A♠, K♠, 9♠ + Joker, Joker | Two-pair Paired Flush (A-A-K-K-9) | It does not become "three Aces", because there is no three of a kind flush |
| 6, 6, 6, Joker + any card | Four 6s | Beats four 5s |
| Joker, Joker, Joker, K, 8 | Four Kings with an 8 | Beats "K-K-K-K-7" (same four of a kind; kicker 8 > 7) |
| A♠, K♠ + Joker, Joker, Joker | Straight flush 10-J-Q-K-A | The best possible hand is a straight flush, not four of a kind |
| A♠, 9♠ + Joker, Joker, Joker | Four Aces with a 9 | A and 9 can't fit in the same straight, so four of a kind is the best |
| A♠, 7, 7, 5 + Joker | Paired Flush (two pair A-A, 7-7) | Beats a two-pair Paired Flush of "8-8, 6-6, A", because the highest pair is compared first |
As long as a row contains a Joker and at least one real card, the Joker can always make at least a pair, so a row with a Joker is never high card.
Legal Arrangements and Fouls
Your three rows must satisfy:
Front < Middle ≤ Back
- The Middle and Back can be equal (same type, same ranks).
- The Front must be lower than the Middle. The comparison uses the full hand value, kickers included: compare hand type first, then the main rank if the types match, then the kickers if still equal. Since the Front has only 3 cards, once the comparison reaches kickers the Front doesn't have, the Middle counts as higher.
- An arrangement that breaks this order is called a Foul (相公, mis-set). A fouled arrangement cannot be played; it must be rearranged into a legal one before the showdown. As a result, there is no "foul penalty".
Examples:
| Front | Middle | Result | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| A-A-A | A, Joker, Joker + two kickers | Legal | Both are three Aces; the Middle's extra kickers make it higher |
| 9-9-K | 9-9-5-4-3 | Foul | Both are a pair of 9s; comparing kickers, the Front's K beats the Middle's 5 |
| K-9-4 | K-9-4-3-2 | Legal | The first three cards are the same; the Middle's extra kickers make it higher |
Scoring
This variant uses scoop scoring (打槍制): winning or losing an individual row scores nothing by itself; points come only from the three items below.
Total score = scoop points + home run points + bonus points
Scoop and Home Run
| Item | Condition | Winner | Loser |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scoop | Against a given player, none of your three rows loses (wins and ties both count) | +1 unit | The scooped player −1 unit |
| Home Run | Scooping all three other players in the same hand | +9 more units (equal to collecting 3 more units from each of the three) | Each scooped player −3 more units |
- Scoops still count when you hit a Home Run. A player who hits a Home Run gets 3 + 9 = 12 units from scoops and the Home Run alone.
- Because a tie also counts as "not losing", if two players' three rows are exactly equal, they scoop each other, and the +1 and −1 on each side cancel out.
Bonus Points
If you beat a given player's row using one of the hand types in the table below (ties don't count), that player pays you the listed units in addition. This is calculated separately against each of the three players and added up player by player; it is not doubled for a Scoop or Home Run.
| Position | Hand | Per player beaten |
|---|---|---|
| Front | Front Trips (衝三; three of a kind in the Front) | +1 |
| Front | Joker Front Trips (鬼衝三; Joker Trips in the Front) | +5 |
| Middle | Four of a kind | +2 |
| Middle | Straight flush | +2 |
| Middle | Joker Five of a Kind | +3 |
| Middle | Natural Five of a Kind | +12 |
| Back | Four of a kind | +1 |
| Back | Straight flush | +1 |
| Back | Joker Five of a Kind | +2 |
| Back | Natural Five of a Kind | +5 |
- Joker Front Trips and Front Trips are never both scored: when your Front is Joker Trips, only Joker Front Trips +5 counts.
- Bonus points have nothing to do with scoops; they depend only on whether you won that row: if your row with a hand type in the table beats the opponent's, you collect; if that row ties or loses, you don't.
Scoring Example
Four players, A, B, C and D, compare their rows with these results:
- A does not lose any row against B, C or D → A scoops all three players, hitting a Home Run.
- A's Middle is four of a kind, and A's Middle beats those of B, C and D.
- B does not lose any row against C → B scoops C.
- The other pairings (B vs D, C vs D) split their rows, so no scoop. None of the four players has any other bonus hand.
| Player | Scoop | Home Run | Bonus points | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | +3 (scoops three players) | +9 | +6 (Middle four of a kind +2 × 3 players) | +18 |
| B | 0 (scooped by A −1, scoops C +1) | −3 | −2 | −5 |
| C | −2 (scooped by A and B) | −3 | −2 | −7 |
| D | −1 (scooped by A) | −3 | −2 | −6 |
The four players total 18 − 5 − 7 − 6 = 0.
Special Rules and Rulings
The following are rulings on points where the specification text is not clear enough:
- The bonus for a Natural Five of a Kind in the Middle is +12. An older version of the specification said +7, which was the value before an adjustment; the current value is +12.
- Comparing the Front and Middle includes kickers. "Front 9-9-K, Middle 9-9-5-4-3" is a foul; "Front A-A-A, Middle A + Joker + Joker + two kickers" is legal.
- The Middle and Back can be equal, while the Front must be strictly lower than the Middle.
- A Joker used as a kicker counts as the highest card it can legally stand in for, never higher than a real Ace. In practice a row with a Joker is always at least a pair, so this almost never comes up.
- Joker Trips do not count as Front Trips. They are two mutually exclusive items; Joker Trips in the Front score only Joker Front Trips +5.
- "A and K of one suit + three Jokers" counts as a straight flush (10-J-Q-K-A), because Jokers always make the best possible hand. Only when a straight flush is impossible (for example, A, 9 + three Jokers) is it four of a kind.
- There is no three of a kind flush: the same card can count at most twice, and a Joker cannot become a third copy.
- The condition for a scoop is "not losing"; tied rows count.
- Bonus points are not doubled: whether or not there is a Scoop or Home Run, the values in the bonus table are used as is, added player by player.
- No whole-hand special hands: "13-card special hands" such as three flushes, three straights, six and a half pairs, dragon (一條龍) and supreme dragon (至尊青龍) are not used in this variant; the three rows are always compared normally.
- Units only: there is no base stake, money conversion or rake; your score is simply the number of units.
Rules source: the Douque (鬥雀) platform's "GSCAS-鬼牌十三支加一色" specification (Joker Chinese Poker with an extra suit) and the "鬼牌十三支 玩法說明" (Joker Chinese Poker player guide).