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, hearts, clubs, diamonds
Chance	Moderate

Big two (also known as deuces, capsa, pusoy dos, and dai di, among 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. It is 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

Big two has many names, including big deuce and top dog. In Cantonese, it is 鋤大弟 (chor dai di, Jyutping: co⁴ daai⁶ di²). In Hokkien, it is 十三 (cap sa, Pe̍h-ōe-jī: cha̍p-saⁿ, lit. 'thirteen'), a name which is also commonly used in Indonesia. In Malta, it is often referred to as ciniza ("Chinese") or giappuniza ("Japanese"). A variant of the game is called pusoy dos in Filipino and chikicha in other Philippine languages.

Rules

In this explanation, a round is made up of turns, a match is made up of rounds, and a game is made up of matches.

A 52-card deck is shuffled and then dealt out equally to all players, either 13 (for a four-player game) or 17 (for a three-player game). The Joker cards are not used, and any of one more card if three players are played.

The game starts with the player requiring to discard the lowest deuce card (3♦ or 3♣, depending of game version and if available), in either a single card or as part of a combination (see § Combinations). Other players proceed to discard cards of a higher rank from the same combination, or via a special combination. Players may pass their turn at any time, if they chose not to play or does not have the required cards to play. Depending on the ruleset, player who has passed their turn may not play until all three players have passed.

Once all players pass, any played cards were moved to a waste-pile, and the player with the last discard starts a fresh round by discarding any new combination of their choice. The game ends once a player have discarded every single cards in their hand. Scores can be tabulated according to the method laid out in § Scoring.

Combinations

Examples of valid combinations by number of cards. The five-card combinations are ranked from strongest to weakest; their ranks are determined by the fully-visible card.

Cards can be played as singles or in groups of 2, 3, or 5.

The value of each card is determined by the rank itself followed by the suits. The card with a rank of 2 has the highest ranking, followed by Aces, all the way until 3. For the suits, the priority will be: ♠ Spades, ♥ Hearts, ♣ Clubs and ♦ Diamonds. In some versions, the ♣ Clubs and ♦ Diamonds ranks are swapped.

Players may choose any combinations to play, with either Singles, Pairs, Triples, or a five-card combination. The five-card combination have the following ranking in order of precedence:

• Straight: a hand that contains five cards of sequential rank, not all of the same suit. In big-two, the sequence with the highest priority is 2-3-4-5-6, followed by A-K-Q-J-10; the lowest (or called Wheel) is A-2-3-4-5. (sequences like 2-A-K-Q-J, 3-2-A-K-Q or 4-3-2-A-K are not valid sequences).
• Flush: a hand that contains five cards of the same suit, not in sequence. Flush discards are usually not used in common rulesets.
• Full House: a hand that contains three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. The rank for the triple determines priority.
• Four-of-a-Kind: a hand that contains four cards of one rank and one card of another rank (or kicker). The rank for the quad determines priority. In some rulesets, this combination can override any combinations except Straight Flush.
• Straight flush: a hand that contains five cards of sequential rank and in the same suit. Like Four-of-a-Kind in some rulesets, this combination can override any combinations, including Four-of-a-Kind.
• Dragon: in some rulesets, if one player acquire all 13 cards of each rank without any pair, the player immediately wins the match; if multiple players have dragon, the player with either if all 13 cards are of the same suit, or the hand with the lowest deuce, takes priority.

Scoring

Scores can be used to pay the winner if big two is played as a gambling game. Points are calculated based on the number of cards remaining by each player, with multipliers for the following cases:

• If the player have 10 or more cards;
• If the player have an unused two;
• If the player have an unused Four-of-a-Kind or Straight flush;
• If the winning player's last discard is either a two, a Four-of-a-Kind or a Straight Flush, or instantly wins with a Dragon.

Usually, more matches are played until a player receives 50 points or more in total, at which point the player with the lowest score wins the game.

See also

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