Also, due to the head-to-head nature of the comparisons, it is possible for different players to play for different stakes. In other variants players only get an additional unit if they win all three hands (known as a scoop). In some variants players are also paid an additional unit if they win in two or three of the hands. Thus, unlike most poker games, being second-best at the table is good enough to win money. Basic scoring rules dictate that a player collects one unit from each opponent whose front, middle or back hand is beaten by their own corresponding hand. The stakes played for in Chinese poker are known as units: an amount of money agreed on before the game starts. As shown in the photo, the middle player has made all three hands flush and is an automatic winner. If a player makes three flushes or three straights they automatically win the hand, regardless of the other players' hands. All players then announce their royalties, before revealing their hands. After all the players have set their hands, each player will announce in turn (clockwise, starting from the left of the dealer) whether or not they are playing their hand. The back hand is placed face down on the table in front of the player, then the middle hand is placed face down in front of the back hand, and the front hand is placed face down in front of the middle hand.

Each player then has to divide their cards into three poker hands (known as 'setting'): two containing five cards each (known as 'the middle' and 'the back'), and one containing three cards ('the front') the back must be the highest-ranking hand, and the front, the lowest-ranking hand (note that straights and flushes do not count in the three-card hand). In Chinese poker, each player receives a 13-card hand from a standard 52-card deck. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources.

Open face chinese poker scoring chart