Big 2 Poker

Big 2 poker was once popular only in China where it originated, but has slowly won the hearts of gaming enthusiasts around the globe. Big 2 Poker is usually played with four players using a standardized fifty-two card deck of playing cards. The object of Big 2 poker is to be the first player to get rid of all of their cards by playing them alone or in combination with other cards. The Big 2 Poker rules are fairly simple but mastering a successful Big 2 Poker strategy will be much more difficult. I only wish this game was more common online as currently it is only found on the Action Poker Network on sites such as Action Poker and PayNoRake

In big 2 poker, cards can legally be played as singles, pairs, triples or in groups of five. While singles, pairs, and triples are pretty much self-explanatory, groups of five can be either a flush, straight, full house, straight flush, or four of a kind. The order and power of suits in big 2 poker is as follows from highest to lowest: diamonds, hearts, spades, and clubs.

Play begins by dealing counterclockwise from the deck. Most games of big 2 poker are played with four players although there are variations. There is no particular way to decide who deals first, but in succeeding hands the winner will also become the dealer of the next game. In big 2 poker, the cards are always cut by the player to the dealer’s right. The dealer deals the cards beginning to his or her right and deals counterclockwise until all players have 13 cards.

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Play begins with the player who holds the 3 of diamonds. Cards are played off of each other in legal combinations as mentioned above. Players may also choose to skip their turn. Cards are played into the middle of the table until one player has no cards or until no player can make a play. When one player succeeds in playing all of their cards that person is declared the winner.

After a winner is declared, all hands are scored. All non-winning players are assessed penalty points based on the remaining cards in their hands. For hands containing nine or fewer cards, the penalty in big 2 poker is one point per card; those hands containing ten or more cards are assessed two penalty points per card and those with all thirteen cards left at the end of the game are assessed with penalty points of three points for each remaining card. In big 2 poker, the winner gets no penalty points at all. Prior to play, stakes are set at a certain amount; for instance $1 for each point. At the end of the hand, each player pays the winner according to the number of points that he or she is penalized, i.e. a player who is “caught” with eight cards would owe the winner eight dollars, and so on.

There are many variations in big 2 poker. Many people play in a clockwise fashion (which is especially common in the U.S.). Some games of big 2 poker will stipulate that the player who is caught with the most cards at the end of the game will start the next game. Other variations may not include triples or flushes as legal combinations for game play, using only singles, pairs and combinations of five cards that include the straight, full house, and four of a kind. The penalties for being caught with cards, such as one point being raised to four points, etc., are also common among the different variations of big 2 poker.

Where to play Big 2 Poker Online?

Currently you can only play big2poker online on the Action poker network. The flagship sites on that network are Action Poker itself as well as PaynoRake (where you can get up to 100% rakeback!). Those 2 sites offer a wide assortment of both free and real money games. The real money games range from $0.25 per point to $5.00 per point, and are played with the traditional 4 players. Unfortunately U.S. players are unable to play for real money on the Action Poker Network, but everybody else is allowed to.

Big 2 Poker Strategy

As mentioned above Big 2 Poker strategy is quite difficult to master. For example, a successful Big 2 Poker tournament strategy will greatly different from a winning Big 2 Poker sit and go strategy. This is because in a sitngo there are so few players and you will need to focus your attention on staying alive. If you are playing in a sizable tournament you main objective should be to build up a chip stack during the first few stages of the tournament. If you don't you will risk getting your blinds stolen later down the road.