Welcome to EAST WEST!

Hey there! EAST WEST is a super cool game where you and a friend can challenge each other to create the best poker hands. It’s kind of like Chinese Poker, but with its own unique twist!

Let’s Talk Cards and Deals

So, for this game, we’re going to use a special deck of cards with 32 cards in total. We’re talking about cards from 7’s all the way up to Aces. And just a heads up, Aces are considered the top dogs in this game! Now, before we get started, we need to remove the 2’s to 6’s from all four suits.

When we’re all set up, both players should sit on the same side of the table. That way, it’s easier to keep track of the action. Oh, and by the way, the player on the left is called West, while the player on the right is called East. Easy to remember, right?

To figure out who gets to deal the cards, we each take a card from the deck. The player with the lowest card becomes the dealer. How exciting!

To start the game, I need to shuffle the deck really well. Once that’s done, I’ll deal three cards face up in a column. These cards will be the “board” and both players will use them to build their hand.

Now, the rest of the cards go face down on top of the board. This will be the draw pile that we’ll use throughout the game.

The Game Begins

The player sitting opposite to me will go first. They’ll draw the top card from the draw pile and place it beside any of the three board cards. But remember, they can only place the card on their own side of the board. Once they’re done, it’s my turn.

I’ll do the same. I’ll draw the top card from the draw pile and place it next to one of the board cards. But again, I can only put the card on my own side of the board. We’ll keep taking turns and placing cards until we run out of cards or complete a certain number of rounds.

So here’s how it goes: I start with an empty row and gradually add cards to it until it has four cards plus the board card. At that point, the row is complete, and I can’t add any more cards to it. Same goes for my opponent. We each go through this process three times, ending up with three full hands, each containing five cards – the four we placed and the board card.

Once both players have their three complete hands, the game is over, and it’s time to compare the hands. But here’s the twist: we don’t compare all the cards at once. Instead, we take it one row at a time. So in the first row, I compare my hand with my opponent’s hand, and whoever has the better hand wins that row. We repeat this process for the second and third rows.

POKER HANDS

Now, let’s take a look at the different types of poker hands and their rankings, starting from the highest to the lowest:

1. Royal Flush – this is the crème de la crème, the ultimate hand. It consists of a 10, J, Q, K, and A, all in the same suit.

2. Straight Flush – still pretty impressive, this hand is made up of five cards in sequence, all in the same suit. For example, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 of hearts.

3. Four of a Kind – a strong hand consisting of four cards of the same rank, like four 7’s.

In the game of poker, there are various combinations of hands that players can strive to achieve. These hands are ranked in order of strength. Let me explain some of them to you:

1. Royal Flush – This is the strongest hand in poker. It consists of the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten of the same suit.

2. Straight Flush – This hand is similar to a Royal Flush but can be any sequence of cards in the same suit. For example, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of hearts.

3. Four of a Kind – This hand is made up of four cards of the same rank. An example would be four Kings.

4. Full House – This hand consists of three cards of the same rank and two other cards of the same rank. For instance, three Queens and two Nines.

5. Flush – A Flush is any hand where all the cards are of the same suit. It doesn’t matter what the ranks of the cards are, as long as they are all the same suit. For example, five cards of clubs.

6. Straight – A Straight is a hand made up of five cards in sequence. The suits of the cards don’t matter in this case. Here’s an example: 2 of spades, 3 of diamonds, 4 of clubs, 5 of hearts, and 6 of spades.

7. Three of a Kind – This hand consists of three cards of the same rank, along with two other unrelated cards. For example, three Jacks and a 2 and a 7.

8. Two Pairs – As the name suggests, this hand has two pairs of differently ranked cards. For instance, two Aces and two Kings, with an unrelated fifth card.

9. One Pair – Finally, a One Pair hand has two cards of the same rank, along with three unrelated cards. An example would be two Queens and a 4, 6, and 9.

WINNING

In the game of poker, the player who manages to win two out of three of the rows wins the game. So aim for victory! Good luck!