Cranial surgery, canal locks and card games all have one thing in common – the Chinese invented them while we Brits were still hiding from Viking marauders and wallowing in pig filth. The Chinese have been playing cards for more than a millennium and have a whole poker variant named after them. Chinese poker – also known as 13-card poker, or occasionally as Russian poker in the US – is based on the usual poker hand rankings, but comparing it to hold’em is like comparing Play Your Cards Right to Mastermind.

So why should you care? Well, if you’re lucky enough to end up sitting next to a poker pro on a plane, you need to learn how to play it sharpish, as it has become the downtime game of choice.