If you haven’t sampled the tasty action of Chinese poker yet you’ll almost certainly have heard of it. It may have come to your attention on an episode of High Stakes Poker, through a friend or on a forum, or you might have seen it being played in a casino.

One thing is certain, Chinese is becoming the action game of choice in tournament downtime.

Although variants have long been popular in the Asian community, the game has enjoyed only sporadic acceptance in the poker community at large. It was incorporated into World Series of Poker bracelet events in 1995 and 1996, with Doyle Brunson finishing as runner-up to Steve Zolotow in the inaugural $5,000 tournament, but it comes as a surprise that the game is currently enjoying a resurgence.

To meet demand Planet Hollywood has installed two Chinese Poker heads- up tables in its newly refurbished cardroom, while top pros at the Bellagio and Wynn are regularly spotted playing for high stakes.What are the rules?

Chinese poker is a game for two to four players with a standard deck of 52 cards used.