How to play the Pho card, the rules of the game and how to calculate the scoring

Phỏm, also known as Tá lả, is considered one of the most entertaining and challenging card games played with a deck of 52 playing cards. Playing this game requires a high level of concentration and many skills and win tips. Let's explore the rules and how to play Phỏm!

What is Bai Phat (Tá La)?

Phỏm (Tá lả) is a popular game in Vietnam, especially in the northern region. When playing Phỏm, players must take a card from their opponent to form a Phỏm set, while discarding cards that have no value to prevent their opponent from winning the Phỏm.

Phỏm is a well-known game in Vietnam, more popular in the northern region, especially in the northern delta. When playing Phỏm, players should consider ways to collect cards and discard those with no value to form Phỏm sets and minimize the total points of cards not included in the Phỏm.

Phỏm (Tá lả) is a popular game in Vietnam, especially in the northern region

Rules of Phỏm (Tá lả)

Each game requires at least 2 players. Each player will receive 9 cards, and the dealer (or winner) will receive 10 cards. The game will run clockwise, starting with the player holding 10 cards.

Players participating in the game will arrange their cards to form a Phỏm set. We can understand this as follows:

• Cards: Formed from 2 cards of the same value or 2 consecutive cards or a separate set of the same color, for example, a pair of 4, 5 (spades) and 7 (spades).
• Phỏm: Consists of 3 or more cards of the same value or 3 or more consecutive cards of the same suit, such as three 3's (diamonds), 4 (diamonds), 5 (diamonds), 6 (diamonds), 7 (diamonds). The more Phỏm sets you have, the higher the chance of winning.

The player with 10 cards will play first, discarding a useless card. The player to the right of the last player must calculate whether they can use the discarded card to form a Phỏm set. If so, they should take the card and discard another card to the table. If not, the player must draw a card from the draw pile and discard a card. If someone wins or the game has completed four rounds, the game will end. The winner will be the player who has no cards left (called ù) or the player with the lowest total points.

What is the penalty rule in the game of Phỏm?

In the game of Tá lả (Phỏm), there are three cases where players are required to pay a penalty:

1. If player A discards an unwanted card, and player B is the next to take that card, then player A must pay player B 1 betting unit. If this is the final round of the game, then player A must pay player B 4 times the betting unit.

2. If player B collects 3 cards from player A, then player B is considered to have won the game with a "ù" hand, and player A must pay all the losing players.

3. If the final player receives an unwanted card in the final round and the game is won with a "ù" hand, then the final player must pay the other two losing players.

The most detailed guide on how to play Phom card

To start a game of Phỏm (Tá lả), there should be 2-4 players, but it is best to play with four players for maximum enjoyment. Each player is dealt 9 cards, with the first player receiving an additional card, for a total of 10 cards. The remaining cards are placed in the center of the table.

The first player discards an unwanted card, and the next player can "eat" any set of two or more cards of the same suit from the previous player's hand. If a card is eaten, the other players do not know which card was taken to form a set. If the next player chooses not to take a card from the previous player, they must draw a card from the center pile.

The drawn card is not revealed to other players, and the next player can choose to eat a set of cards or pass. The game continues in this way until a player wins with a "ù" hand.

A player wins with a "ù" hand when they have no unwanted cards and have formed sets of cards called Phỏm. If no player wins with a "ù" hand after four rounds, the game ends.

Before the final card is played, the players must inform each other that their Phỏm sets have been collected and are ready to be scored. Players can arrange their sets of Phỏm as they wish, and each player can only eat one card.

The game rounds in Phom

A game of Phom consists of 4 rounds, during each round, players can either pick up a card from the stock or eat a card from another player. A player can take up to 3 cards in a round.

When an unwanted card is eaten, the remaining unwanted cards will be moved clockwise to indicate which round the players are in. The player with the least number of cards at the end of the game is the winner. If a player has made 2 or more sets of three cards in the final round, they have the right to declare "Phom".

Scoring in Phom

A game ends when a player declares "u" (meaning they have made all their sets of three cards and have no more cards in their hand), and the other 3 players have to pay double the amount of the bet to the winner. If the player who declared "u" has 10 cards in hand before discarding, meaning they have 10 sets of three cards, then the total amount of money lost will be doubled and the winner will receive 12 bets.

If there is no "u" declared, the winner will be determined by counting the points in their hand. Points are based on the value of each card, specifically the J, Q, K cards are worth 11, 12, and 13 points respectively. The player with the least number of points is the winner. The second lowest scorer will pay one bet, the third lowest scorer will pay two bets, and the lowest scorer will pay three bets. If two players have the same number of points, the one who discarded their card first will win.

In Phom, there is a situation called "mom" where a player has not made any sets of three cards. In this case, the player who is "mom" will lose the game and share the bet with the winner.

Some terms in playing Phom

Deck of cards: the tool used to play Phom consists of 52 cards. Each card is divided into two parts. The number part includes 13 numbers: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K combined with four suits: Spades, Diamonds, Clubs, and Hearts to create a complete card.

Sets of three cards (Phom): There are two types: horizontal sets (three or more cards of the same rank) and vertical sets (three or more cards of the same suit in consecutive order). There are three types of Phom: "an" Phom (cards already in hand), "tuoi" Phom (cards drawn from the deck), and "boc" Phom (cards picked up during the game). "Tuoi" and "boc" Phom are collectively referred to as natural Phom.

"Cạ": A set of 2 cards that can be combined with another card to form a "Phỏm", including:

• Cards of the same rank.
• Cards of the same suit and consecutive ranks.

"Ăn": A condition for eating a card (played by the player before you) is to have at least 1 "Cạ" that can be combined with the eaten card to form a "Phỏm," and there are no tied cards in this set.

Note: A card X is considered tied if it already belongs to another "Phỏm" and if used to eat or play, the eaten set would not belong to any "Phỏm." For example, if you have the cards Q Spades, 10 Spades, and 9 Spades, and you eat a J Spades, the 10 Spades becomes a tied card.

"Xoay Phỏm": If you can use 2 "Cạ" to take 1 card, you can say that you can rotate the "Phỏm" by taking that card.

"Nọc": The face-down cards in the middle of the deck after the cards are dealt. The number of poison cards is N-1 (not part of the remaining deck, where N is the number of players).

"Điểm": The total score of the cards in hand after laying down and counting the J, Q, and K as 11, 12, and 13 points, respectively. The remaining cards have corresponding scores, such as the 9 of Hearts, which is worth 9 points. The player with the lower score wins.

"Xếp hạng": The player with the lowest score is ranked higher. If the score is tied, the player who laid down first is prioritized. If playing "Tái Gửi," the player who is not being "Tái" has a higher priority than the one who is.

"Vòng Chốt": The round starts with the player who has N-1 cards remaining after the poison cards are drawn (where N is the number of players). From that point on, all of that player's moves and the subsequent moves are considered a "Chốt" hand.

"Vòng Hạ Vòng": The laying down phase starts when the first player draws the number of cards in the poison pile to equal N-1 (N is the number of players). That player and all subsequent players must lay down their cards.

"Cháy": A card set without any "Phỏm" after laying down.

"Tái": After laying down a card set, a player can still "Ăn," draw cards, and play if they are playing "Tái Gửi" and the poison cards are not yet gone.

"Cây Rác": A set of individual cards that cannot be combined with other cards in hand to form a "Phỏm."

"Ù": The game ends when a player has no garbage cards left in their hand, except in the case of "ù khan."

"Ù khan": When a player receives no "Cạ" or "Phỏm" cards in their initial hand.

"Móm": The game ends when a player has no "Phỏm" sets.

"Đền": When a player's move causes the next player to eat 3 cards, they must pay compensation.

Some terms in playing Phom

Professional Tips for Playing Tien Len

Playing Tien Len (Phom) at wagering website requires good strategic thinking and a strong memory. The ability to memorize and accurately guess the cards played will help you become a professional player. If you are not familiar with the game, check out the tips below.

Counting Cards and Memorizing Cards

If you have played Tien Len before, you know that the game is usually played with 2 to 4 players. If there are only 2 or 3 players, each player will only receive their own cards 4 times and play 4 cards each, so there will be a significant number of cards remaining making it difficult to guess.

However, when playing with different players, the dealer will deal 9 cards to each player, and the dealer will have 10 cards, so there will be 15 cards left, and only 4 rounds are needed to finish the game. Based on this, you should try to remember the cards that have been played, the cards that have been taken, and guess your opponent's cards to have a reasonable strategy.

Tricking Opponents

Those who have played chess know this very well. This is the magical point of this game, if you know how to transform and trick your opponent, your winning chances are significantly increased. This technique is simple but effective. If you know how to transform the cards, then this trick is really scary.

Playing Tien Len without tricking opponents is like "eating plain rice." First, you need to count the cards, not to mention how to play the cards (because you play for money). If you just think a few moves without calculating anything, you will probably lose.

Follow the number to create a Phỏm sảnh (also known as a string of Phỏm)

This is currently the most popular way to play Phỏm and is very easy for beginners to follow. Sometimes, in tense economic matches, this method can be very effective. Professional players don't think their opponents would play in such a "chicken" way. The way of capturing cards for Phỏm is usually applied when someone has a vertical pair of cards to create a Phỏm sảnh (string).

For example: if you have J, K of the same suit and you need to create a Phỏm of J Q K, you should play a different suit Q card with J, K. Combined with this card capture method, sometimes we have to sacrifice by "releasing the shrimp to catch the crab".

For example, we may have to mislead others by telling them that we have no chance of winning this particular card or that we have the least chance of holding it.

For example: in a card game with a pair of J and a matching K card, considering that the chance of getting 3 J cards is low, we will play one J card to capture the J, K pair...

Conclusion

For a 52-card deck, there are many different card games to play such as Phỏm, ba cây, tiến lên, liêng... Among them, playing Phỏm is considered a game of chance, played quickly, and with a very easy way of playing. I wish you luck and more experience in this card game!

Further reference: The secret of how to play the 9 easiest trees to win.