Seven cards. Three separate hands. Two community boards.
This is the simplest way of explaining Taiwanese Poker.
There are no preflop raises, no three-bets, and no river bluffs. You receive the cards, decide how to split them, and go to showdown.
It sounds simple until you actually have seven cards in front of you and need to decide which one goes on top, which two belong in the middle and which four should become your Omaha hand.
That decision is the game.
Taiwanese Poker mixes ideas from Chinese Poker, Texas Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha into one fast format. The modern online version is usually played for points, with every point carrying a fixed cash value. It is especially similar to OFC, where the Top, middle, and bottom hands are still present, but with few extra cards on each row.
It has also started moving from private mixed games onto online poker platforms. Phenom Poker added the format in September 2026, including both regular Taiwanese Poker and a version with wild Jokers.
If you are trying to understand the rules or simply want to know where to play Taiwanese Poker online, this guide covers both.
What Is Taiwanese Poker?
Taiwanese Poker is a card-setting poker game.
Every player receives seven private cards. You must divide those seven cards into three separate rows:
| Row | Cards | Poker Rules | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top | 1 | Hold’em-style | 1 |
| Middle | 2 | Hold’em-style | 2 |
| Bottom | 4 | Omaha | 3 |
Once everybody has finished setting their cards, two five-card community boards are dealt.
Your Top, Middle and Bottom hands then play against the same three hands belonging to every other player.
There is no folding after seeing your cards. There are no betting streets either. You just make one decision — how to arrange your seven cards — and then the hand goes to showdown.
Current online Taiwanese Poker tables can accommodate between two and six players.
That makes it much faster to learn mechanically than games such as PLO, but the setting decisions can become very deep.
Taiwanese Poker Rules Explained
The easiest way to learn Taiwanese Poker is to forget about trying to build one great poker hand.
You are trying to build three hands at the same time.
And each one works in a different way.
Top Hand: One Card
You put exactly one of your seven cards in the Top position.
That card then plays together with the board using Holdem-style hand selection.
For example, if you put an Ace on top and the board runs:
K-K-8-5-2
your Ace can play as the kicker alongside the pair of Kings.
Sometimes your private card will not improve the board at all. If the board itself makes the best five-card combination, the board can play.
The Top is worth only 1 point.
It is the least valuable row, but throwing away the Top completely can still become expensive, especially when you are trying to stop another player from sweeping you. More on the sweeping later.
Middle Hand: Two Cards
The Middle gets two cards.
It works like Texas Holdem. You can use both private cards, one of them or neither, depending on which combination makes the best five-card hand with the board.
Pairs are obviously attractive here.
If you receive something such as:
A♠ A♦ K♥ Q♥ J♣ 10♣ 9♣
Putting the two Aces together in the Middle gives you a powerful starting point before either board have been shown.
The Middle is worth 2 points.
Bottom Hand: Four Cards
The Bottom is where things become more interesting.
You put four cards there and they play under Omaha rules.
That means you must use:
exactly two cards from your Bottom hand + exactly three community cards.
This part catches new players all the time. And it is the most different one from the Open Face Chinese poker.
If the board contains four hearts, for example, you do not automatically have a flush. You still need two hearts among your four Bottom cards because Omaha forces you to use exactly two private cards.
The Bottom is worth 3 points, making it the most valuable of the three rows.
Phenom’s current rules therefore give half of the available points on each board to the Bottom alone.
Why Are There Two Boards?
This is one of the features that makes Taiwanese Poker different.
After everyone finishes setting their seven cards, two separate five-card boards are run.
Your exact same setup plays against both.
Imagine you set:
Top: A♣
Middle: 8♠ 8♦
Bottom: K♠ Q♠ J♥ 10♥
You do not get to rearrange those cards when Board 1 appears.
Your setup is locked.
It needs to survive Board 1 and Board 2.
That creates a different type of poker decision. Building a hand that needs one very specific board can be dangerous. Strong Taiwanese Poker setups normally have several ways to connect.
Taiwanese Poker Scoring
The standard double-board scoring used online is very easy to remember:
Top = 1 point
Middle = 2 points
Bottom = 3 points
So one board contains 6 available points.
With two boards, there are 12 points available against each opponent.
If you beat another player like this:
Board 1:
Top: Win +1
Middle: Win +2
Bottom: Lose -3
You finish that board at zero.
Then on Board 2:
Top: Win +1
Middle: Win +2
Bottom: Win +3
You win six points.
Your final result against that player is therefore +6 points.
At a $1 point value, that means $6.
At $10 per point, it means $60.
In a multi-way game, your result is calculated against each opponent separately, which is why large Taiwanese Poker games can become much more volatile than heads-up games.
What Is a Home Run in Taiwanese Poker?
There is one result everybody wants.
The Home Run.
To hit one, you must beat the same opponent on:
Top, Middle and Bottom on Board 1,
and
Top, Middle and Bottom on Board 2.
You have won all six comparisons.
The normal six points from each board give you 12 points, and the Home Run adds another 8-point bonus.
That makes a complete sweep worth:
12 + 8 = 20 points
against that opponent.
That bonus changes strategy.
Giving up a small chance of winning one row can be dangerous if it makes you much easier to sweep across both boards.
Can You Foul in Taiwanese Poker?
Under the modern double-board rules used by Phenom, no.
Your Bottom does not have to be stronger than your Middle, and your Middle does not have to be stronger than your Top.
Each row is its own game and this is an important difference from Open-Face Chinese Poker.
It is also where you may find conflicting Taiwanese Poker rules online.
Some older or live versions use different scoring systems, one community board, royalties and hand-order rules. The 2026 WSOP Live-Action Rules, for example, describe a seven-card Taiwanese format with one community board and a separate bonus table.
So before playing, always check the rules used by that specific table.
For the online double-board version covered in this guide, there is no foul requirement between the three rows.
Basic Taiwanese Poker Strategy
Most beginners make the same mistake: they look for the strongest individual poker hand.
Instead, think about points.
Your Bottom is worth three points. Your Middle is worth two. Your Top is worth one.
That immediately tells you where most of your attention should go.
Build a Real Omaha Hand on the Bottom
Four random high cards are not automatically good Omaha cards.
Something such as:
J♠ 10♠ 9♥ 8♥
has great connectivity, straight potential, and two suits working together.
That is normally far more useful than four cards that look strong on their own but barely interact with each other.
Do Not Waste Good Pairs
Pairs are very useful in the Middle because both cards can play under Holdeem rules.
Breaking a strong pair just to improve your Bottom slightly may cost more points than it gains.
Your Best High Card Often Belongs on Top
A strong single card — especially an Ace — gives your Top row a fighting chance on many different boards.
Luke Schwartz’s published approach to the game also starts by looking for a strong high card on Top, a useful pair in the Middle and coordinated cards for the Omaha Bottom.
It is not a rule you should follow blindly, but it is a very good starting framework.
Build for Two Boards
This may be the biggest adjustment for experienced Hold’em players.
Do not ask:
“What board do I want?”
Ask:
“How many different boards can this setup handle?”
Versatility matters.
You only get one setup, but it has to fight twice.
Where to Play Taiwanese Poker Online
For years, this was mainly a private mixed-game format. That is starting to change.
If you are searching for where to play Taiwanese Poker online, there are now two very different routes depending on the stakes you want.
Phenom Poker – Best for Low and Mid Stakes
For most players learning the game, Phenom Poker is the easiest place to start.
Phenom added Taiwanese Poker to its main poker client in September 2026. Tables support two to six players, and the format sits alongside its other Chinese and mixed poker games.
The action is mainly suited to low and mid-stakes players, which makes far more sense when you are still learning how to split your seven cards correctly.
Phenom also offers two versions:
Taiwanese Poker – the regular 52-card version.
Taiwanese Jokers – a 54-card version using two wild Jokers. The Jokers can appear in player hands but not on the community boards.
The regular game is where I would start.
Learn how Top, Middle and Bottom interact first. Once setting the seven cards begins to feel natural, the Joker version adds another layer.
BlastClub – High Stakes to Nosebleeds
The other option is BlastClub.
This is aimed at a completely different player.
Where Phenom makes sense for low and mid stakes, BlastClub is where Taiwanese Poker goes for high-stakes and nosebleed stakes.
That makes it better suited to experienced players who already understand the format and specifically want bigger private action.
The game itself is easy to learn. Playing it for serious money is another matter.
The jump from heads-up or low-stakes Taiwanese Poker into a multi-way high-stakes table can be huge because you are settling points separately against several opponents at once.
If you are completely new to the game, learn the mechanics and setting strategy at smaller stakes first.
If you already know what you are doing and are specifically looking for high or nosebleed Taiwanese Poker online, BlastClub is the more relevant option.
Is Taiwanese Poker Worth Learning?
If you like Omaha, Chinese Poker or mixed games, probably.
It removes most of the waiting from poker.
Every hand matters. Every player gets seven cards. Nobody folds preflop. Everyone has a meaningful decision immediately.
And that decision is much harder than it first appears.
Do you keep the Aces together?
Do you sacrifice one for your Top?
Do you break a pair to create a much stronger Omaha rundown?
Do you build one monster row or three hands that can survive both boards?
That is what makes Taiwanese Poker interesting.
The rules take a few minutes to understand.
Setting seven cards well can take a lot longer.
For players wondering where to play Taiwanese Poker online, the choice is fairly simple right now: start with Phenom Poker for low-to-mid stakes, or look toward BlastClub when you want high-stakes to nosebleed action.
Then comes the hard part.
Seven cards are waiting.
You have to decide where every one of them goes.
