Chinese poker game gains official recognition

The screenshot of an online Landlord game [Photo/thepaper.cn]

'Landlord' or Dou Di Zhu in Chinese has seen its first ever national contest on Saturday, the Two Against One Poker Championships, with China's General Administration of Sport being one of the hosts.

The winner could get as much as five million yuan, and players can also gain master points that will be the basis for a national ranking of Landlord poker players.

Anyone can apply to play in the competition for free, but instead of actual poker, they will be competing online in preliminary matches that last until June, 2017.

Contestants ranked 2,000 and above in preliminary matches will then have the chance to compete face-to-face.

A deputy director under the General Administration of Sport, Chen Zelan, expressed confidence about the popularity of the competition.

"We can see a stunning number of people in the competition. We are expecting over 100 million players enrolled online in total," she said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency.

The Two Against One Poker Championships were held after the administration granted official status to the poker game as a type of card or chess game in March of this year.

The authority also published a set of rules and regulations for the poker game and an assessment system for points and ranking.

About Landlord

Landlord normally consists of at least three players: one being the Landlord and the other two, the Peasants.

The Peasants play in a team against the Landlord.

Any player that feels confident about his or her cards can claim to be the Landlord in the beginning and receive three extra cards.

Apart from playing among family and friends, the game can also be played on dozens of online gaming platforms in China.