The game is for best for four players, each playing for themselves. This description was put together by John McLeod using information from various sources, including contributions from Kenneth Lu, Gary Chan, Tanya Shively, Patrick Corr, Wei-Hwa Huang, Anthony Kam, Sheryll May, Thais Moncrief, Todd Latta, Nicholas Cheung, Jim Harris, Kallen Group, Jonathan Dushoff, Tan Thor Jen, Jason Chan, Robert, Karl Boehnker, Harold Hutabarat, James and Erik Nelson and Ivan Ip. First I will describe the basic game as played in China. Mathijs Claasen reports that in the Netherlands it is called Sjalaliën.tells me that this translates into English as 'Poker Two' - 'Pusoy' being the Filipino name for Poker. Pusoy Dos is the usual name used in the Philippines, with the stress on the second syllable of Pusoy.Bu Bu Gao Sheng (步步高升) ('step by step rise higher') is another name used for this game in Taiwan.

One correspondent told me it is Hokkien (Fujian) meaning 'play the biggest smallest' another says it is not Hokkien, but that 'Dai D' is Hong Kong (Cantonese) slang for 'the little guy', and the whole name means 'step on the little guy'. There is general agreement that the whole phrase refers to the fact that in this game the two is the highest rather than the lowest card, and that 'Big Two' is an accurate translation of the sense. In Cantonese, 'di2' is a slang term for the two in card games: the first way of writing it seems to have a literal meaning connected with the earth, but in fact, like 'D', it is just a phonetic approximation to the sound. I am not certain from what Chinese dialect this term originates. , surprisingly using a Western letter D for the last syllable.

Choh Dai Di or simply Dai Di - written 鋤大地.

Da Lao Er (大老二) is Mandarin Chinese and literally means 'big old two', but also has a vulgar meaning.

Big Two, Big Deuce or Deuces are the names commonly used in the English speaking world (mainly USA and Australia).

This climbing game probably originated in coastal China around 1980 it became very popular in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan and also in the Philippines and Singapore it has also spread to some western countries. Direction of play, Dealing and starting the play, Order of suits, Use of twos and aces in straights and straight flushes, Ranking of flushes, Order of royal flush, quads and straight flush, Playing without triples and flushes, Playing quads without an odd card, Honour hands beat all combinations, Two extra cards with a straight flush, No Play after a Pass, Last card, Playing until only one player has cards, Scoring variations, Hong Kong Big Two.

What beats 4 of a kind poker