How to Play Tiến Lên (Thirteen)

Tiến Lên is a Vietnamese climbing and shedding card game. English game lists often call it Thirteen, because each of the four players is dealt 13 cards. You win by emptying your hand before anyone else.

If you know Big Two, the rhythm will feel familiar. Someone leads, the next player beats it with the same kind of play or passes, and holding control of the table matters. The opening card, the suit order, the plays you're allowed and the chops are where Tiến Lên goes its own way.

Rules change from one group to the next. This page describes the rules our game uses, so what you read here is what happens at the table.

Tiến Lên rules at a glance

• Four players, 13 cards each, from one 52-card deck.
• The first player to get rid of every card wins.
• 3 is the lowest rank and 2 the highest.
• Hearts are the top suit, then diamonds, clubs and spades.
• Whoever holds the 3♠ opens the first game, and the opening play must include it.
• You can play singles, pairs, triples, four of a kind, sequences and double sequences.
• Once you pass, you sit out the rest of that trick unless you can come back in with a chop.

Card order and suit order

Ranks run from 3 at the bottom through 10, J, Q, K and A, with 2 at the top. Rank is always compared first.

Suits only matter when ranks are equal. Hearts beat diamonds, diamonds beat clubs and clubs beat spades. That makes the 2♥ the best single card in the deck and the 3♠ the worst, which is the reverse of the spades-high order in Hong Kong Big Two.

Who plays first

In the first game, the player holding the 3♠ leads, and the opening play has to include that card. It doesn't have to be a single. A pair of 3s, a sequence starting 3♠ 4 5 or any other legal play containing the 3♠ will do. Nobody can pass on that opening lead.

In later games the winner of the previous game leads instead, with any legal play. Within a game, whoever made the last play in a trick that everyone else passed on takes control and starts the next trick with whatever they like.

Plays you can make

To beat the play on the table you need the same kind of play with the same number of cards, ranked higher. A pair beats a pair, and a four-card sequence beats a four-card sequence. A three-card sequence can't be answered with a four-card one. Chops are the only exception, and they get their own section below.

A single is one card. A pair is two cards of the same rank, a triple three, and four of a kind all four. Higher rank wins. Between two pairs of the same rank, the pair holding the higher suit wins, so 9♣ 9♥ beats 9♠ 9♦.

A sequence is three or more cards of consecutive ranks. Suits can be mixed. A 2 can never be part of a sequence, so the highest one ends at the ace (Q K A), and sequences can't wrap around from A to 2 or 3. Two sequences of the same length are compared by their top card, then that card's suit.

A double sequence is three or more pairs of consecutive ranks, such as 5 5 6 6 7 7. Like a sequence, it can't include 2s. It only meets a double sequence with the same number of pairs, compared by the top card. Every double sequence also counts as a chop.

Tiến Lên has no five-card poker hands. Flushes, full houses and straight flushes aren't plays here, and four of a kind doesn't need a fifth card.

Passing and winning a trick

You can pass whenever you can't or don't want to beat the play on the table, even if you hold something that would beat it. Passing in Tiến Lên lasts longer than in Big Two. Once you pass, you are out of that trick, and play skips you until it clears.

The trick clears when everyone else has passed on the last play. The player who made it takes control and leads the next trick with any play they like.

Chops: how to beat a 2

Twos are the strongest rank, but they aren't safe. Tiến Lên has chops (some players call them bombs), combinations that can beat 2s even though they are a different kind of play. In our rules:

• Four of a kind beats a single 2.
• A double sequence of three pairs beats a single 2.
• A double sequence of four pairs beats a pair of 2s.
• A double sequence of five pairs beats three 2s.

Each chop matches one target exactly. Four of a kind can't beat a pair of 2s, and a four-pair double sequence can't be thrown on a single 2. A chop that has been played can only be beaten by a higher chop of the same kind and size, like four 9s over four 7s.

Chops are what make the endgame tense. Sitting on a 2 too long gets risky if someone is holding a chop back.

Beginner strategy

• Plan how your hand will empty. A long sequence is less useful if it leaves you with awkward single cards.
• Don't count a 2 as a sure winner. Ask yourself whether a chop could still be out there.
• Keep runs of pairs together. They shed cards quickly and can turn into chops against 2s.
• Watch who has passed. A player who passed is out of the trick unless they hold a chop.
• When you win control, lead the kind of play that gets rid of your own hand fastest.

Tiến Lên vs Big Two and Pusoy Dos

All three are climbing and shedding games, but they don't share the same plays. Tiến Lên opens with the 3♠ in our rules, ranks hearts highest, uses sequences and chops, and leaves out the poker-hand ladder that Big Two and Pusoy Dos play with.

For a side-by-side view of the regional rules, see the comparison of Big Two variants. For the Filipino branch, read the Pusoy Dos rules explainer.