Under the 1996 Law on Suppression of Gambling, gambling is strictly prohibited in Cambodia. It has banned all unlawful forms of gambling, including popular card games in Cambodia and provided penalties ranging from monetary fines to short prison sentences. 

Popular Card Games in Cambodia

Cat Te

Cat Te is comparable to Tien Gow but played with cards instead of dominoes. The game is a trick-taking card game widely held in Vietnam and expatriate Vietnamese societies. The objective of Cat Te is to win the last trick in a given round, unlike other card trick games which are to gather tricks, evade tricks, or accomplish a deal.

Three to six players can play the game. There is only one betting round per game as gambling is an essential part of Cat Te. All players must make the same bet, and additional rewards and penalties depend on the outcomes of the game. Before the conclusion of the game, it will also be obligatory for a player to forfeit more than his supplementary bet. The objective of Cat Te is to one or the other win the sixth trick played or won all of the first four tricks played in a round.

Players will be eliminated if they haven't won any trick after the fourth trick, so it is impossible to earn the sixth trick without winning one of the first four of it. Each game, there are under no circumstances more than six tricks.

 At the start of each game, each player is given six cards at the beginning. The round leader starts with a card in each round and then followed by other players taking turns to either get rid of a face-down card or play a face-up card with the same suit but higher rank. The winning player is the one who ends up playing the last card. That player will lead the next round. 

In this game, a player cannot participate in the fifth and sixth rounds if they fail to win any round in the first four rounds. For the duration of the fifth round, only the round leader leaves his / her card facing up, and all other players play a card facing down. Right after the fifth round, the sixth round immediately follows. 

Playing Online Cat Te

When you opt to play online Cat Te, you will be an observer once you enter the room. If you want to reserve your seat, click the button “Sit” or you can click on any empty seats. You may consider to open a new table or wait for someone to leave or go to a different table if there are no seats available. Just double click the table that you want to join in.

Once you are already seated, you can play the next game the cards are dealt. You can click on “Deal” to request the server to deal cards if there is no game in progress and you have to have at least two opponents to proceed to play.

When the time limit clock runs on your screen, you will have to wait for your turn to play. You can then select a card of choice before clicking the action button. This button would one or the other be a Show button, Discard, or Play button be contingent on the card you select and the stage of the game.

The first card played, the leading card will be compared to all cards played in each round. The player with the card that has the same suit as the leading card and with the highest rank wins the series and will lead the next. It is a prerequisite that you need to win at least one round in the first four rounds to be qualified to play the fifth round.

Only the leader in the fifth round can show his card. Players that reached the fifth round presents a card that is only visible to himself/herself. The winner of the fifth round is nominated, and this player would lead the last series. Whoever wins the sixth round wins the game. You'll see the cards in the fifth and sixth round together, with the fifth round cards inferior to the sixth round cards.

Bonus and Prize

Each player will have to put in some amount at the beginning of each game. In the end, the winner takes all the money.

Furthermore, for games with three or more players, if one leaves one of the smallest in rank cards as the last card and still win the game, he/she receives a bonus from each of the opponents again playing in the fifth round. The amount of bonus varies. For default bets of $20, the reward is $5 for the K, $10 for Q, $60 for the two.

There are also various bonuses available in the game. You will receive a reward if you play an ace in the first four rounds. And if you win all first four rounds, your bonus will be equal to half the betting amount from each opponent.

Tien Len

Viet Cong, VC or Thirteen by the Westerners are the shared names known for the game Tien Len as one of the popular card games in Cambodia. The objective is to discard all cards straightaway by defeating the combinations played by the opponents. The game uses a regular fifty two-card deck with no jokers and wild cards, played by four players. At the same time as the game is playable with only two or three players, the game will require an additional fifty two-card deck shuffled together if there are more than four players.

Players can agree in advance to have the cards dealt in counter-clockwise rather than the ideal clockwise by the dealer.

Here is the ranking of the cards from highest to lowest:

Two, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three. On the side from the card rank, the game follows the order of suits with Heart as the highest, trailed by Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades as the lowest. The Three of Spades serve as the lowest and the Two of Hearts as the highest-ranking card. A player must consider that card rank is superior to the suit, which means an Eight of Spades will beat Six of Hearts.

Four Color Cards

With a somewhat lengthy history in China, Four Color Cards is a game of the Rummy family of card games. Several businesses are still manufacturing Four Color Cards, and one of them is in Singapore.

Objective

The objective of this game is very comparable to mahjong, which is to accomplish a winning hand be made up of combinations of the following arrangements. Each player has twenty-five cards in his hand at the start of the game, and a winning hand has twenty-six cards with a minimum of twenty points, and go up to forty-two points at maximum. Each winning hand has to have an odd number of points in the range from nineteen to forty-one. From this time, this can be a rough guide for players to check in case they are short of cards or have extra cards.

Four Colors Rules

Each player gets a turn. To dispose of a card onto the stack, the player must match the colour or number of the card displayed.

There are special action cards that have different rules.

Action Cards

Draw Two: Draw Two cards have a “+2” on them. This sign means the next player has to draw two cards from the deck and loses their turn.

•  Skip Card: The Skip card causes the next player to lose their turn.
•  Reverse Card: The Reverse card causes the order of play to reverse.

Wild Card: Wild Cards have all four colours on them and is playable at any time. The player can then choose the colour.

Wild Card Draw Four: This is a special Wild Card with a “+4” on it. It works like the Draw Card but also grounds the next player to draw four cards. This card can be playable if you have no other cards to play that turn.

To Win 

You must press the “1” button when you are down to one card to win. If you forget, you have to draw two cards. 

This game is available for play on all platforms, including mobile phones, tablet, and PC.

Poker

More and more people are now considering poker as one of the most popular card games in Cambodia. It is now widely played instead of customary Khmer card games such as Khar Te and Kraharm. Texas Hold 'em is the most widely held variant of poker worldwide and is a game that is impeccable for gambling. Cambodia had its first taste of a large poker tournament During the Asian Poker Tour held at the Las Vegas Sun Casino.

Klah Klok

Klah klok is a traditional betting game which uses three dices that have pictures on each side instead of numbers. The players place their stakes on a game board, and bet on which images they believe will be rolled. The dice will then be thrown into a bowl. The players win if the picture they ventured on appears. Their winnings multiply if more than one of their pictures are rolled.