Tiến Lên glossary: the words you hear at the table
Sit down at a Tiến Lên table with Vietnamese players and you will hear a lot of words that are not in any rulebook. This glossary explains the most common ones, so you know what is happening when somebody shouts 'chặt!' across the room.
Cards and combinations
• Heo (pig): a 2, the highest card in the game. Called heo in the south; you may also hear it called hai (two).
• Rác (rubbish): a low single that is hard to get rid of, such as a lone 3 or 4.
• Đôi (pair): two cards of the same rank, for example two 9s.
• Sám or sám cô (triple): three cards of the same rank.
• Sảnh (run): three or more cards of consecutive ranks, for example 5-6-7-8. A 2 can never be part of a run.
• Đôi thông (consecutive pairs): three or more pairs in a row, for example 4-4-5-5-6-6. Three or more consecutive pairs work as a bomb.
• Tứ quý (four of a kind): all four cards of one rank. Also a bomb.
Suits
When two cards have the same rank, the suit decides which is higher. From lowest to highest the order is spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts. The Vietnamese names are bích (spades), chuồn or tép (clubs), rô (diamonds) and cơ (hearts). The 3 of spades, ba bích, is the lowest card in the deck and always starts the first round.
Actions at the table
• Đánh: to play cards.
• Bỏ qua or qua: to pass. Once you pass, you sit out the rest of that trick.
• Chặt (chop): to beat one or more 2s with a bomb. The most celebrated move in the game.
• Chặt chồng: chopping a bomb with a bigger bomb, for example beating three consecutive pairs with four of a kind.
• Về nhất: to finish first. Về bét means finishing last.
Instant wins
Tới trắng is an instant win: a hand so strong that the round ends straight after the deal. On t13nlen.app there are two. Tứ quý heo is all four 2s. Rồng, the dragon, is one card of each of the thirteen ranks from 3 to 2, a hand that almost never happens.
Learn the rest by playing
The words stick quickly once you hear them during a game. Play a few rounds online, or read the full rules if you want every detail of what beats what.