PAI GOW POKER – Playing Guide and Rules to Playing Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow Poker Strategy Guide and Game Rules – How to Play Pai Gow Poker Online or at Land Casinos: Many of the casino games we play today have debatable origins and history. That can’t be said of Pai Gow Poker. Like many Asian games this card game is derived from a tile game. The colloquial Chinese tile games were as complicated as the symbolism they used to convey everyday concepts, and its no wonder Asian gamers are so passionate about Pai Gow Poker. It is a uniquely Asian game as applied to cards even if some aspects look like American Poker.
No other online casino game has moved from the real world to casinos we all play as quickly as Pai Gow.
Pai Gow Poker uses a 53 card deck including a Joker. After an ante you will receive seven cards that you will set into two hands; one hand of five cards and one hand of two. After arranging your cards the dealer arranges theirs according to the House Way. You will then compare your five card hand to theirs.
Each hand is ranked as in American Poker, with the exception of A, 2, 3, 4, 5 which is the second highest straight. More on this later. A pair of Aces is the highest possible rank in the two card hand, no flush or straight is possible.
You of course want to beat the dealer with both hands if possible, but here it gets a little tricky in deciding how to arrange your hands. Your two card hand can’t be superior to the five card hand, for example you are not allowed to separate two Aces for that hand and only have a pair of Twos in your five card hand. It should also be noted that the Joker is only valid to complete straights or flushes. If it doesn’t make one of these hands it is counted as an Ace.
Ties go to the dealer. A tie is called a “copy” hand.
If both of your hands beat the dealer’s you win.
If one is tied and the other outranks the dealers, you lose.
If the dealer outranks both of your hands you lose.
If each of you win one of the hands it is a push and no wager is won nor lost.
The ultimate hand is five of a kind. This can only occur with 4 Aces and the Joker as the Joker is used either to complete straights, flushes or is counted as an Ace. The rest of the hands are ranked as in American Poker except that when player and dealer each have a straight, the straight will be ranked. Ranking is as follows: A, K, Q, J, 10 then A, 2, 3, 4, 5 then K, Q, J, 10, 9 followed by Q, J, 10, 9, 8 etc.
Some casinos charge a 5% commission on Pai Gow Poker winnings. In this case a 100 unit bet that is won will be returned as 100 plus 95 for 195. The house already has the advantage because dealer takes pushes so this rule is waived in some places.
In order to win the wager you will need to beat the dealer with both hands. Until you have practiced the game a bit you may want to refer to the following strategies. If you have two pair and one pair is Aces, keep the Aces in your five card hand – remember this must be the stronger hand. If you are dealt two pair split them up so each hand holds a pair. If you are dealt only one pair, keep that pair in your five card hand but place the next two highest ranking cards in your two card hand. If you are dealt 3 pair put the highest ranking pair in your two card hand. If you are dealt a straight keep the lowest cards possible to keep the straight intact in the five card hand.
This should be enough to get you going. Once you hit the bet, deal, and split button a few times you’ll be right at home with this fun and different game. The action can be fast and the house edge is fairly low so you should be able to enjoy many hours of Pai Gow Poker on line.