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Pai Gow Poker - Part 1

Conrad Kn | Conrad Kn ( Tue 30th, June 2009 )

Pai Gow Poker is a card-based gambling game derived from a Chinese pastime of the same name. It is played with a standard 52 card deck plus one joker card...

Each player is handed 7 cards, and the purpose of the game is to create two sets of 5 and 2 cards respectively using typical poker hand values. Up to six players and the dealer can participate in the game and each player tries to defeat the banker, who can be ether the dealer or any of the other players.

The rules of Pai Gow Poker

To play in a game in Pai Gow Poker, this is what you must do:

The dealer shuffles the 53 card deck and deals each player 7 cards face down.

With the seven cards you get from the dealer you need to create two different poker hands; a two card “low hand”, sometimes called “small”, “minor” or “on top” and a five card “high hand”, also dubbed the “bottom”, “big” or “behind”. The five card hand is placed close to you and must always have a higher value than the 2 card hand, which is placed north of the former, closer to the dealer.

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Winning in Pai Gow Poker

You play each of your hands against the banker (in casinos this is the dealer), comparing hands of equal numbers of cards against each other. Your hands can’t tie with the banker’s; ties are always considered wins for the dealer. This gives the banker a slight edge in the game.

In order to win, both of your hands must beat the banker’s. If one of your hands beats the banker and the other loses, the game is a push.

The 5 card hand can be pretty much any poker hand such as a pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, royal flush and 5 aces (playing the joker), while the 2 card hand can be ether a high card or a pair, as long as it remains lower than the 5 card high hand.

The Joker

The joker is played as a type of wild card called a “bug”. What this means is that instead of being completely wild (have any value) it can only be used as ether an ace or to complete a flush or straight in the 5 card hand. On the 2 hand card, it is always an ace. In some casinos however, particularly in California, the joker may be totally wild.

The A 2 3 4 5 Hand

Although Pai Gow Poker uses standard poker hand rankings, some casinos in Nevada and online have one exception; an A to 5 straight becomes the second highest ranking straight, above a king-high but below the A K Q J 10 straight. Normally, this is the lowest possible straight hand, and most casinos in California and Michigan ignore this rule altogether.

The House Way

The banker, unlike the player, must set his hands in a very specific way. This is called the “House Way”, and it exists avoid the bank/dealer form using any particular strategy while playing, limiting the options for the banker to the payer’s advantage. The House Way, as the name implies, varies for place to place.

The player is in no way required to set his hands using the house way, but in online casinos he may have the option to do so. This is ether explicitly presented as an option, or it may be called by other terms on the software, like “auto select cards” or “assisted hand selection”.

The Dragon Hand

In some establishments and online casinos and extra set of seven cards are dealt on a vacant seat, called a “Dragon Hand”. After setting their own hands, the player will be asked if he wishes to play the dragon hand. If there are more players on the table, they will be asked in turn and the first one to accept will be handed the cards. The player the sets up the two hands as normal and will be effectively playing two 7 card sets. The dragon hand is otherwise discarded.

Read on as we explore Pai Gow’s origin and history and some modern strategy for the game…

Conrad Kn