How To Play Pai Gow Poker – Rules of Pai Gow

Pai Gow Poker is a variation of standard poker games that developed from Asian roots. It combines the Asian game Pai Gow, which means makes nine, with classic poker, utilizing card rankings and bets. Pai Gow Poker matches players against the bank rather than fellow players. This offers players a chance to beat the banker by organizing two high-ranking hands. Traditional Asian Pai Gow is played with dominoes, whereas Pai Gow Poker uses cards both in land-based casinos and online.

General Pai Gow Principles

The basics for learning Pai Gow Poker include knowing which cards are in play and the roles of different players around the Pai Gow Poker table. A few key general guidelines will help players know how Pai Gow is organized before beginning the game.

The card deck for Pai Gow Poker is a standard 52-card deck plus jokers.
Jokers play as wild cards for straight flushes, straights and flushes. Jokers can also serve as a wild ace for any hand.
In some casinos, jokers are open wild cards, substituting for any card in any hand.
Six players and the dealer sit at the Pai Gow Poker table.
Starting with the dealer, each player takes a turn in order as the banker, which is marked by a special marker called a chung. This designates a player’s turn as the banker.
Players may pass the banker’s role onto the next player without serving as the banker.
Depending on the casino, players may serve one or two consecutive turns as banker before having to pass the role to the next player.
On turns when the dealer is not acting as the banker, the dealer plays as one of the other six players in the hand.

The goal of Pai Gow Poker is for each player to create the two highest ranking hands possible that will beat the two banker’s hands. Hands are composed of a five card high hand and a two card low hand, organized by each player’s choice among the seven cards they receive. Each player’s five card hand should always outrank the two card hand, or the player creates a foul and automatically loses their bet.

Pai Gow Five-Card Hand Rankings

The ranking of Pai Gow Poker hands is very similar to standard poker, with the exception that a Five Aces hand, composed of four aces and the joker, outranks a Royal Flush. The Pai Gow Poker hand rankings range from highest to lowest as follows:

Five Aces: four aces and a joker
Royal Flush (a straight flush with ace high)
Straight Flush
4 of a Kind
Full House
Flush
Straight (AKQJT beats A2345, or wheel, which beats other straights)
3 of a Kind
2 Pair
1 Pair

Two Card Hand Rankings

Much more directly, the two card hand functions as a pair for its real value. Aces are high in Pai Gow Poker, so the highest two card hand is a pair of aces. From there, a pair of Kings is of the second highest value, following the the standard face value rankings. The rest of the pairs follow in sequence from Queens (high) down to the lowest pair, twos. Single cards also follow this standard rank from Ace high to deuce low.

Rules of Play

The Deal

To begin each Pai Gow Poker hand, the dealer first deals out seven general stacks of seven cards each. The last four cards are discarded. Players then place their initial bets on the table in their player area. Next, the dealer takes three dice and shakes them in a teacup to roll for which player receives the first set of cards. Totaling the number on the dice, the dealer counts clockwise around the table, beginning with herself. The player who numbers the same as the dice total receives the first hand. The rest of the card stacks are passed out counterclockwise to the rest of the players, including the dealer.

Beginning Play

Once the players receive their cards, each player makes two hands, one of five cards and one of two cards, aiming for the highest ranking combinations of the available seven cards. Players place their two-card hand, called the low hand, in front of the larger hand, the high hand.

After all the players finish setting their cards in order, the dealer turns over the banker’s cards so they all face up. Then the banker (not the dealer, except when the dealer is the banker) arranges the seven cards to form the highest ranking combinations. When the banker finishes his hands, the hand is individually compared to each players’ hands. The comparison moves clockwise around the table, beginning again with the first player who received his cards.

Winning at Pai Gow Poker

As the comparisons are made between the banker and the players’ hands, the player wins when BOTH of his hands outrank the banker’s two hands. The dealer pays the player even money from the banker’s money for the win.

Other win or lose options include the following scenarios:

Banker’s and player’s two card hand matches in value: This is called copies. The banker wins the player’s full bet so the dealer moves the money from player to banker.
Banker’s and player’s five card hand matches in value: Also called copies, and the banker wins the player’s full bet.
Mixed hands when only one of player’s hands beats one of the banker’s: This is a tie. No money is exchanged and the player retains their original bet.
Banker’s two hands beat player’s two hands: The player loses and the banker wins the player’s full bet.

In addition to these winning payouts, the house rakes a 5% commission on all winning bets. The dealer collects the 5% from the winning player bets and from the banker’s total winnings. For the player in the banker’s role to break even with this commission, players should aim to collect from six to fourteen times more money than they bet in the player roles.

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Pai Gow Strategy Tips

Pai Gow Poker does allow players to utilize strategy for their hand organization, similar to poker and blackjack. It is not fully a game of chance. Pai Gow Poker strategy is based on which cards a player holds from the deal, as no additional cards are added to the players hand. This means making very effective choices with the cards a player receives is the best way to win at Pai Gow Poker.

When holding no apparent combinations of pairs, no straights or no flushes:

five cards: use the highest card you hold
two cards: use the next two individual high cards (second, third high)

When holding one pair, no additional pairs and no flushes:

five cards: use the pair
two cards: use the two individually highest cards

When holding two pair with an ace:

five cards: use the two pairs
two cards: use the ace and the other highest card

When holding two pair with NO ace, split the pairs as:

five cards: play the higher pair in this hand
two cards: play the lower pair

When holding two pair and a straight:

five cards: use the two pair according to the above directions, ignoring the straight
two cards: use the remaining cards according to the two pair directions ace/no ace

When holding three pair:

five cards: use the pairs that are second and third high
two cards: play the highest pair here

When holding five card straights:

five cards: play the straight
two cards: use the other two individual cards

When holding six card straights:

five cards: use the straight remaining after the two card hand
two cards: play the two highest cards possible here without killing the straight

When holding two pair and a flush:

five cards: use the two pair, according to two pair strategy, ace or no ace, ignore the flush
two cards: play the ace/no ace two pair strategy, ignore the flush

When holding flushes, other than with pairs:

five cards: play the highest flush possible
two cards: use the two highest cards possible without breaking the flush

When holding a full house:

five cards: play the three of a kind
two cards: play the pair

Some online casinos give players the house way option as a choice to automatically organize their dealt cards according to the best house policies (as above.) Players may elect this option or organize the cards manually for their maximum potential.

Additionally, players gain a slight strategic edge when playing the banker’s role, because the banker wins any copies where players lose. Thus the banker has the potential to win or break even three ways, where players only have two ways to win or break even. However, the banker also may have to risk the amount of money that covers the rest of the players bets. Some casinos will allow the banker to bet less than the players’ total bets. The banker only risks what he places on the table.

Pai Gow Poker has a simple feel, but some complex angles. Learning Pai Gow Poker is a means of strategic decision making under pressure, similar to poker. Players of Pai Gow Poker should expect more ties than wins, but practicing hand combinations can get a player to earn more at Pai Gow Poker.

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