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Pai Gow PokerWebsite Gambling Article by - - Nov 2, 2007 Pai Gow Poker is a variation on the Chinese domino game, which is simply called Pai Gow. This adaptation uses a standard pack of 52 playing cards plus one joker. The Joker can be used only as an Ace, or to complete a straight or flush. Each player has the opportunity to be the banker. Pai-gow poker is what is referred to as a banking poker game. Played in Las Vegas and California card clubs, it is only recently making its way into the world of online gambling. Pai Gow poker has its roots in the ancient Chinese game of Pai Go. Pai Gow poker is a blend of the ancient game and American poker. Pai Gow poker has grown quickly in popularity. When you play Pai Gow poker, you must pay a 5% commission to the bank each time you win. Played around a special pai gow table, the table has room for the dealer and six players. The house initially assumes the role of the bank with the dealer as the banker, and then the position moves around from player to player. The role of banker can be declined by any player, and passed on to the next person in line. The role of banker is indicated with a chung that is set in front of that player's area. When the dealer is not the banker, he/she plays the hand as a player. The ranking of the Pai Gow hands is very similar to that of standard Poker - Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2. The exception in hands between Pai Gow Poker and standard poker is that in Pai Gow the following rules apply: The highest Straight hand is A-K-Q-J-10 The second highest Straight hand is A-2-3-4-5 The third highest Straight hand is K-Q-J-10-9 Each suit - Spades, Clubs, Hearts and Diamonds - is of equal rank. The object of the game is to use 7 dealt cards to construct two hands that will beat the dealer's two hands. The object of pai gow poker is to make two poker hands that beat the banker's hands. The player is dealt 7 cards that he makes into a five card hand - high hand - and a two card hand - low hand. The hands are played and ranked as traditional poker hands - with one exception: A 2 3 4 5 is the second highest straight - and the 5 card hand must be higher than the 2 card hand. If both hands are better than the banker's hand, you win, if both lose, you lose, otherwise it's a push. The banker wins absolute ties i.e. K Q vs K Q. The pai gow table layout has 7 spots one in front of the dealer and 6 for players. Play begins by making a wager. Next everyone receives seven cards. A roll of the dice or a randomly generated number determines which player gets the first set of cards. The players then each arrange their seven cards into a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The five-card hand is ranked as in poker, with the exception that an A-2-3-4-5 straight is the second highest straight. The two-card hand will either be a pair or two individual cards. The highest two-card hand is a pair of aces and the lowest is a 2-3. When the PaiGow players receive their cards, they set them into two hands of five and two cards. The two-card hand is known as the low hand is placed in front of the five-card hand known as the high hand. Each five-card hand is ranked according to the pai gow poker hierarchy which varies only slightly from the standard poker hand hierarchy. The only real difference is that five aces, which are accomplished by adding four aces to a joker, beats out a royal flush and is the highest hand in the game. The pai gow player puts the two card hand face down in the box closest to the dealer, and the five card hand face down in back. Once everybody has set their hand, the dealer turns over and sets the bank's hand. The dealer goes counterclockwise around the table comparing the banks hand to the players, and taking, paying, or knocking. There is a 5% commission on winning bets that you can either put out next to your winning bet, or the pai gow dealer will subtract from your payoff. Strategies for Pai Gow Poker: The thing you always have to remember is you need to win both hands. A full house would look very good in a five-card hand but unless you have another pair besides the full house in your hand, it would always be wise to split up the full house into a pair and a three of a kind. A pair in a two-card hand is almost unbeatable, unless of course your card values are lower than the dealers. And, of course, a three of a kind is also very good in a five-card hand. In this case you can be almost sure you are going to be a winner. If you kept the full house in just one hand, the other hand would have lost and it would have been a push. Another thing to think of is in case you have to choose between either making two average to weak hands or one strong hand and one sure loser. Usually it is better to play it safe and go for one strong hand and hope for a push instead of risking to lose your bet with two average hands. In pai-gow poker, the only strategic decisions are how much to bet and how to set your hand. The simple pai gow basic strategy for setting your hand is to make the highest 2-card hand that is less than your five card hand. If you can't figure out what to do, you can show your hand to the dealer and they will tell you how the house would set it. Since pairs generally win the 2-card hands, and two-pair wins the 5-card hands, the only difficult decisions are when to split two pairs. The house rules at the Four Queens were not to split low pairs (<= 6) and not to split pairs <= 10 if there was a Ace high two card hand. So the house would set A 10 10 6 6 5 3 => A 5 / 10 10 6 6 3 A Pai gow is a hand with no pairs, such as Q J / K 7 8 6 2. Pai Gow Hand Ranking Hand Cards in Hand 5 Aces 4 aces + the wild card Royal Flush A, K, Q, J, 10 of the same suit. The highest card is the ace. Straight Flush Five cards of the same suit in numerical order (e.g. 7, 8, 9, 10, J) Four of a Kind e.g. A, A, A, A, X Full House e.g. J, J, J, 5, 5 Three of a kind plus a pair. Flush 5 cards of the same suit Straight Five cards of different suits in numerical order (e.g. A, 2, 3, 4, 5) Three of a Kind e.g. 8, 8, 8, X, X Two Pairs e.g. 6, 6, 9, 9, X One Pair e.g. 10, 10, X, X, X High Card If neither of the above hands can be created from your The only difference between the system of ranking hands in Pai Gow poker and in other poker games is that A-K-Q-J-10 ranks as the highest straight, A-2-3-4-5 ranks as the second highest straight, followed by K-Q-J-10-9. Pai gow poker is an easy game to play, and since each hand takes a while to play - dealer has to shuffle for each game - and most hands push, you can play on $20 at a $5 table for quite a while.
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