Pai Gow Poker rules

Pai Gow poker is played with a deck of 53 cards: a standard deck plus one wild joker. Each player is dealt 7 cards and must split them into two hands. The first hand is referred to as “the highest  hand,”  and  consists of  5 cards.  The  second  hand is

 

referred to as “the second highest,” and consists of only 2 cards. The game follows general poker ranking rules: one pair, three of a kind, etc. The 5-card hand must always rank higher than the 2-card hand. For example, if your seven cards are: ace + ace + 9 + 7 + 5 + 4 + 3, you cannot place the two aces as in your 2-card hand. The pair of aces must be kept in “the highest hand” (i.e. the 5-card hand).

 

Your goal as the player is to beat both of the dealer’s hands; the highest and the second highest. If you only succeed in winning one of the two hands, the round results in a tie, or “push.”

 

If both your hands lose against the dealer’s hands, the Slot Gacor dealer takes the bet. If both of your hands beat the dealer’s hands, you receive “even money” on your bet (i.e. 1 to 1), with the exception that the bank takes a 5% commission from your winnings.

 

Here are some other rules you should know…

 

The wild card, or joker, may be used only as a single ace; or to complete a flush, straight, or a straight flush.

 

When the player and the dealer compare hands that have the same rank, that hand is referred to as a “copy hand.” Unlike in blackjack, where a copy hand results in a push; the dealer wins the copy hand in Pai Gow

 

Pai Gow Hand Rankings are as follows:

 

1:  5 Aces

2:  Royal Flush

3:  Straight Flush

4:  4 of a kind

5:  Full House

6:  Flush

7:  Straight

8:  3 of a kind

9:  2 pairs

10:1 pair

11: High card

 

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.

 

So there you go…good luck with your Pai Gow Poker experiences.

 

Pai Gow Poker strategy

 

Pai Gow expert Stanford Wong has been quoted as saying that being dealer/banker as often as possible has the most significant impact on a winning strategy. Now this is all very well when you’re  at your local casino,  but not too  helpful  online, since few

 

internet casinos allow you to be the dealer/banker.  But there are still a number of handy tips on hand selection that will help your dollar go a lot further.

 

Set out below are optimum hand selections based on cards dealt.  For simplicity’s sake, we have called any pair of 2’s through 6’s a “low pair”, 7’s through J’s a “medium pair”, and Q’s through A’s a “high pair”.