Pai Gow Poker - Game Rules and Guide

Introduction

Pai Gow is Chinese for 'make nine'. The original game was actually played with dominos but the modern game is a mixture of American Poker and Pai Gow. Hence Pai Gow Poker.

The game started to appear in a number of different variations and around the mid 1800's it arrived in America having been brought there by Chinese immigrants. However it wasn't until the mid 1980's that it started to become more popular in the card rooms of California. In 1987 Pai Gow poker appeared in the casinos at Las Vegas.

Game Objective

The objective of Pai-Gow Poker is for both of the player's two hands (denoted the high and low hands) to rank higher than both of the banker's two hands.

The player receives seven cards and makes two traditional poker hands - one of five cards (the high hand), another of two (the low hand).

The rankings of the two hands are based upon a basic poker ranking. Thus, the highest two-card hand is two aces and the highest five-card hand is five aces (four aces + the joker).

A typical online Pai Gow Poker table.

How to Play:

The player begins by placing a wager on the Pai-Gow table.

Once the wager is placed the dealer deals seven cards to you face up and seven cards to himself face down. One standard deck of 52 cards plus one joker is used.

The joker is not wild but can be used only as an ace or as a card to complete a straight, a flush, a straight flush or a royal flush.

After you have received your seven cards, you must form two hands. The low hand must contain two cards and the high hand five cards.

Note:
When forming hands, the rank of the five-card high hand must be higher than the rank of the two-card low hand. If this is not true a message box will be displayed asking you to re-split your hand.

The dealer will split his cards according to fixed house rules and will then compare your hand rank with his own. To win the wager, your low and high hand must both rank higher than the dealer's low and high hand, respectively.

If one of your hands is higher in rank than the dealer's and the other is lower or equal, this is a tie and your wager is returned. Otherwise, your player's wager is lost. If both hands are identical, the dealer also wins.

Hand rankings (from highest to lowest):

Four aces + Joker: - A, A, A, A, Joker
Royal Flush: - A, K, Q, J, 10 (all same suit)
Straight Flush: - K, Q, J, 10, 9 (all same suit) to A, 2, 3, 4, 5 (all same suit)
Four of a Kind: - Any four of the same number or face cards
Full House: - [Three of a Kind] + [any pair]
Flush: - Any combination of cards but all same suit
Straight: - A, K, Q, J, 10 to A, 2, 3, 4, 5
Three of a Kind: - Any three of the same number or face cards
Two Pairs: - One Pair + One Pair
One Pair: - Any two of same number or face cards
High Card: - None of the hands listed above. Your highest card, ranked from highest to lowest as follows: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2

Payoffs

Every time a player wins a hand he/she is paid even money less a % commission. Usually about 5%. No commission is collected on losing hands or ties. Thus, a $10 winning wager will return $19.50 (player's $10 wager plus $10 in winnings minus the $0.50 commission).

So there you have it. Pai Gow Poker is a great game to master and you can try it for free at one of our casinos simply by downloading the software and playing for fun. And you'll get online help to show you how to play it.

If you like poker but are looking for a faster game that's a bit different then try Pai Gow.