Pai Gow Hands
This is a casino gambling game based on the Chinese Domino game Pai Gow but played with playing-cards and poker combinations instead of with dominoes. It can be played by up to seven players.
A pack of 52 cards plus one joker is used. The joker is a wild card which can be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush or a straight flush.
Pai Gow Showdown Once players have set their hands, they place the two-card hand in front and the five-card hand in back. As such, the five card-hand is referred to as the “bottom,” “high,” “behind,” or “big” hand while the two-card hand is oftentimes called “on top,” “small,” “minor,” “in front,” or “low.”. A pai gow poker hand is foul when hands have the wrong number of cards, or, the two card low hand has a higher poker value than the five-card high hand. Though your letter did not illustrate the exact hands dealt, an example would be the banker having a pair of 5's for his two-card hand and a pair of 7's for his five-card hand.
On each deal the dealer plays against the other players. Before the deal, each of the other players puts up a stake.
Seven cards are dealt to each player. All players other than the dealer look at their cards and divide them to form two hands - a two card hand and a five card hand. The relative values of the five card hands are the same as in poker, with one exception: A-2-3-4-5 is the second highest type of straight or straight flush, ranking between A-K-Q-J-10 and K-Q-J-10-9. Five aces is the highest hand, beating a straight flush. For the two card hand, any pair beats any two unmatched cards, but no other combinations are possible.
The player must arrange the cards so that the five card hand is higher than the two card hand (so if the two cards were a pair of aces, the five card hand would have to contain two pairs or better). Players are not allowed to discuss their hands at any stage.
The players place their two hands face down, and when all are ready, the dealer's seven cards are exposed. The other players may not touch their cards from this point on. The dealer forms the seven exposed cards into a five and a two in the same way as the players.
Then all the players' cards are exposed. The result between the dealer and each player is determined by comparing the player's 5 card hand with the dealer's 5 card hand and the player's 2 card hand with the dealer's 2 card hand:
- If the player wins both hands the dealer pays out the amount staked by the player.
- If the dealer wins one hand and the player wins the other no money changes hands. This is called a 'push'.
- If the dealer wins both hands the dealer wins the player's stake.
If either hand is tied, the dealer wins that particular hand. So if the dealer wins one hand while the other is tied, or if both hands are tied, the dealer wins. If one hand is tied and the player wins the other it is a push (no money changes hands).
- Note on the deal
- When this game is played formally, a rather elaborate method of dealing is used. Seven hands of seven cards are dealt, one card at a time, and the remaining four cards are discarded unseen. The dealer then throws three dice and counts around the players at the table counter-clockwise, starting with himself, up to the dice total to determine who gets the first hand which was dealt. The following hands go to the other players, in counter-clockwise rotation.
- Dealer's advantage
- The dealer obviously has an advantage (winning tied hands), so if you want the game to be fair everyone has to deal an equal number of times during the session.
For another description, see the Pai Gow Poker FAQ of the newsgroup rec.gambling.misc
The Pai Gow Poker at The Pogg has rules, analysis and a strategy calculator.
The Casino-info.com site has a page of Pai Gow Poker rules and strategy.
Pai Gow Poker Free has information on Pai Gow Poker rules, strategy and odds and a selection of places where you carn play online for fun.
The Pai Gow Poker section of the Casino Advisor web site has Pai Gow Poker rules and advice.
Super Pai Gow™ is simply pai gow, except you start with four cards and bet 1x-4x the Ante or fold; if you bet, you receive your final three cards and set a five-card high hand and two-card low hand as in regular pai gow.
The dealer gets eight cards instead of seven, but the Ante pays 1 to 1 in the event of a push -- in other words, the player now wins on pushes.
Play the demo below. To begin, select a chip denomination and place in the Ante betting circle along with any optional side wagers, and then click the 'Deal' button. Enjoy!
Pai Gow Poker Ranking Hands
- One forced bet
- No commission, no qualifier
- The Ante pays a royalty for making four of a kind or better, regardless of whether the player wins, loses, or pushes
- The player shows a net win on 57% of hands under optimal play, instead of winning on 30% of hands and pushing on 40% of hands in regular pai gow
- The adj. house advantage under theoretically optimal play is cut in half -- down to 1.14% per unit wagered, as compared to 2.51% in regular pai gow
Sidebets
Super Pai Gow™ also features two distinct side bets:
- Seven Card Hand: A standard bet on the best five-card poker hand using any combination of the player's seven cards, topping out at 5,000-to-1 for a natural 7-card straight flush.
- Dealer's 8th Card: A set of three options to bet on the value of the dealer's discard. The player may choose more than one option (e.g. the player might bet both the '2,4' and '3,10' options, or both the '2,4' and the 'Field' options, or the '3,10' and 'Field options').
For a look at strategy, check out the Super Pai Gow™ strategy page.