Table Games
Pai Gow Poker – How to Play
Reviewed by the CasinoOnlineReviews deskUpdated Written for readers in the United States
Pai Gow Poker is a staple casino game that has been around for over three decades. The poker game is different from the standard five-card poker games. The card game is has become a casino staple that is easy and fun to learn. If you have never heard of Pai Gow, understanding the poker fundamentals may be a little tricky to understand.
Played with no more than six players sat the table, Pai Gow poker uses a 52-card deck, and the goal is to beat the banker. There are only three possible results and the game as an exciting way of dealing cards. To start, you are dealt seven cards face down.
Also, you will win your bet if they win both your hands. Both you and the dealer can win a hand, and the hand will result in a push. The last possible outcome is the dealer winning both hands, and you lose your bet. Similar to other poker games, players place your bets within the bet limits and wagers have to be made before being receiving any cards.
Take some time to go through our Pai Gow poker introduction and learn a bit more about the casino game, how to play, and the difference between playing Pai Gow in a land-based casino and playing online.
What is Pai Gow Poker?
Pai Gow poker is a combination of the Pai Gow game and regular poker. In the place Chinese dominoes, the game uses cards. The American version of the Chinese classic was created and introduced by Sam Torosian in 1985.
Sam was the owner of a club in California who received terrible legal advice and didn’t patent his poker game. The US version of the casino game is played with Pai Gow tiles that look a lot like dominoes.
How to Play Pai Gow
To win a game of Pai Gow Poker, your hands have to beat the dealer’s hands. Yep, that’s correct, there is more than one hand that you have to focus on. The card game aims to make two poker hands. The one-hand will consist of five cards while the other only has two cards.
If one of your two hands win, it is a push. Should both your hands lose, then you will win the bet. Learning how to play Pai Gow seems simple, right? Pai Gow is a game filled with pushes, and players get to play for a while on the same wager. That isn’t all. If you are unsure of how to set your hand, you can ask the dealer, and he or she will advise you on how the house would set the hand.
Online Pai Gow vs. Land-Based Pai Gow
Pai Gow poker online is a replica of this brick and mortar counterpart. There are a few differences players should take note of. When playing online, the banker role falls away. In land-based casinos, players can alternate the banker role.
However, online Pai Gow has replaced the role is replaced with the house way option where players can get help on how to set your cards. Another difference players will pick up is that when playing in brick and mortar casinos, you are up against all the other players whereas when you play the online counterpart, you will be up against the dealer rather than the other players.
Pai Gow Poker Strategy
There are three essential strategies to remember when playing Pai Gow.
1. Dealing with Pairs
If you are dealt a hand with two pairs, it is always better to split them more, especially if your hand has a pair of aces, two high pairs, one high pair, and a medium pair. If you are dealt a hand with one pair, place the pair in your big hand and place the other highest cards in your low hand. should your hand not have a pair play your highest cards in your bigger hand and the other highest hands in your lower hand.
2. Spit your hand when…
You should split your hand if it doesn’t have an ace or a king. You should always split hand with a medium and low pair as well as two low pairs. Other hands that should be split include a hand with two medium pairs and a high hand with one high and one low hand.
3. It’s a full house!
If it were any other poker hand, we would easily go against splitting the hand. However, this is Pai Gow. Play the pair in your two-card hand and the three of a kind in the big hand if you have a second pair rather than three of a kind. Play the bigger pair in the two-card hand.
Bonus Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow poker bonus is a bonus bet which is determined by the strength of your high hand. The bonus payouts start from 2:1 for a straight poker hand going up. Before you place bets at bonus tables should learn the nuances of the game by playing free Pai Gow with a bonus.
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