How to Play Pai Gow: Setup and Rules
Each Player will set his two-card hand face down in the “Second Highest” square, which is directly above and perpendicular to the “High Hand” square. Each Player’s five-card hand will be placed face down in the “High Hand” square. Finally, the double one and double six tiles (1Red/1Red and 3Red3White/3Red3White) are called the day and teen tiles, respectively. These tiles can be used along with eight value tiles to form scores higher than 9 that can still qualify to win. In other words, if you have the day tile for a two, you can pair it with an eight to reach a score of 10 rather than zero.
Rules and payouts can vary by table, so it’s best to ask first before sitting down. This means that if the high hand has a pair of number cards, you’re low hand has to be worse than your high hand. If you have a pair of 3’s in your high hand, your low hand has to be a pair of twos or worse. Play three of a kind on your five-card hand unless they’re triple aces, in which case play the high ace in the two-card hand and the other two in the five-card hand. This is what makes Pai Gow Poker slower than other games of chance. There are frequent rounds (up to 40% of rounds) in which no one wins and playing time is simply extended.
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For each Pai Gow Poker hand, one person (either a player or the curacao casino dealer) will be designated the “banker”, and all other players will compete against that person. There are two Pai Gow Poker rules that tend to confuse beginning players. It gives both hands a real chance to beat the dealer, instead of settling for a likely push. While fun, these side bets carry a higher house edge and should be approached with caution. After all Players’ hands are set, the Dealer will expose the Banker’s hand.
A Low hand is the two-card hand that is formed from the seven cards dealt so as to rank equal to or lower than the five-card high hand. For new players, it’s always best to select “House Way” when arranging your cards until you get a better feel for the strategy of the game. Strategy-wise, you should generally try to create the highest two-card hand that you can.
It’s one of the tables that you cruise by when you’re looking for the poker room or roulette wheel at a major casino. Walking past the Pai Gow poker table is usually met with comments like, “Pai Gow Poker. Pai Gow Poker is a fascinating blend of strategy, skill, and luck that appeals to players of all levels.
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The five-card hand must rank higher than the Banker’s five-card hand, and the two-card hand must rank higher than the Banker’s two-card hand. Should one hand rank exactly the same as the Banker’s hand, it is a tie. Ties are called “Copies.” The Banker wins all copy hands.
Pai Gow Poker rules often seem counterintuitive, especially to gamblers who are accustomed to playing conventional poker. Whether you’re sitting at a Pai Gow table in a bustling casino or exploring the game on online poker sites, this timeless card game is sure to provide hours of entertainment. Another advantage is the low volatility of the Pai Gow casino game. Thanks to the frequent occurrence of pushes, players often find their bankrolls last longer compared to other table games, providing more extended entertainment. The “House Way” is a specific method casinos use to set their hands optimally. Players can ask the dealer or use this method online for guidance when setting their hands.
Granted some skill is necessary in setting one’s hand to provide the best chance of beating the dealer. Players are oftentimes faced with hands that can be set multiple ways which can have very different outcomes. Pai Gow is a betting game and should be played responsibly. If not playing at an established casino players can form a house or chose to have the banker as a player.
While a game of skill, most hands are obvious how to play, and it is not difficult to learn proper strategy for the rest of them. Every player plays against the same dealer hand, which causes the table to often win and lose together, resulting in a fun and social game. House Way is a predetermined way by which the dealer must set their poker hands depending on which cards they have received. In Pai Gow Poker, bankers are required to set their hands according to this predetermined method. On this page, we’ll explain exactly how the rules work in Pai Gow.
- Success in Pai Gow Poker is largely dependent on how the cards are dealt as there are no betting rounds.
- We are Here to Help You Make Informed Betting Decisions and help players have more fun and more wins when gambling online.
- However, if doing so leaves you with a very low back hand, rearranging your placement to achieve two medium strength hands might be the optimal play.
- And indeed, there are many unfortunate superstitions in place which brand non-Asian players as unlucky.
You’ll discover that the rules, while different than those for other popular casino games, are easy to learn quickly. We’ll give you a complete rule guide so you can get started playing the game immediately (we’ll reveal one of the best online casinos at which to play). We’ll also clarify a couple of Pai Gow Poker rules that occasionally confuse beginners. Pai Gow Poker is a casino card game that blends traditional poker with the ancient Chinese game of Pai Gow. Players create two poker hands from seven cards to compete against the dealer, not each other.
There are four columns of power ratings, according to whether the hand is high or low, and whether the player is acting as banker or not. The power ratings are on a 0 to 100 scale, which represents the probability an opponent playing the Foxwoods house way will beat that hand. To win, both of your hands must be stronger than the dealer’s corresponding hands. If you win one hand and lose the other, the round is a push (tie), and you keep your bet. The player wins one hand and loses the other, this is considered a “Push” or a standoff, and no one wins or loses the bet (no money exchanges hands). Pai Gow Poker, while popular in land-based casinos, tends to draw enthusiasts to the table as opposed to beginners.
If this requirement is not satisfied, the hand is declared a “foul hand” and the wager is automatically forfeited. A relatively slow-paced game (slower than Craps and Blackjack, at least), Pai Gow Poker appeals to players who prefer more leisurely games. Many tables offer side bets or bonuses for achieving certain hand combinations, adding an extra layer of excitement to the game. Once a Player has set their hand, that Player may not touch their cards. All cards must remain above the table and in full view of the Dealer at all times.
The Dealer will set the Bank hand according to the “House Way.” The Banker’s hand is then compared to each Player’s hand and wagers decided. The tiles with 12 and 24 pips are called Gee Joon tiles, and these serve as proverbial wild cards for the game. Each of these Gee Joon tiles can be used as either a 3 or 6 depending on which will score higher. Players may bet any amount within table limits; however, a Fortune bet of at least $5 qualifies them for Envy Bonus payouts.
She is an avid low-stakes (for now) poker player and huge Vegas Golden Knights fan. The following is a list of games I am aware of in the U.S.. If the high hand ties with the dealer, it is considered a loss instead of a push. Fortune and Progressive variants are among the most popular versions that you’ll find in person or at an online casino. The Pai Gow Poker deck consists of 53 cards which includes a Joker. The Joker card in Pai Gow is wild when used to complete any Straight or Flush.
Indeed, what you see is not always what you get in Pai Gow, and that’s because rather than basic numerical ranks, a specialized hierarchy of pairs is used in the game. Both of your hands lose to both of the dealer’s hands, in which case your bet is lost. Your front and back hands both beat the dealer’s hands, in which case your bet is paid out. The following table summarizes the expected value under all four scenarios. The “difference” row and column show that banking, compare to not banking, increases expected value by 2.47%.