How To Play Pai Gow Poker – A Detailed Guide

If you’re a Poker fan then you must have heard the term, Pai Gow Poker.  This is a card variation of the traditional Chinese domino game, Pai Gow, and is super exciting to play. Beginners of this game must have a look at this Pai Gow Poker guide to have a smooth start to this game.

What is Pai Gow Poker?

 Pai Gow Poker is a poker game variety available both in land-based and online casinos.  It’s played with a standard deck of 52 cards and an extra joker. This extra Joker card can play the part of Ace or any other card to complete a Flush or Straight Hand.

The objective here is a card that a player needs to build the highest and second highest hand compared to the Dealer’s hand. 

How Poi Gow Poker is Played?

The game begins dealer dealing the cards between the players.  Each player gets 7 cards that they need to use to build two hands.  One hand will be of 5 cards while the other hand will only have 2 cards.

In each round, four cards are kept aside. Betting positions are from 1 to 7 and players can decide to play on the position of their choice.

It’s important to know that the five-card hand or High Card hand should have cards high in rank compared to the two-card hand. As each player finishes building the hand, the dealer then sets the House hand. 

Cards are then displayed to decide the winner. There are three outcomes of this game.

• The player has the high and second high hand and wins the bet
• The dealer has the high and second high hand and wins the bet
• The player wins one hand and the banker wins another hand. In this case, no hands win but 5% of the total bet goes as the casino’s commission.

Players can bet on any of these outcomes before cards are dealt. Other than this, some Poi Gow Poker variants also provide some side bets.

In Fortune Pai Gow, players can make side bets on trips or better while Pai Gow Mania permits punters to make two side bets in one go.

Type of Five-card You Can Build in Pai Gow Poker

The type of hand you have decides your winning possibility. Here are the types of hands you can build in Pai Gow Poker, using 5 cards.

• Royal Flush– This hand features five cards, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and a 10 from a single suit.
• Straight Flush– A hand with five consecutive cards from a single suit. For example, 5, 6,7,8,9 and 10 from Hearts.
• Four of Kind– A hand with four same cards from different suits and anyone random card. For example, 4 8s from Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades and one 10 from any suit.
• Full House – A hand featuring three cards from one suit and 2 same cards from another same suit. For example, 3 10s from Clubs and 2 5s from Diamonds.
• Flush: A hand having any random five cards of the same suit. For example, 2, 5, 7, 9, and King of Hearts.
• Three of a Kind– Three cards of the same value and any two random cards. For example, 3 10s from Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades and 2 random cards.
• Two pairs: Two matching cards of the same rank, two matching cards of another rank, and one random card. For example, two 3s from Diamond and Spades, two 10s from Hearts and Clubs, and one Ace from Clubs.
• A pair: Two matching cards of the same rank from different suits and the other three random cards. For example, two 5s from Diamonds and Spades, and 2, 4, 6, and 7 from Spades. 

Poi Gow Poker Strategies

If you want to have a pleasant gambling experience with Pai Gow Poker, we recommend you try these tips.

• Try to play the highest card with your high end when you have no pair, straight, or flush.
• Stick to Simple Player-Banker strategy while banking. This involves placing Aces in the lower hand if your high hand has Queen and Sixes, playing the Straight/Flush if the resulting low hand is a pair of 7s or better, and playing the Three of a Kind in the high hand and the pair in the low hand in most cases. This will help you beat both the dealer’s hands.
• You need to know that Pai Gow Poker is a slow–paced game with a great Tie possibility. Hence, you should know when to quit so that you don’t exhaust the funds.

↻ Mastering the Art of Patience in Poker Game: Key Tips

Are you Ready to Play Poi Gow Poker?

Poi Gow Poker has been loved by many for thousands of years and is available in land-based and online casinos. In each place, it’s highly engaging and if you want to have a smooth gaming experience make sure you have your basis correct and are aware of some winning strategies.