Pai
Gow Poker
Pai
Gow is probably one of the most difficult casino games to explain. Once
you understand it, you will find this game to be a lot of fun, and that
it has a very low house edge. Pai Gow is, with perfect play, a great
game to help you stretch your gambling dollar! It is an ancient Chinese game of strategy played with dominos and
dice. Over the
years this game has been mixed with the traditional Poker game,
resulting in Pai Gow Poker. Whilst it has changed considerably, making
it easier to understand, it still remains a fairly slow game and is
great alternative to the faster casino card games.
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Rather using dominos
and dice, Pai Gow Poker uses a standard 52 card deck, plus one wild card
which is usually a Joker. Unlike most other Poker games, in Pai Gow
Poker there are rules as to how the wild card can be played. It can only
be used as an Ace or as the fifth card in a Straight or a Flush.
After all bets have
been placed, both the player and the dealer are dealt 7 cards. These 7
cards must then be separated into two hands known as the 'low' or
'front' hand and the 'high' or 'back' hand. The low hand must consist of
2 cards with the high hand consisting of 5 cards. Once you have split
your initial 7 card hand you can not swop cards from one hand to
another. Also, the 5 card hand must always be worth more than the 2 card
hand. If it is not, it considered a 'foul' and your wager is lost. The
object of the game is to beat the dealer with both hands.
The high hand uses
Poker hands to determine the winner. However, because of the wild card
there are exceptions to this. As it can be counted as an Ace, it is
possible to hold 5 Aces which would beat a Royal Flush. Also, a Straight
consisting of A, 2, 3, 4, 5 would ordinarily be the lowest Straight. In
this game it is the second highest, beating a 9, 10, J, Q, K.
If both of the players
hands lose to the dealer, the dealer wins and their wager is lost. If
one hand wins and the other one loses, it is a 'push' or a tie. In this
case, the wager is returned to the player. When both of the players
hands beat those of the dealer, the player wins and their wager is paid
at 1 to 1. However, all winning hands are subject to 5% commission which
must be paid to the dealer. If both of the players hands are the same as
the dealers, it is known as 'copies'. If this is the case, the player
loses their wager
Pai Gow Strategy:
Your best bet is to stick to perfect play.
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