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What is Pai Gow Poker?

Pai-Gow Casino Poker, or double-hand poker, is an Americanized version of Pai Gow,is played with playing cards using poker hand rankings while is played with chinese dominoes.

The game is played with a standard 52-card deck of cards, plus a single joker. It is played on a table marked with seven betting locations if one of the players serves as "bank"; in a live game where players play against the house, there are only six betting spots.

Pai-Gow Casino Poker cards are shuffled, and then dealt to the table in seven face-down piles of seven cards, with four cards unused, regardless of the number of people playing. Each round's deal begins on a randomly-selected position on the table, with the hands after the first being dealt to the player's left around the table.

One common way of doing this is to roll three six-sided dice, then count betting spots clockwise from the first until the number on the dice is reached; then give that spot the first hand, the next spot the next hand, and so on until all seven hands have been allotted (this is an adaptation of the similar procedure used. Otherwise, the position is derived from a random-number generator as shown on a display above the dealing apparatus. If there is no bet placed on a particular spot, the hand is still assigned but then placed in the discards with the four unused cards.

Each player on the game is playing against the bank, who may be the casino dealer or one of the other players.

The object of the game is to create two poker hands out of the seven cards in your hand: A five-card poker hand and a two-card poker hand. The five-card hand must rank higher than your two-card hand. The two-card hand is often called the hand "in front", and the five-card hand is called the hand "behind", as they are placed that way in front of the player when he is done setting them. The only two-card hands are one pair and high cards; no straights, flushes, and so on. The joker plays as a bug: that is, in the five-card hand it can be used to complete a straight or flush, if possible; otherwise it is an ace. In the two-card hand, it always plays as an ace. Five-card hands use standard poker hand rankings, with one exception: in most Nevada casinos, the hand A-2-3-4-5 ranks above a king-high straight, but below the ace-high straight A-K-Q-J-10.

If each of your now-separated hands beats the bank corresponding hand, then you win your bet. If only one of your hands beats the bank, then you push. If both of your hands lose to the bank, then you lose. On each individual , ties go to the bank. This gives the bank a small advantage. If you foul your hand, meaning that your low hand outranks your high hand or that there are an incorrect number of cards in each hand, there will be a penalty, either re-arrangement of the hand according to house rules or forfeiture of the hand.

Pai-Gow Casino is a poker variation based on the Chinese game. A pack of 52 cards plus one Joker is used. The Joker is a wild card that can be used as an Ace, or to complete straight, flush or a straight flush.

Before the deal the player makes his/her bet. Seven cards are dealt to the player. The player looks at his cards and divides them to form two hands: a 2-card hand and a 5-card hand. The relative values of the 5-card hand are the same as in poker, with the five aces beating a royal flush. And a A, 2, 3, 4, 5 straight being rated the second highest straight after A, K, Q, J, 10. For the 2-card hand any pair beats any 2 unmatched cards, but no other combinations are possible. The player must arrange the cards so that the 5-card hand is higher than the 2-card hand (if the two cards are a pair of aces, the 5card hand would have to contain two pairs or better).

When the player is ready, he/she clicks on the "Done" button and the dealer's cards will be exposed. The dealer forms the seven cards into a 5-card hand and a 2-card hand the same way as a player.

The result between the dealer and the player is determined by comparing the player's 5-card hand and the player's 2-card hand vs. the dealers 2-card hand.

Always remember when playing Pai Gow:

If the player wins both hands, the dealer pays out the amount bet by the player less a 5% commission. The commission is collected from the payoff. 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 collects the player's bets. If either hand is tied, the dealer wins that particular hand. If the dealer wins or ties the other hand, it is a win for the dealer. If one hand is tied and the player wins the other hand, it is a Push.

After the player has made his first bet, the "second hand" button will highlight offering the opportunity for playing a second hand at the same time. Pai-Gow Casino Rules for playing the second hand are the same.