The popular game of Pai Gow Poker

A unique card game that is a mixture of the ideas and rules of poker and Chinese dominoes, it was invented 40 years ago. To play Pai Gow Poker you need a deck of 52 cards + Joker.

How to play

A peculiarity of this gambling game is that the players are not competing against each other, but aim to beat the dealer. In one round there can be up to six players.

The game starts with bets. Then the cards are dealt. Each player receives seven pieces in a “closed” format. The cards are divided into two hands: the bottom hand (two pieces) and the top hand (five pieces). It is up to the players to decide which and where to allocate them. The cards are then laid out in special sectors on the playing table. The dealer does the same.

Then the cards are compared according to the seniority principle used in classic poker. The process is carried out one at a time – first the top combination is matched, then the bottom combination. Pair – the maximum possible combination in the bottom row. In the top row – combinations up to the frees royal can be collected.

The contestant who has both hands stronger than the dealer’s can take the whole pot. If both the player and the dealer win one row each, the former gets his bet back. It is rare for a casino representative and a participant in a pai gow poker game to have the same top and bottom hand. In this case, the house rules leave the winnings to the representative of the gambling house.

The point of the game

Pai Gow Poker is an easy game, which does not require any serious strategies. The only thing that the participant has to do is to allocate seven cards to the hands. It’s important to follow the rules of combining: the top row should always be stronger than the bottom row. Otherwise the dealer will be forced to fix an automatic loss.

Special ranking tables have been developed for this game. But they can all be simplified into a few basic rules:

1. If there is no match, the highest card is sent to the top row. The next two are sent down.       
2. If a pair is drawn, its place is at the top. Then the two highest cards are moved to the bottom combination, and all other cards are sent to the pair at the top.                          
3. When two pairs are drawn, the decision is made based on the face value. The high ones can be split, the low ones are left.           
4. On a roll of three pairs, the strongest card is placed in the bottom combination, the weakest cards are left at the top.              
5. A dropped set remains in the top combination, the two best cards from those remaining go into the bottom hand.   
6. When two sets are drawn, the strongest set is chosen, a pair is extracted from it and sent down.        
7. A straight and a set do not change anything.    
8. Falling full house is divided into a pair, which goes to the bottom hand and a set, which is sent to the top.                                
9. Low karees (up to sixes) are not split, if high, they are split.

                In gambling, one should not expect to win often. The only thing to aim for is keeping losses to a minimum. In this sense, pai gow poker is similar to roulette and blackjack – it is primarily an entertainment game, not a way to make money.