Pai Gow Poker rules guide

Pai Gow Poker is a combination of the ancient Chinese game of Pai Gow and the game of Poker. It is a rather simple game but is offers many strategic options as we will see in the rules of Pai Gow Poker. You can either go for the fast way and the quick win or play conservatively for little money and maximize your playing time. It is hard to win a lot of money in Pai Gow but on the other hand it is also hard to lose a lot of it. Lets examine the rules of Pai Gow Poker.

The game is played with a deck of 52 cards, including one joker. This joker is a wild card but it can only be used as an Ace or to complete a Straight, Straight Flush or Royal Flush ( click here to view all poker hands) as stated in the Pai Gow Poker rules. Ranks and values of the hands are the same as in basic Poker. After you place your bet, simply done by placing a chip in front of you on the table, each player and the dealer will get seven cards as mentioned in the rules of Pai Gow Poker. Now you have to split up your seven cards into two hands. According to the Pai Gow Poker rules, one hand with five cards and one with two cards,. The only thing you always have to consider when splitting up your hand is: the five card hand must always outrank the two card hand. This is the most basic of the Pai Gow Poker rules. .

For instance: You have a pair of fives and a pair of sevens in your original hand. The pair of fives must go into the two card hand and the sevens have to be in the five card hand according to the rules of Pai Gow Poker. If your two card hand ranks higher than your five cards you automatically lose the game, that is how the Pai Gow rules go. Once all the players have arranged their cards the dealer will turn over his cards and split them up as well. He must also arrange them in the same way you just did, with the five cards higher than the two, according to the Pai Gow Poker rules. The objective of the game is for both of the player’s hands to rank higher than both of the dealers hands. After the dealer has split up his cards he starts to compare his cards with the player’s hands in turn. These are the basic rules of Pai Gow Poker.

In the rules of Pai Gow Poker, the Pai Gow player's two-card (low) must now beat the dealer's two-card hand and the player's five cards (high) must also beat the dealer’s five card hand. Only then you win as stated in the rules of Pai Gow Poker. If your low-card beats the dealer’s low-card and loses on the high-card, or reversed, it is considered a push. In the rules of Pai Gow Poker, in case of a push, which very often happens, no money will be exchanged and the hand is over. If either one of your hands rank the same as the dealer's it is called a tie. The dealer wins all the ties according to the Pai Gow Poker rules.

Since according to the rules of Pai Gow Poker lots of hands end up with a push, especially with low-cards, the casino does not make so much money out of it as it would like. So the casino charges a 5% commission on any winning bet. No commission is charged on a push or a lost bet. Most casinos want the commission right away. This means in case you win your game you have to throw the dealer a quarter on a five dollar win. You will only win $4.75. Other casinos keep track of the money you owe and you can settle up when you leave the table.