Pai Gow Poker basics
To make it easy, Pai Gow was introduced in the American market using standard 52-card deck and joker. As outlined in the rules of Pai Gow Poker, you can use the joker as an Ace or as a wild card to complete a Flush, a Straight, or a Straight Flush. Pai Gow Poker is compatible with mobile, Windows and Mac devices. Basics of Pai Gow Poker.
5 cards and 2 cards
The rules of Pai Gow Poker are relatively simple: each player receives seven cards and splits them into two separate hands - a hand of five cards, called 'the back', and a hand of two cards, called 'the front'.
NB The five card hand must always rank higher than the two.
Win both hands
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Pai Gow Poker Rules Strategy
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See all Pai Gow bonuses »If both hands beat the dealer's hands, the player wins even money or 1:1 for their bet (though the bank takes a 5% commission from your winnings). If both hands lose, the dealer takes the bet. If you win only one of the two hands, the round finishes in a tie and your bet is returned to you.
Winning both hands in Pai Gow Poker is not as easy as it may seem. Quite often, you'll have to compromise one hand in order not to lose, rather than to win (this is explained fully in our page on Pai Gow Poker Strategy). As a result, you should consider the game as an evens chance bet, suited to lower-risk players who enjoy turning a steady profit without risking too much.
Compared to, for example, Baccarat , Roulette, or the insanely exciting Sic Bo, it can be a little slow for high rolling, high-risk gamblers, who often prefer the following variation:
Bonus / Fortune Pai Gow Poker
Bonus Pai Gow Poker (sometimes called Fortune Pai Gow) is played in exactly the same way as normal Pai Gow Poker, except that you're given a bonus payout of up to 8000 times your bet if you place a bonus bet and your seven cards hand contains a winning combination - regardless of how you set the front and back. The winning combinations and bonus payouts are given in our Pai Gow Poker Odds table.
The reasons that Bonus / Fortune Pai Gow is more suited to higher-risk players are:
a) you're betting twice as much per game (the bet and the bonus bet) and
b) in the event of a tie, the bonus bet is not returned to you.
But if, for example, your seven cards contained four of a kind, you would receive a bonus payment of 25 times your bonus bet, regardless of your winnings in the 'normal' play.
The odds against getting these hands are larger than the payouts, giving a consequently higher house edge, but the possible payouts suit those who enjoy taking more of a risk.
Pai Gow Poker terms explained
The back - 5 card hand
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The Five card hand is ranked according to standard poker rules. If you're not sure about these standard rankings, or just need a reference point, click on our Poker Hand Rankings page.
The front - 2 card hand
The two card hand has to rank lower than the five card hand. Again, standard poker rules apply: a pair of Aces is the highest pair, a pair of 2s the lowest. If the hand is not a pair, it is ranked as a high, named after the highest card i.e. J9 is a jack high. If two 'high' hands have the same highest card, the next highest card is used to determine the winner e.g. if both players have Ace high, one player with AQ and the other with A9, the player with AQ wins.
Joker Card
The joker can be used to complete a flush, straight or straight flush, or can act as a single Ace.
House Way
The House Way is the set of rules that a traditional casino would instruct its dealers to use when setting their hands. In land based casinos, knowledge of this would form the basis of a winning strategy (see our Pai Gow Strategy page). Some online casinos offer a 'house way' button. By pressing this, your cards will automatically be set for you using the same rules the dealer/casino uses. Obviously, this negates the edge you may achieve by setting hands manually.
Description and Objective
Pai Gow Poker is a card game played with a 53-card deck consisting of a standard deck of 52 cards plus one Joker. The player receives seven cards, which must then be “set” two hands are compared with the dealer’s two hands to determine the winner.
Pai-Gow Poker Rules:
- The 5-card hand must rank higher than the 2-card hand.
- Cards are ranked according to standard poker rules (see chart below).
- Joker can only be used to complete straights or flushes, otherwise it counts as an Ace.
- Dealer wins any copied hand.
The Player can win if:
- Both the 5-card and the 2-card poker hand outrank the dealer’s hand.
The Player loses if:
- Both the 5-card and the 2-card poker hand are outranked by the dealer’s hand.
- The dealer outranks either of the two hands and the other hand is a copy.
The Player pushes if:
- The player wins one hand and the dealer wins the other.
Ranking the Hands/Card Values
The hands are ranked according to standard poker rules with one exception: the Ace-2-3-4-5 straight is the second highest straight. Straights rank, from highest to lowest: Ace-K-Q-J-10, Ace-2-3-4-5, K-Q-J-10-9, 6-5-4-3-2. Also, keep in mind that the best two-card hand is a pair of aces; the two-card hand cannot have a flush (since a flush requires five cards).
Fortune Pai Gow Poker Progressive
| Hand Name | Description | Example |
| Five of a Kind | 4 aces plus the Joker | AS, AH, AD, AC, Joker |
| Royal Flush | 10, J, Q, K, A of same suit | 10H, JH, QH, KH, AH |
| Straight Flush | In sequence, 5 cards of same suit | 3S, 4S, 5S, 6S, 7S |
| Four of a Kind | 4 cards of same rank | 6D, 6S, 6C, 6H |
| Full House | 3 of a kind, plus a pair | 2H, 2D, 2S, 3H, 3S |
| Flush | 5 cards of same suit | 2D, 4D, 6D, 8D, 9D, |
| Straight | 5 cards in sequence | 3H, 4C, 5H, 6S, 7D |
| Three of a Kind | 3 cards of same rank | 7H, 7S, 7D |
| Two Pair | 2 pairs of different rank | 4H, 4S, 6D, 6S |
| One Pair | 1 pair (2 cards) of same rank | KD, KH |
| High Card | 5 cards of different ranks and suits | AH, KS, 10D, 5C, 2C |
Player Actions/Button Descriptions:
Bet – To place a bet, the Player must click on the chip value that they wish to bet.
Deal – Press Deal to begin the game once a bet has been placed. The Player gets 7 cards face up and the Dealer gets 7 cards face down.
Split – To split the cards into two hands, the player must click on the 2 cards that will make up the 2 card hand and then click the Split button.
Payout
Winnings paid to the player are even minus a 5% commission. If the player risked $100, the winning hand would return the risk amount plus an additional $95. The game will round up to the next $0.25 when taking commissions.