Pai Gow Poker is a casino table game and is played with a standard 52-card deck plus one joker. The rules are fairly simple. After making a bet, each player is dealt seven cards and must make two poker hands: A standard five-card poker hand and a two-card poker hand. The five-card hand is often called 'behind', or the 'bottom,' 'high,' or 'big' hand, while the two-card hand is called 'in front', 'on top', or the 'small,' 'minor,' or 'low' hand.

When forming your two hands from your seven cards, the five card hand must be higher than the two-card hand. In other words, if you are dealt A-A-3-5-7-10-J and you can‘t make a flush, you must include the pair of aces in the five-card poker hand, not the two-card poker hand.

The online casino game is played using a 53 card deck. The fifty-third card is the Joker. The basic strategy of the casino game is based on a player’s knowledge of the Poker hands. More so, Pai Gow is different from any other Poker variation because, in this casino game, the player is required to have two hands. Pai Gow poker is played with a standard English deck of 52 cards plus the joker, or bug. The joker can only be used as an ace or a card that completes a straight or flush. Players and the dealer receive seven cards they place into two hands: five cards and two cards. The five-card hand must be of a higher total rank than the two-card hand.

Five-card hands follow the standard what-beats-what rules, with two exceptions: some casinos count A-2-3-4-5 as the second-highest straight. This is the case in some places in Nevada. Additionally, having a joker in the deck introduces the possibility of five of a kind which beats a straight flush.
The best two-card hands are pairs and then simply high cards. Straights and flushes don’t matter in the two-card hand. The worst possible 2-card hand is 2-3, while the best is a pair of aces.

The Joker in Pai Gow Poker

Instead of acting as a whatever-card-you-want wild card, the joker in Pai Gow is called a 'bug.' It acts as an ace unless it can be used to fill out a straight or a flush. This also means that you can have five aces, which is the best possible five-card hand in Pai Gow.

Showdown

Once players have set their two poker hands, they place their hands in front of them, the two-card hand in front, and the five-card in the back (hence those nicknames). All the players at the table are playing to win both hands against the 'banker.' The banker can be the dealer, or one of the players at the table, like in Baccarat.

Determining Who Wins

Each player compares his hands to the banker’s hands. If both the player’s hands beat the banker’s, the player wins. If one of the player’s hands beats the banker’s hands but not the other, it’s considered a push or draw and the player takes back his money. If the banker’s hands beat the player’s, the player loses. In the case of a tie, the banker wins. This is one of the ways the house keeps the advantage. If a player is banking, the house takes a commission from the winning hands and doesn't need an advantage.​

This is a casino gambling game based on the Chinese Domino game Pai Gow but played with playing-cards and poker combinations instead of with dominoes. It can be played by up to seven players.

A pack of 52 cards plus one joker is used. The joker is a wild card which can be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush or a straight flush.

On each deal the dealer plays against the other players. Before the deal, each of the other players puts up a stake.

Seven cards are dealt to each player. All players other than the dealer look at their cards and divide them to form two hands - a two card hand and a five card hand. The relative values of the five card hands are the same as in poker, with one exception: A-2-3-4-5 is the second highest type of straight or straight flush, ranking between A-K-Q-J-10 and K-Q-J-10-9. Five aces is the highest hand, beating a straight flush. For the two card hand, any pair beats any two unmatched cards, but no other combinations are possible.

Pai Gow Poker Casino Rules Card Game

The player must arrange the cards so that the five card hand is higher than the two card hand (so if the two cards were a pair of aces, the five card hand would have to contain two pairs or better). Players are not allowed to discuss their hands at any stage.

The players place their two hands face down, and when all are ready, the dealer's seven cards are exposed. The other players may not touch their cards from this point on. The dealer forms the seven exposed cards into a five and a two in the same way as the players.

Then all the players' cards are exposed. The result between the dealer and each player is determined by comparing the player's 5 card hand with the dealer's 5 card hand and the player's 2 card hand with the dealer's 2 card hand:

1. If the player wins both hands the dealer pays out the amount staked by the player.
2. If the dealer wins one hand and the player wins the other no money changes hands. This is called a 'push'.
3. If the dealer wins both hands the dealer wins the player's stake.

If either hand is tied, the dealer wins that particular hand. So if the dealer wins one hand while the other is tied, or if both hands are tied, the dealer wins. If one hand is tied and the player wins the other it is a push (no money changes hands).

Note on the deal

When this game is played formally, a rather elaborate method of dealing is used. Seven hands of seven cards are dealt, one card at a time, and the remaining four cards are discarded unseen. The dealer then throws three dice and counts around the players at the table counter-clockwise, starting with himself, up to the dice total to determine who gets the first hand which was dealt. The following hands go to the other players, in counter-clockwise rotation.

Dealer's advantage

The dealer obviously has an advantage (winning tied hands), so if you want the game to be fair everyone has to deal an equal number of times during the session.

For another description, see the Pai Gow Poker FAQ of the newsgroup rec.gambling.misc

The Pai Gow Poker at The Pogg has rules, analysis and a strategy calculator.

The Casino-info.com site has a page of Pai Gow Poker rules and strategy.

Pai Gow Poker Casino Rules Poker

Pai Gow Poker Free has information on Pai Gow Poker rules, strategy and odds and a selection of places where you carn play online for fun.

The Pai Gow Poker section of the Casino Advisor web site has Pai Gow Poker rules and advice.