Fancy a change? Try Pai-Gow Poker

If you fancy something a bit different, have a go at Pai-Gow Poker. It is a slow moving game and because there are likely to be a good number of ties or pushes, a little money can go a long way. As you might guess from the name, the games origins are Chinese and it comes from the domino game Pai-Gow. Despite this, Pai-Gow poker is quite different from the original domino game. It is played with a standard deck of 52 cards with the addition of one Joker therefore 53 cards in total. You are playing against the house even if there are other players at the table. It is sometimes possible to play as the banker yourself but more of that later. The idea of the game is to arrange the 7 cards that you are dealt into 2 poker hands one of 5 cards and one of 2 cards. The 5 card hand is referred to as high hand and the 2 card hand as the low hand (some casinos refer to them as Highest and Second Highest). The Dealer also has 7 cards and will do the same. The high hand must in all circumstances be better than the low hand. To win you have to beat both hands of the dealer. If you only win one hand (high or low, it doesn’t matter) and the dealer wins the other then the hand is a push and your stake is returned. If the dealer wins both hands you lose your stake. If you win both hands you are paid even money on your stake less 5% commission.  The sequence of hands is as outlined in our Caribbean Stud Poker page with a couple of minor exceptions. The top hand in this game is 5 aces (which is pretty good for a 52 card deck!! But remember there is a Joker); 5 aces beats a royal flush. The only other exception is that in any other poker game the straight comprising Ace,2, 3, 4, 5 is the lowest straight but in Pai-Gow it is the second highest straight and beats K, Q, J, 10, 9 but of course loses to A, K, Q, J, 10. The joker can only be used as an ace or to complete a straight, a flush or a straight flush. It cannot be used for example to make a pair (other than aces).

The game sounds a little bit complicated but if you have played any form of poker you will quickly work it out., and even if you haven’t and the idea of sorting out the cards into two hands sounds a bit daunting you can let the house do it for you.

Another important point is that unlike Blackjack if your hand and the dealers hands are identical the dealer wins. There is not a great deal of strategy involved except on occasions to decide whether to try to win both hands or to accept that this is unlikely and therefore go for winning just one hand and achieve a push. For example if you are dealt  A,K,K J,J 4,3 you could push the 2 pairs into your high hand and leave yourself with say A,4 as your low hand or you could elect to go with K,K,A,4,3 in your high hand and have J,J as your low hand which would be a defensive manoeuvre. Either way it depends on what the dealer has.

As mentioned earlier some online casinos (PaddyPower for example) offer you the chance to play as the banker. If this opportunity arises you will be playing against the dealer but also against other players around the table which increases your stakes. The big advantage to playing banker is that you will win in the event of identical hands but you still have to pay the 5% commission on any net winnings on the hand. The general recommendation is to play if the opportunity arises but make sure that you can afford to lose to all other players.

Pai-Gow Poker is available at William Hill, 888, PaddyPower and bwin and all offer a play for free option. If you fancy a change give it a go.