On This Page
Introduction
Playing Online Pai Gow Poker. The contemporary game is played with up to six players and one who acts as banker/dealer. Pai Gow is one of the few card games that uses the joker alongside a standard deck of 52 cards, to give it that extra kick. When playing Pai Gow online, the. Play Pai Gow Poker for Free in Demo Mode by Realtime Gaming 1. Click on this box 2. Then click on Allow. Pai gow poker (also called double-hand poker) is a version of pai gow that is played with playing cards, instead of traditional pai gow's Chinese dominoes.The game of pai gow poker was created in 1985 in the United States by Sam Torosian, owner of the Bell Card Club. The game is played with a standard 52-card deck, plus a single joker.It is played on a table set for six players, plus the dealer. Play Free Pai Gow Poker Playing Pai Gow Poker Generally speaking, a good Pai Gow Poker game will have six players and a dealer with each being dealt seven cards from the 53-card deck including the joker that can be used to substitute in the making of a straight, or any suit to complete a flush. How to Play Pai Gow Poker. Pai Gow Poker uses a standard deck of 52 cards plus one joker. A maximum of six players sit around the table along with the dealer. The object of the game is quite simple: to beat the banker. The banker can be the dealer, another player at the table, or a player-dealer 'team.'.
Pai Gow Poker is a variation of the Chinese domino game pai gow. The game is known for a slow rate of play and lots of pushes, resulting in low risk game. While a game of skill, most hands are obvious how to play, and it is not difficult to learn proper strategy for the rest of them. Every player plays against the same dealer hand, which causes the table to often win and lose together, resulting in a fun and social game.
Pai Gow Poker - How to Play Video
History
Pai Gow Poker was invented in 1985 by Sam Torosian, owner of the Bell card club in southern California. However, his is a name few people recognize. While other have made millions inventing casino games, Sam received some bad legal advice that card games were not patentable, and never filed one for his game. When his game was a success at his own casino there was nothing to prevent competing casinos from offering the game as well, and they didn't have to pay Sam a dime.
Source: Casino Boss Can't Cash In on Game He Developed — Los Angeles Times, Nov. 3, 2002.
The Rules
- A single 53-card deck is used, consisting of the usual 52 cards, plus one joker.
- The joker is semi-wild. It may be used as an ace, or to complete a straight, flush, or straight flush, or royal flush. After the player makes a bet, the dealer will deal the player and himself seven cards each.
- Standard poker ranking rules are followed with one strange exception — the A2345 straight (known as 'the wheel') is considered the second highest straight. Some casinos have dropped this ridiculous rule, but most still cling to it.
- The player will separate his seven cards into a five-card high hand, and two-card low hand. The high hand must be of higher poker value than the low hand.
- The five-card hand is ranked according to conventional poker rules. The only poker hand in the two-card hand is a pair or no pair, after which the individual cards determine the value.
- After the player has set his hand, the dealer will turn over his cards and divide his hand in the same manner, according to specified rules known as the 'house way.'
- The two high hands will be compared, and the two low hands, the hand with the higher poker value winnings. If the event of a tie, for example both two-card hands are ace/king, then the tie has go to the 'banker.'
- If the player wins both comparisons, then the player will win even money on his bet, less a 5% commission. If the player wins one and loses one, then the bet shall push. If the player loses or ties both, then the player shall lose his wager.
- Unlike most casino games, the player may bet against the dealer, and other players in pai gow poker. This is known as 'banking.'
- The turn to act as banker is supposed to rotate around the table, but at some casinos it zig-zags between the dealer and each player in turn.
- The player may always decline to bank (which usually happens), in which case the option will revert to the next player, or dealer.
Strategy
I'm very proud to present my pai gow strategy page. It contains simple, intermediate, and advanced strategies for both playing as the banker, against the banker, and combined. This page took months for my assistant JB to create so I hope you'll have a look.
For your convenience, I also have my one-page simple pai gow poker strategy (PDF).
House Edge
The house advantage in Pai Gow Poker depends on partially on your skill setting hands but more on how much of the action you bank. I plan to publish some pai gow poker strategy in January, 2014. Until then, the following tables show the probability of each possible outcome and the expected value four ways — whether using the house way or optimal strategy and whether banking or the dealer is banking.
House way Strategy — Dealer Banker
| Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 0.95 | 2,402,491,783,820,756 | 0.291195 | 0.276635 |
| Push | 0 | 3,341,087,256,920,524 | 0.404958 | 0.000000 |
| Loss | -1 | 2,506,879,990,473,120 | 0.303847 | -0.303847 |
| Total | 8,250,459,031,214,390 | 1.000000 | -0.027212 |
House Way Strategy — Player Banker
Vegas Poker Games
| Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 0.95 | 2,506,879,990,473,120 | 0.303847 | 0.288655 |
| Push | 0 | 3,341,087,256,920,524 | 0.404958 | 0.000000 |
| Loss | -1 | 2,402,491,783,820,756 | 0.291195 | -0.291195 |
| Total | 8,250,459,031,214,390 | 1.000000 | -0.002540 |
Optimal Strategy — Dealer Banker
| Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 0.95 | 2,413,147,766,131,848 | 0.292486 | 0.277862 |
| Push | 0 | 3,337,551,044,510,696 | 0.404529 | 0.000000 |
| Loss | -1 | 2,499,760,220,571,856 | 0.302984 | -0.302984 |
| Total | 8,250,459,031,214,400 | 1.000000 | -0.025122 |
Optimal Strategy — Player Banker
| Event | Pays | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 0.95 | 2,521,011,760,499,300 | 0.305560 | 0.290282 |
| Push | 0 | 3,330,840,908,447,708 | 0.403716 | 0.000000 |
| Loss | -1 | 2,398,606,362,267,392 | 0.290724 | -0.290724 |
| Total | 8,250,459,031,214,390 | 1.000000 | -0.000442 |
The following table summarizes the expected value under all four scenarios. The 'difference' row and column show that banking, compare to not banking, increases expected value by 2.47%. The difference between following the house way and the theoretical optimal strategy, which I'm quite sure nobody knows, is 0.21%.
Summary
| Banker | House Way | Optimal | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | -0.002540 | -0.000442 | 0.002098 |
| Dealer | -0.027212 | -0.025122 | 0.002090 |
| Difference | 0.024672 | 0.024680 |
Commission Free Pai Gow Poker
Often in Washington State the casino will not charge the 5% commission on banker wins. They make a profit on the banker's advantage and side bets only. With no commission, the banker has a 1.30% advantage, and all others playing against the banker a 1.30% disadvantage.
Banking Against Yourself
Play Free Pai Gow Poker Online
Sometimes, when a player invokes his right to bank, the other players will want a shot at whatever the side bet is, but dislike betting against another player on the primary wager. Another reason this might be done is to 'change the luck' at the table. In this case, non-banking players may make a deal with the banking player that if one beats the other, the winner will refund the loser, less the 5% commission. It is essentially banking against yourself through a gentleman's agreement with the banker. The dealer will have nothing to do with it. In some casinos, they will overtly not allow it, although it may be hard to prevent, especially if the deal is made in a foreign language the dealer doesn't know. I mention this as a warning that you may be asked to do this, if you choose to bank. How you respond is up to you, but I will say it may cause some ill-will at the table if you say 'no.'
The italian job free. There is a discussion of this in my forum at Wizard of Vegas.
The House Way
The house way is how the dealer arranges their own hand. It can vary from place to place the differences are marginal and happen infrequently. The house way is available for the following casinos:
- Great Britain (1124K PDF; see page 80)
- Silver Dollar (Washington)
- IGW (Software for Arrow's Edge Internet casinos)
Pai Gow Poker Probabilities
The following table shows the probability of forming any specified poker hand. These probabilities consider all seven cards and without regard to how the player may play the hand. Www free slot games for fun.
The house way is how the dealer arranges their own hand. It can vary from place to place the differences are marginal and happen infrequently. The house way is available for the following casinos:
- Great Britain (1124K PDF; see page 80)
- Silver Dollar (Washington)
- IGW (Software for Arrow's Edge Internet casinos)
Pai Gow Poker Probabilities
The following table shows the probability of forming any specified poker hand. These probabilities consider all seven cards and without regard to how the player may play the hand. Www free slot games for fun.
Probabilities in Pai Gow Poker
| Hand | Combinations | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Five Aces | 1,128 | 0.00000732 |
| Straight/Royal Flush | 210,964 | 0.00136862 |
| Four of a Kind | 307,472 | 0.00199472 |
| Full House | 4,188,528 | 0.02717299 |
| Flush | 6,172,088 | 0.04004129 |
| Straight | 11,236,028 | 0.07289350 |
| Three of a Kind | 7,470,676 | 0.04846585 |
| Two Pair | 35,553,816 | 0.23065464 |
| One Pair | 64,221,960 | 0.41663862 |
| All Other | 24,780,420 | 0.16076246 |
| Total | 154,143,080 | 1 |
Note: The number of combinations for a Royal Flush is 26,132; 21,620 wild and 4,512 natural.
Internal Links
- pai gow strategy page.
- pai gow poker simple strategy (PDF).
- Ask the Wizard questions about Pai Gow Poker.
- EZ Pai Gow Poker.
- Commission Free Pai Gow Poker.
- Dealer Probabilities: Shows the probability the dealer will form any given hand or less. Useful for making accurate strategy decisions.
- When to split Two Pair: My advice on when to split two pair.
- Side Bets: Analysis of various side bets such as Fortune, Jackpot, and Emperor's Challenge.
- No Push Pai Gow Poker: My analysis of this Pai Gow Poker variant.
- Pai Gow Mania: My analysis.
- Play Pai Gow Poker. Play my Pai Gow Poker game.
- Face Up Pai Gow Poker — Variant where the dealer's cards are dealt face up.
External Links
German translation of this page.
Written by:Michael Shackleford
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We cover all sorts of Pai Gow topics including strategy, tips, advice, history, etiquitte and more including a detailed explanation on how to split two pair, about being the banker, a list of common pai gow mistakes to watch out for and details about playing pai gow poker online. You can also play a Pai Gow Poker game without downloading any software or installing any programs to your computer. We also mention the top online casinos to play pai gow for free or for real money, the choice is yours! Welcome to the site and enjoy the content!
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Welcome to our Pai Gow Poker site!
Pai Gow Poker is based on an older Asian game called Pai Gow. The original game was invented centuries ago and used tiles (they looked like dominos). In order to make the rules easier to understand for a Western audience, the tiles were abandoned for playing cards.
3 reel free slot games. Today, Pai Gow Poker is played with one standard deck of playing cards combined with a single joker, and the game is one of the most popular at the online casinos. Hands are ranked according to conventional poker hands, which makes determining the winner intuitive for most U.S. gamblers.
On this site, we'll provide a detailed overview of the rules, Pai Gow Poker strategy that will maximize your chances of winning while reducing the house edge as much as possible, and a whole lot more. Most novices who observe the game without knowing the rules become confused. However, you'll discover that Pai Gow Poker is not only relatively simple, but fun to play.
How To Play Pai Gow Poker
In land-based casinos, Pai Gow Poker is played between the dealer and up to six players. When you play the game at online casinos, you are the only player. Each hand begins after you choose the amount of your bet (according to the table limits). Seven cards are dealt to you face up and seven cards are dealt to the dealer face down. We have a more comprehensive guide on how to play Pai Gow if you want to go through the finer details.
To play, you must choose two of your seven cards and place them in a separate 2 card hand. The dealer does the same with his 7 cards. At this point, your hands are turned face up and compared against the dealers. You compare your five cards to the dealer's 5-card hand and the the two cards you isolated will be compared to the dealer's 2-card hand. Your bet is riding on the outcome of both hands. The goal in Pai Gow is to win both hands. You can learn your chances of getting different hands by looking through the odds of Pai Gow and of course reading our tips and strategy articles.
If the dealer's 5-card hand and 2-card hand beat your hands (respectively), you'll lose your bet. If both of your hands individually outrank the dealer's hands, your bet is paid out even money (i.e. 1:1), less a 5% commission.
If one of your hands outranks the dealer's corresponding hand (for example, your 5-card hand beats the dealer's 5-card hand), but your other hand loses, your bet is pushed back to you. If one of your hands wins, but the other hand ties the dealer's hand, you'll lose your bet. If it sounds confusing, it isn't really. Read our pai gow tips for advice on how to play your hands to maximize your odds of winning and how to split up your hands.
There are two more important rules of Pai Gow Poker…
First, your 2-card hand cannot outrank your 5-card hand. If you're playing the game at an online casino, the software will prevent you from proceeding until you fix the problem. If you're at a land-based casino, you'll typically lose your bet based on your committing a 'foul.' Be wary.
Second, you'll recall that the game is played with a single joker. The joker can be used to make straights or flushes (and of course, straight flushes). Otherwise, it represents an Ace.
Pai Gow Poker Strategy
Optimal strategy for playing Pai Gow Poker is complex for two reasons. First, some land-based casinos allow you to assume the role of 'banker.' However, not only is this becoming less popular in the largest casinos, but few top-tier online casinos allow it. So, we'll ignore the 'banker' component when discussing playing Pai Gow poker online.
Second, the largest influence on reducing the house edge is the manner in which you split your cards. And therein, lies the complexity. Because there are so many possible hand combinations, you would need an enormous pai gow hand chart to play the 'house way.' Even if you had the chart in front of you while playing, the game would proceed at a snail's pace.
To keep things relatively simple, we'll provide a few rules of thumb. If you adhere to them, you'll come very close to achieving the minimal 2.66% house edge on Pai Gow Poker.
Here they are:
- If you're holding one pair, keep it within your 5-card hand and isolate your two next highest cards.
- If you're holding two pairs, keep the highest ranking pair in your 5-card hand and isolate the other one.
- If you're holding three pairs, isolate the highest ranking one.
- Don't split a three of a kind.
- If you're holding a full house, isolate the pair.
- Don't split straights and flushes unless you're holding two pairs.
- With a four of a kind, look at the card ranking. If you're holding twos through fives, don't split them. If you're holding sixes through nines, split them unless you have a King or an Ace. If you have a King or Ace, keep the four of a kind intact. If your four of a kind is made up from tens or face cards, split them unless you have an Ace.
If you can remember the above rules, you'll shave the house edge on Pai Gow Poker as closely to 2.66% as possible. You can also take a look through the odds playing pai gow or even test them out yourself playing a pai gow poker game.
Best Online Casino To Play Online Pai Gow Poker
We recommend that you visit Bovada Casino to play Pai Gow Poker. They offer fantastic gambling software, but also allow you to play the game directly within your browser. Their customer support is top-notch and available by email or phone 24 hours a day. You'll also be impressed by their bonus structure. When you join Bodog Casino and make your first deposit, they'll give you a 10% bonus match instantly up front. While that's a lower match than many online casinos offer, you'll receive your bonus within 30 minutes of making your deposit and you don't have the huge slew of terms and conditions that can instantly void your bonus at many casinos. Plus, they let you meet the 15x wagering requirement with most of their games and they constantly offer the best odds of any online casino.
Take a moment to visit Bovada Casino and play Pai Gow Poker. You'll understand why they are one of the most popular gambling sites online.
