- Pai Gow rules are very different from the classic poker version. Its key advantage is that the player needs to outplay only one rival represented by dealer, whereas in a traditional format you should play against several opponents.
- Pai gow poker is the American version of pai gow – a Chinese dominoes game. Pai gow was introduced to the US market by Sam Torosian, who invented it based on the Asian model. Sadly for him, he didn’t patent it and ended up losing a potential fortune. The game quickly gained popularity and nowadays is considered a classic.
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Many of you have played Pai Gow Poker at the best online casinos, but are you playing with a proper strategy? Despite the claim that Pai Gow Poker is a game of luck, there are strategies that you can use to improve your odds of winning.
Today, we will look at the basic strategy for playing your hands in Pai Gow Poker. Note that this strategy is based on you playing your hands as the player. It does not account for live Pai Gow games where you can play as the banker.
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Playing Uncordinated Hands
There are going to be many times where you will receive a hand that’s completely uncoordinated. With these hands, you don’t have as much as a pair for either hand. When this happens, you have to play two high card hands and hope that the dealer has a bad low hand.
First, you will take your highest card and add your four lowest cards together. This is your high hand. You’ll take your second and third highest cards to make your low hand. For example, if you have A-K-J-9-7-5-2, you’d play A-9-7-5-2 for high and K-J for low.
One Pair Hands
Another common hand is where you only have a single pair and nothing else in your hand. In this case, the pair will be your high hand. Take your two highest kickers and play them as your low hand. For example, if you have A-Q-10-8-8-6-2, you’d play A-Q for low and 8-8-10-6-2 for high.
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One pair hands are scoop capable when you have a medium pair and at least one card of queen or higher in your low hand.
Two Pair Hands
The hands that will be the trickiest to play in Pai Gow Poker are hands with two pair. That’s because you’re often going to split your pair. Splitting pairs is where most people get tripped up in this game.
First, let’s look at the three types of pairs. Low pairs are deuces through sixes. Medium pairs are sevens through tens. High pairs are jacks or better.
Here are the times where you will be splitting two pair, regardless of what your other cards are:
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- Anytime one of your two pairs is aces.
- When you have two high pair.
- When you have one medium and one high pair.
In the following scenarios, you will also split two pair provided you do not have an ace in your hand:
- One low pair and one high pair.
- One Low pair and one medium pair.
- Two low pairs.
- Two medium pairs.
In all other cases where you have two pair and an ace in your hand, you will play your ace and the second-highest non-pairing card as your low hand and the two pair for high.
Pai Gow Strategy
Playing Trips in Pai Gow Poker
Playing trips, aka three of a kind, is easy in this game. In most cases, you will play trips for your high hand and your two highest kickers for the low hand. The only exception is when you have trip aces. In this case, you will split the trips and play one ace as part of your low hand.
Flushes and Straights
Hands with a straight or flush are usually going to play themselves. In the majority of cases, you’ll play the straight or flush as the high hand. For the times where you have a seven-card straight or a seven-card flush, you will play the two highest cards as your low hand.
The one exception for playing a flush is when you have a flush along with two pair. When this happens, you’re going to break the flush and split the pair according to the rules for splitting pairs.
Quads
You might be tempted to automatically play quads (four of a kind) as a high hand, but that’s not the case. When you have quad jacks or better, you’re splitting the hand into two pair. The same applies to medium quads, provided that you don’t have an ace in your hand. If you do, you will play the quads. For low quads, you will play them together.
Five Aces
As counterintuitive as it sounds, you’re almost never going to play five aces together. Instead, one ace and the joker will become your low hand and you’ll play trip aces for high.
The exception to this rule is when you have a pair of kings and five aces. Then, you’ll play the kings for low and five aces for high.
This Strategy Helps, But Not By Much
The above strategy is a great strategy to use to help improve your odds at winning in games where the dealer is always the banker. This applies to most Pai Gow Poker games at real money online casinos. However, the edge you gain with this strategy isn’t massive. It only improves your odds by about 0.21%. The general house edge when using this strategy is around 2.5%
Where this strategy helps is in games where the player is the banker. In those games, the house edge is reduced down to less than a half of a percent. However, you will find few online Pai Gow games offering player banking. However, it is still great to know when you play in live Pai Gow Poker games.
Pai Gow is a slow-paced casino game played with Chinese dominoes. Learning how to play Pai Gow online or offline is not the easiest task but the game is worth candles. Here you have all Pai Gow rules explained as they are.
If you are looking for new gambling challenges, try out Pai Gow. This well-known casino game isn’t too difficult to play offline, online, or live. Check out the Pai Gow game rules and goals before playing it for real money.
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What is Pai Gow?
Pai Gow is a relatively new gambling game launched in the 1980s by one of the American casino owners. Although it is also known as an ancient Chinese dominoes game, it is Pai Gow from the mid-1980s that entered the list of the most popular casino games.
Also known as Pai Gow Poker, the game has become one of the gamblers’ favorites and found its place both in land-based and online casinos. Basically, it is a poker variation – that’s why the second name of Pai Gow is double-hand poker. It follows similar rules but is slightly different from classic poker games.
If you have never played this game, here you have all the Pai Gow rules explained. Pai Gow rules, objectives, and gaming processes are available at many online poker guides for beginners. We gathered them all together to make the learning process easier.
Pai Gow rules explained: object and process
Pai Gow is a card game played with 52 cards and a joker. The player or several players compete against a dealer in Pai Gow. There can be up to 6 players playing at the same time.
To win Pai Gow, you have to collect two poker hands: one’s a classic 5-card hand, while the other consists of two cards. If both hands beat the dealer’s hands, you win. If no hand beats the dealer’s hands, you lose. The third possible outcome means one of your hands beats one of the dealer’s hands. In this case, it is a push.
What is good about Pai Gow is that one round can last for hours. Basically, the whole game is built on pushes without changing stakes but still moving money around.
Where to play?
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Pai Gow games are available at many online gambling sites nowadays. King Billy, Intertops, VBet, Betsafe, and other big online casinos offer Pai Gow games in many variations.
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In addition, you can play the game live at some casino sites. While you play against a computer in its online version, the live Pai Gow game has a real dealer playing against you in real-time. It is a great opportunity to play with real people these days, so don’t hesitate to check the latest online poker bonuses and use them in your first Pai Gow game!
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