Origin:
Pai Gow poker originates from an ancient oriental game called Pai Gow. The game of Pai Gow is played with Chinese dominoes and differs a great deal from Pai Gow poker, which is played in American casinos with standard deck of 52 poker cards and one joker and uses poker combinations. Pai Gow poker can be played by up to 6 players and a banker, who can be either a casino dealer or one of the players.
The Object of the Game:
The object of Pai Gow poker is to divide one seven-card hand to one five-card and one two-card hands. The two-card hand is called the hand in front or on top, and must rank lower than the five-card hand, which is called the hand behind or bottom hand. The names of these hands correspond to their location when they are placed in front of the player after he is done setting them.
How it is Played:
Regardless of how many players play Pai Gow poker, all 53 cards are divided to 7 piles of 7 cards. 4 unused cards are placed in discards and will not be used during the game. The dealing begins from one of the randomly (electronically or with dice) chosen player and proceeds counter-clockwise. One of the ways to determine where the dealing will start is to throw three dice and to count the total number of spots, starting from the dealer in clockwise direction. If the betting place, where the count ends is empty, the hand is still dealt, but then placed in the discards.
Rank of Hands:
Hands in Pai Gow poker are ranked as in standard poker. It is evidential, that two-card hands can not rank higher than one pair, while 5-card hands can contain any existing poker combination. The joker can complete a straight or a flush in the five-card hand and serves as an ace in all other cases. In most Nevada casinos, an A-2-3-4-5 straight ranks higher than a 9-10-J-Q-K straight and lower than 10-J-Q-K-A straight, while in California and Michigan A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest possible straight.
Who Wins?
When all players finish separating their hands, each hand is compared to that of the dealer. If both their hands beat both the dealers hands, the player wins. If both dealers hands beat both players hands, the player loses, if one of the players hands beats the corresponding dealers hand and the other one does not, it is a push. Ties in each individual hands go to the banker, so if one of the dealers hands beats the players hand and the other one is a tie, the dealer wins. Some house rules determine a penalty for incorrectly combined hands, so if the hand of top ranks higher than the bottom hand or the hands contain incorrect number of cards, the player may forfeit his wager.
In most casinos, dealers must set their hands in a specific manner called House Way, if one of the players plays as a co-banker he also must follow the rules of the House Way. All other players can set their hands as they like.
The house edge of Pai Gow poker is very low, therefore most casinos charge either a flat fee of 50 cents, 1 dollar per game or tax 5 percent commission from winning. Although it may seem a lot, casinos do not earn much on Pai Gow poker tables. A game of Pai Gow poker lasts much longer then
blackjack and there are many pushes, so winning happens quite infrequently.
