Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker is a fun spin of an ancient Chinese game. It allows a player to put together two hands in order to try and beat the dealer (or in some cases as the dealer himself). Playing at an online casino   is simple and in just a few clicks you can be well on your way to some hopefully big winnings.

How to Play Pai Gow Poker

In this game, there is a dealer, the player and the banker. The game uses 53 cards made of a standard 52 card deck and one Joker. Bets are placed and then the player and dealer each receive seven cards face down.

The player then arranges the seven cards into two hands-one hand, the back, uses five cards and the other hand, the front, is composed of the two other cards. All seven cards must be used. The banker does the same thing.

The player reveals both of their hands and then the banker does the same. The hands are compared. If there is more than one player at the table, which is not usually the case for online casino games, the various players compete against the dealer and not one another, like in blackjack.

Losing and Winning Pai Gow Poker

Overall, the hands are ranked as in poker, although there are variations. Many casinos rank A, 2, 3, 4, 5 as the second-highest straight. As far as the two-card hands are concerned, pairs are the best you can get with two aces being the highest. With unmatched cards, the worst hand is 3, 2. The joker may be used as a wild card to complete a straight, flush or straight flush. Otherwise it is considered an ace.

After player's hands are arranged the banker's hand is arranged in the "house way," which is predetermined by specific rules.

When setting your hand, your two-card hand may not be higher than your five-card hand, don't worry an online casino will automatically notify you if you try to do this. If the player beats the banker on both hands, the player wins. If the the two tie on a hand, the banker wins that hand. If the player wins one hand and loses the other, then it's a push or tie and the bet is returned. If the player loses both, then he/she loses his/her entire wager.

If you win after the hands are compared, you'd get even money minus a 5% commission or vig that is paid to the bank. Pai gow poker always charges a commission and it always goes to the banker.

A great feature of the game is that as a player, you can also choose the house way which makes it much simpler to arrange your cards. After trying it you can see our Pai Gow Poker strategy guide to learn some more advanced ways to play.

Pretty straightforward isn't it? You can try Pai Gow Poker at Titan Casino.