Pai Gow Poker

The Pai Gow Poker is an interesting casino game that was invented as a combination of conventional poker and Chinese Pai Gow domino. Pai Gow literally means \"makes nine\" in English. Pai Gow Poker is not the same as Pai Gow. If you are well familiar with the poker hands you wouldn\'t have a problem understanding the Pai Gow Poker but don\'t worry if you don\'t: it will be probably easier for you to learn the Poker ranking through Pai Gow Poker which is a very simple game.

Pai Gow Poker is played with a deck of 53 cards (a regular deck and one Joker). As we will explain below, Joker is not a real wildcard in Pai Gow and is not treated like in the rest of casino games. You play one on one against the casino.

The objective of Pai Gow Poker is to beat the house with two poker hands. You are dealt seven cards, which you must organize into two separate hands called the Low Hand and the High Hand. You must move two of them into the Low Hand. All the rest stays in the High Hand. Your high hand must always beat your low hand - that is one of the rules of Pai Gow Poker.

The cards all have the same value as in Poker with the exception of Joker which is not your usual wildcard in Pai Gow Poker and can only be used as an Ace or to complete Straight Flush, Royal Flush, Straight or Flush.

The rules of ranking (beating) are similar to the common Poker rules. Here are the rankings listed from lowest to highest:

1. High card
2. One pair
3. Two pair
4. Three of a kind
5. Straight
6. Flush
7. Full house
8. Four of a kind
9. Straight flush
10. Royal flush
11. Five aces

Notice that there\'s a small but important difference from the regular Poker rules: the order of straights is A-K-Q-J-10, then A-2-3-4-5 and then K-Q-J-10-9.

The betting in Pai Gow Poker is very simple. There\'s only one bet and it pays off 1 to 1; in order to win you need to beat the dealer in both hands. Winning in just one hand is considered a tie (or push in poker slang).

When you are done arranging your hands the dealer exposes his cards. The outcome of the game is now decided based on the rules we have just described. There\'s no calling, raising or folding. As soon as the cards are exposed and the match is done the game will end

Good luck!