Pai Gow Poker is simply an
Americanized version of Pai
Gow and is many times referred
to as Double-hand poker. Pai
Gow is a game that involves
playing with cards that have
poker hand values instead of
the traditional Pai Gow
Chinese dominoes. The Pai Gow
Poker version that is played
now was created by two
gentlemen by the names of Sam
Torosian and Fred Wolf.
Fred Wolf was the casino
manager of the Commerce Casino
in the early ‘80’s and decided
to sublet part of his floor
space to the Bell Club to
introduce his new Super Pan-9
game. The games of Pai Gow
Poker and Super Pan-9 became
immediate favorites among
their customers, and it spread
across the world from there.
Pai Gow Poker is played
with a regular, standard 52
card deck, and all of the
jokers are taken out of the
deck with the exception of
one. There are six players at
a time, plus the dealer, at
the table. The idea is to
defeat the dealer and each
player attempts to do so.
You beat the dealer by
creating two poker hands out
of the seven cards that you
are actually dealt. You have
to create a five card poker
hand and a two card poker hand
in order to win. The two card
poker hand must not be equal
to, nor exceed the value of
the five card poker hand. The
two card hand is called the
“top” and the five card hand
is called the “bottom.”
Each Pai Gow Poker hand
has a ranking, and depending
on your cards you will fall
somewhere in the list. The
only two card hands are a pair
of anything, or two high
cards. The five card hand
follows standard poker hand
rankings. The joker can be
used as a wild unless it is in
the two hand card – then it is
always an ace. This rule is
true no matter where you are
except for California for
there it is always wild.
When playing the cards are
shuffled and then seven face
down piles of seven cards each
are dealt, no matter how many
people are playing. There can
only be four cards remaining
in the dealer’s hands. The
betting positions run from 1
to 7 in a counter clockwise
manner around the table.
Usually the dice is rolled and
the deal begins with the
corresponding position. If a
player is not sitting in the
spot, the cards are still
dealt but then they go on the
unused cards pile.
If
both of the player’s hands
beat the banker’s hands then
they are the inner. However,
if only one of his hands beats
the banker’s hand then it is a
push. If both hands lose to
the banker, it is game over.
Ties go to the banker and
their hand is always set in a
preset manner called the
“house way.” However, if the
player chooses to co-bank with
the house they have to set
their cards in the same
manner.
California
casinos charge a flat fee per
hand, usually $0.05 or $1.00
to play, win or lose. Other
casinos might take a 5%
commission, which is commonly
referred to as the rake. Some
say that this amount is too
high a price to pay for the
game, however, Pai Gow takes a
much longer time to play that
other card games.
When
playing, you should try to set
the best two hand set that you
can. Ideally this will leave a
higher five card hand behind.
Experts say that by having
your hand set up the house way
you will stand a better chance
of winning and improve your
odds. Some ideas:
• If
you have no pairs, straights
or flushes, put second and
third card in two hand card
and save the rest for the
other. • If you have
nothing but a single pair, you
can put it in the larger hand
and put the two highest
remaining cards in the smaller
hand. • If you have two
pair, you can either play high
pair behind and small pair in
front, or two pair behind with
high cards in front. •
Three pair is a great hand
because you can play your
highest pair in front and then
the other two pairs in the
second hand. • Three of a
kind means that you play three
of a kind behind and the
remaining high cards in front.
• Full house gives you three
of a kind behind with the pair
in front. • Two three of a
kinds should be the highest as
a pair in the front and the
rest in the back. • Four of
a kind is treated like two
pair, with highest going out
front.
The options go
on from there, and are
seemingly endless. It even
depends what cards you have as
to how you play them and with
millions of possibilities you
can only play your best.
