Pai Gow Poker Cards

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Pai Gow Poker is a card variation of the Chinese domino game called Pai Gow. It's an exciting but relaxed casino game that has become extremely popular. Playing Pai Gow Poker is actually really easy to learn. Pai Gow Poker is a game that uses a 53-card deck. In addition to the standard cards, there is a joker. While a joker would be wild and replace any card in most poker games, it has narrow uses in Pai Gow Poker. A joker may only replace a card missing from a straight flush, flush, or straight. Otherwise, it is simply an ace. Pai Gow Poker uses a standard deck of 52 cards plus one joker. A maximum of six players sit around the table along with the dealer. The object of the game is quite simple: to beat the banker. The banker can be the dealer, another player at the table, or a player-dealer “team.”. Pai Gow Poker is a simplified version of “Pusoy”. This card game is designed for fast-play. Evidently, by the reduction of the number of cards from 13 to 7 for each player. In addition, the number of hands has also been reduced from 3 to 2.

Face Up Pai Gow Poker is played with a standard 52 card deck, including a Joker, for a total of 53 cards.

The rank of each card used in Face up Pai Gow Poker, in order of highest to lowest rank, shall be: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Ace also may play as the lowest card in the straight Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5. The Joker may be used as any type of card to complete a straight, flush, straight flush, or must otherwise only be used as an Ace.

The hand rankings for the game of Face Up Pai Gow Poker, in order of highest to lowest are as follows:

7 Card Straight Flush (no Joker) A hand that consists of seven cards of the same suit in consecutive ranking that does not utilize a joker. An ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, and 8 is the highest ranked 7 card Straight Flush (No Joker) hand and a 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and ace is the lowest ranked 7 Card Straight Flush (No Joker) hand.

Royal Flush + Royal Match A hand that consists of ace, king, queen, jack, and 10 suited and king and queen suited

7 Card Straight Flush (With Joker) A hand that consists of seven cards of the same suit in consecutive ranking that utilizes a joker. An ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, and 8 is the highest ranked 7 Card Straight Flush (With Joker) hand, with one of those cards being substituted with a joker, and a 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and ace is the lowest ranked 7 Card Straight Flush (With Joker) hand, with one of those cards being substituted for a joker.

Pai Gow Poker Casino Card Games

Five Aces A hand that consists of five cards containing all aces

Royal Flush A hand that consists of an ace, king, queen, jack and 10 of the same suit

Straight Flush A hand that consists of five cards of the same suit in consecutive ranking. A king, queen, jack, 10, and 9 is the highest ranked Straight Flush and a 5, 4, 3, 2, and ace is the lowest ranked Straight Flush.

Four of a Kind A hand that consists of four cards of the same rank. Four aces is the highest ranked Four of a Kind and four 2’s is the lowest ranked Four of a Kind

Full House A hand that consists of a Three of a Kind and a Pair. Three aces and two kings is the highest ranked Full House and three 2’s and two 3’s is the lowest ranked Full House

Flush A hand that consists of five cards of the same suit, but that are not in consecutive ranking. An ace, king, queen, jack and 9 is the highest ranked Flush and a 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 is the lowest ranked Flush.

Straight A hand that consists of five cards that are in consecutive ranking, but that are not the same suit. An ace, king, queen, jack and 10 is the highest ranked Straight and a 5, 4, 3, 2 and ace is the lowest ranked Straight.

Three of a Kind A hand that consists of three cards of the same rank. Three aces is the highest ranked Three of a Kind and three 2’s is the lowest ranked Three of a Kind.

Two Pairs A hand that consists of two pairs. Two aces and Two kings is the highest ranked Two Pairs and two 3’s and two 2’s is the lowest ranked Two Pairs

One Pair A hand that consists of two cards of the same rank. Two aces is the highest ranked Pair and two 2’s is the lowest ranked Pair.

High Card A hand that consists of five cards that do not make any of the hands listed above. An ace, king, queen, jack, and 9 is the highest ranked High Card hand and 7, 5, 4, 3, and 2 is the lowest ranked High Card hand.

Face Up Pai Gow Poker is played on a table which seats a maximum of seven players.

Players may place wagers bearing in mind the posted table minimum and maximum. Players must make a Face Up Pai Gow Poker game wager and will then have the option to make a Fortune Bonus Bet wager and/or an Ace High Pai Gow Wager as well.

Each player puts up any bets they wish to place for the next hand. Players have the option of placing a Fortune Bonus Bet wager and/or an Ace High Pai Gow wager at this time as well. The cardroom dealer will then follow the dealing procedures and standards of play, as described above.

The Designated Player’s hand will be set by the dealer before players look at their hands. The Dealer will set the hand according to the House Way.

Then each player shall set their hands by arranging the seven cards into a two card hand and a five card hand. The two card hand is placed above the five card hand, and the five card hand must rank higher than the two card hand, according to the ranking of hands.

If the designated players hand is incorrectly set it must be corrected to the listed House Way.

No Pair The second and third high cards will be placed in the Low hand; the highest and all remaining cards will be placed in the High Hand.

One Pair Use the highest two single cards in the Low Hand; place the pair and all remaining cards in the High Hand.

Two Pairs If high pair is Aces, Kings, Queens – always split. If high pair is Jacks, 10’s, 9’s, - split unless Ace is front. If high pair is 8’s, 7’s, 6’s – split unless King is front. If high pair is 5’s, 4’s, 3’s – split unless Queen in front.Three Pairs Put highest pair in front.

Three of a kind If Aces – always split. If Kings and below – never split. If two sets of three of a kind – split highest set.

Straight, Flush, Straight Flush With no pair – always play the complete hand. With one pair – always play the complete hand. With two pairs – play according to two pairs strategy. With three of a kind – play complete hand in back, pair in front. If straight, flush, and/or straight flush – put the two highest cards in front that will leave any complete hand behind.

Full House Put the highest permissible pair in front.

Four of a kind If Aces, Kings, Queens – always split. If Jacks, 10’s, 9’s – split unless King in front. If 8’s, 7’s, 6’s – split unless Queen in front. If 5’s and below – never split. If 4 of a kind with a pair – play complete hand behind.

Five Aces Put pair of Aces in Front.

Once the Player’s hands are set, each player’s hand is exposed, in turn, and compared to the Designated Player’s hands to determine the winners, losers, or tie hands.

If the Designated Player’s hand is an Ace High Pai Gow (no pair or better with a high card Ace) only, the Face Up wager is an automatic push.

The Ace High Pai Gow Wager is paid out according to the Ace High Pai Gow Pay Table if the Designated Player makes an Ace High Pai Gow, the player has placed a wager on the Ace High Pai Gow wager circle and the players hand beats the Designated players.

Each Player’s five card hand will be compared to the Designated player’s five card hand, and each player’s two card hand will be compared to the Designated Player’s two card hand, in turn, starting with the “Action” button, to determine the winner according to the following criteria:

  1. The Face Up Gow Poker game wager wins if the two card hand and the five card hand held by the player ranks higher than the Designated Player’s two card hand and five card hand. Winning Fortune Pai Gow Poker game wagers are paid 1 to 1.
  2. The Fortune Pai Gow Poker game wager loses if the two card hand and the five card hand held by the player ranks lower than the Designated Player’s two card hand and five card hand.
  3. The Fortune Pai Gow Poker game wager “pushes” if one of the hands held by the player ranks higher than the Designated Player’s corresponding hand, and the player’s other hand ranks lower than the Designated Player’s corresponding hand. In this case, neither the player nor the Designated Player wins or loses; the wager is a “push” and is returned to the player.
  4. If one hand is identical in rank to the Designated Player’s hand, it is a “copy hand.” The Designated Player wins all “copy hands.” The pai gow wager will push should the Players hand contain a “copy hand” and a subsequent winning hand. The pai gow wager shall lose when the players hand contains a “copy hand” and a subsequent losing hand.
  5. Players are allowed to play multiple consecutive betting spots in the blind and will have these hands set according to house way by the dealer. *The house reserves the right to limit players to one betting spot.

The Fortune Bonus bet considers the best hand possible among the player’s seven cards and does not take into consideration how the five card hand and two card hand were divided. The hand ranking for the Fortune Bonus bet will coincide with the bonus pay table.

The Designated Player position rotation is offered in a clockwise motion every hand among all eligible Designated Players. Players will notify a staff member if they choose to be a Designated Player.

The Joker can be used as an ace, or to complete a straight, flush, or straight flush on the Fortune Bonus Bet.

The Designated Player pays qualifying Fortune Bonus Bet wagers from his or her own chip stack only if the Designated Player’s seven card Fortune Pai Gow Bonus hand loses to the player’s seven card Fortune Pai Gow Bonus hand. A players Fortune Bonus Wager is a loss if their seven-card hand does not beat the designated players hand. Wagers are collected or paid starting at the action button, to the extent that the Designated Player’s wager covers. Once the Designated Player’s wager has been exhausted, or the table maximum payout has been reached, the wagers not covered by the Designated Player shall be returned to the respective players. Fortune Bonus Bet will have a max aggregated payout of $50,000 per betting spot per hand.

Ace High Pai Gow Wager:

  • Designated Player – Ace High Pai Gow (no Joker) – 5 to 1
  • Designated Player – Ace High Pai Gow (with Joker) – 15 to 1
  • Designated Player & Player both have Ace High Pai Gow -40 to1
  • Fortune Bonus Bet Pay Table Hand Payout:
  • 7 Card Straight Flush - 5,000 to 1
  • Royal Flush + Royal Match - 2,000 to 1
  • 7 Card Straight Flush with Joker -1,000 to 1
  • 5 Aces - 400 to 1 • Royal Flush - 150 to 1
  • Straight Flush - 50 to 1
  • 4 of a Kind - 25 to 1
  • Full House - 5 to 1
  • Flush - 4 to 1
  • 3 of a Kind - 3 to 1
  • Straight - 2 to 1

The action button will rotate clockwise per hand.

Rake is collected before cards are dealt. It is paid by the Designated Player, at a rate determined by the cardroom and posted at the table.

The Action Button will signify the starting point for ALL action. Action is defined as the first spot to receive cards, first player cards are pushed too, and first hand to be compared against the Designated Player’s hand. When playing multiple hands, a player may only handle the first cards pushed towards him/her. All other hands must be in consecutive/adjacent betting spots and must be set “house way” by the dealer.

Pai Gow Poker Cards

Last Updated 9/21/2020 – Please see host for current rules and listing. The rules listed at the host will always be the most current and up to date version of these rules.

Pai Gow Poker is a popular card game featured in casinos across the world. It is particularly popular among the Asian population due to the fact that it’s based on a Chinese domino game known as Pai Gow Tiles in the United States.

Pai Gow Poker Cards Value

Like most other card games, Pai Gow Poker utilizes a traditional 52-card deck with one exception. There is one single joker left in the deck. The joker, however is not a standard wild card. It may only be used to complete a royal flush, straight flush, straight, or flush. If the card cannot be used in one of these hands, it is simply counted as an ace. Read on to learn how to play using proper strategy as well as payouts and other important information before playing at a casino.

Pai Gow Articles

How to Play Pai Gow Poker

When you sit down to play Pai Gow, the hand starts with a mandatory bet. This requires you to place your chips in the ante box. Some games have additional side bets which are optional. This will depend on the rules at each individual table/casino.

Once all bets are placed, the next step is to determine which player will receive the first set of cards. Traditional tables will use three dice while more modern ones use a random number generator that chooses a number between one and seven. To give you a frame of reference if you are unfamiliar; the banker’s spot is considered seat one. The numbers then go in order, counterclockwise around the table.

Once all of this has been determined, the game begins. It starts off by the dealer handing seven cards (in a row) off to the first player who was chosen by the dice or number generator from the top of the deck. One unique facet of Pai Gow when compared to other poker games is that the cards are dealt to all seats, even if they are unoccupied.

Playing Your Hand

Once all bets are placed, and each player has been dealt their cards, they then pick them up. The cards are separated by the player into one five card hand and one two card hand. The main rule being that the five card hand must be higher than the two card hand. This means that a pair cannot be placed in the two card hand unless there is a pair of that value or higher in the back hand or any hand that beats a pair.

Once all players have set their hands, the banker exposes his cards. There is a unique house way for every scenario. This is used when the casino is banker and varies from one house to another. These rules are made available upon request at any casino, so if you play often it may be worth checking before sitting down at a table if it suits you.

Pai Gow Rules

In Pai Gow Poker, the rules are determined by the house and referred to as the House Way. The House Way changes from casino to casino (offline) and from software to software (online), but here are the most typical rules.

– While the additional Joker is counted as an Ace, you can also count it as any card when you are filling out a Flush, Straight Flush, Straight, or Royal Flush. The card is often called a bug.

– The best five-card hand you can possibly have in Pai Gow Poker is a set of five aces.

– In addition to the five-card hand, there is also a two-card hand. The former is often called the Bottom, Back, Behind, or the Big (or High) hand. The latter is called the Front, In Front, On Top, the Minor hand, the Small hand, or the Low hand.

– In Pai Gow Poker, the dealer deals seven cards to himself and seven cards to each player after making the bets. From the seven cards, each player makes two hands: one with five cards, the other with two cards.

– The five-card hand must be higher than the two-card hand. This rule must be taken seriously as fouling your hand (the phrase used when your two-card hand is higher than your five-card hand) makes you lose your bet.

– Often times (but depending on the House Way), the rule is to arrange a pair or two high cards as your two-card hand.

– The standard poker hand ranking rules apply to the five-card hand. There is one exception, however, in a number of casinos. A wheel (the A-2-3-4-5 straight) is deemed as the second-highest straight ranking.

– The best possible two-card hand is a pair of aces while the worst is 2-3. Flushes and Straights are not applicable in the two-card hand because the Joker is always an Ace.

– Each player is betting both hands against the banker, who can be the dealer or any one of the players (similar to Baccarat).

– To determine who wins, each player compares his hands to the banker’s according to the House Way.

a) You win if both hands are higher than the banker’s and get paid even money (sometimes with a commission).
b) You lose if neither hands is higher than the banker’s.
c) The game is a draw or push if only one hand is higher than the banker’s.
d) However, the banker wins in the event that the banker’s hands and the player’s hands are the same. This is a plus for the casino when the banker is the dealer. If the banker is one of the players, this rule does not hold but the house deducts a certain percentage from the winning hands. The percentage is usually 4-5%; however, some casinos do not deduct it. Do note that most – if not all – online casinos round off each value to the nearest $0.25, so you should always wager in the rise of $5.

– There is also a bonus bet, in which you bet on three or more of a kind as the “premium hand”. It is independent of your main bet and pays as high as the numbers of a kind you have.

– In addition, Microgaming’s Pai Gow Poker features a side bet, which has a house edge of 5.79%.

Strategies

Published in April 1990, Optimal Strategy for Pai Gow Poker by Sanford Wong is one book to read if you are truly interested in this game. Even though I have not read it myself, the book has been praised for years to offer the best strategies, point out the conditions in which you can beat the game, and how to minimize losses and maximize wins. Below are some strategies and advises that would deliver a better Pai Gow Poker experience (but using them could be tricky if a player is the banker).

Optimal Strategy

The first and most basic strategy is to split your hands in a strategic way, which is also termed “splitting hands”. It has been verified to lower the house edge from 2.9% to 2.5%. This works because you only need one hand to be higher than the banker’s to avoid losing. So, you need to arrange your two-card hand to be the highest possible hand and still lower than the five-card hand. These are also included in the House Way and vary at times.

Pai Gow Poker Cards 2019

General: A common method is to arrange the second (and third) highest ranked cards in the two-card hand while the highest card is in the five-card hand.

Pai Gow Poker Cards

A Pair: Another one is to arrange a pair in the five-card hand and the two other highest cards in the two-card hand.

Two Pairs: If you have two pairs, the rules here are quite extensive but we will try to cover them.

a) Always split a pair of Aces, two high pairs, and one high pair and one medium pair between the hands.
b) If you do not have an Ace, always split two medium pairs and one high pair and one low pair.
c) If you do not have an Ace or a King, always split one medium pair and one low pair and two low pairs.

Three-of-a-Kinds: If you happen to have a three-of-a-kind, arrange in the five-card hand except it is of Aces. In this case, arrange two Aces in the five-card hand while the remaining Ace and one high card are in the other hand.

Pai Gow Poker Cards 2020

Four-of-a-Kinds: If you have four cards of the same rank (four-of-a-kinds or quads), split them into two pairs with the higher going in the two-card hand only if the quad is JJJJ or better. If the quad is a 7777 or TTTT, do not split only if you have an Ace. If the quad is of 6s or below, do not split. If the quad is of Aces, split equally.

Straights and Flushes: As they are not allowed in the two-card hand, always play them in the five-card hand. But if you also have two extra pairs, split them according to the two-pair rules some paragraphs above.

Others: If you come across five Aces and two Kings (which is extremely rare), play three Aces and the Kings in the five-card hand. If you have five Aces without a pair of Kings, always play them in the five-card hand. If you have a Full Hand (three cards of one rank and two of another), play the two cards of the same rank in your two-card hand. In the event that you have another pair (which could either mean four cards with the same rank and the other three with the same rank or three cards with the same rank, two with the same, and another two with the same), play the higher pair in the two-card hand.

Exception: If you are able to make a very high five-card hand (such as a straight), this strategy is best ignored since the five-card hand is almost guaranteed to beat the banker’s.

Pai Gow Poker Cards

Hand Probabilities

There are even more rules or tips on splitting hands but these are the most common ones. Furthermore, let’s look at the probability of having the 154,143,080 possible card combinations with classification.

a) Five Aces: 0.00000732
b) Straight and Royal Flush: 0.00136862
c) Four-of-a-Kind: 0.00199472
d) Full House: 0.02717299
e) Flush: 0.04004129
f) Straight: 0.07289250
g) Three-of-a-Kind: 0.04846585
h) Two Pairs: 0.23065464
i) One Pair: 0.41663862
j) All Other Possibilities: 0.16076246

Betting Systems

No matter what your stand on betting systems is, you cannot deny their everlasting popularity, especially amongst novice players. Most experts do not endorse them but whether they are beneficial or not is a story for another day. And yes, you can apply betting systems to Pai Gow Poker, which would arguably help you spread your wagers and keep your bankroll in check.

Say No to the Bonus Bet

This is actually an expert tip – it is highly recommended to never bet the bonus because it has the highest house edge and is guaranteed to result in an eventual loss.

Player’s Can Play as the Banker

Pai Gow Poker is an unusual game in that players may be banker on occasion. This is optional. The rules on banking a Pai Gow Poker hand are different from one casino to another. Most casinos will allow a player to bank once every other hand when playing heads up. At a table with multiple players, the dealer option will rotate each hand among the dealer and all occupied seats. A player banker will still have to pay a 5% commission on their net winnings. Any winning player also pays 5% to the house when facing a hand banked by another player.

Fortune Pai Gow Progressive Jackpot

Pai Gow Poker Cards Game

Most Pai Gow Poker tables offer multiple jackpots. The most common is the Fortune Pai Gow Poker Progressive. This jackpot is sometimes linked among multiple casinos in a market. The bet for the progressive is just $1. All hands qualify with or without the joker.

Pai Gow Poker Cards Free

Payouts

– Seven-card straight flush: Jackpot
– Five aces: 10% of jackpot
– Royal flush: $500
– Straight flush: $100
– Four of a kind: $75
– Full house: $4

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