- Pai Gow Poker California Rules Printable
- Pai Gow Poker California Rules Free
- Pai Gow Poker California Rules Pdf
Pai Gow Poker Dealer Rules or “House Way” In every casino Pai Gow game the dealer is required to set his or her Pai Gow hand in specific ways. This is called the “House Way.” This varies from casino to casino but is listed in every casino’s gaming guide. 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.
Understanding Basic Pai Gow Rules
Pai Gow Poker California Rules Printable
Pai Gow starts with each player placing their own bet. The order the cards are dealt in is determined randomly by the dealer, who then deals each player 7 cards from a 53 card deck containing the usual 52 card poker deck plus a single Joker. In online pai gow, this is handled electronically through a specialised online pai gow room.
Many of the cards and five-card hands in pai gow are the same as in most other poker games. The possible exceptions are:
- The use of the Joker may vary, so be sure to find out which rules the room you are playing in uses. For many games of pai gow poker, the Joker may be used as an Ace in order to complete a straight, a flush, or a straight flush. In some games, it may simply be equivalent to an Ace. Many casinos only allow the Joker to act as an Ace in the two card hand, but occasionally the Joker may be wild without limitation.
- When playing pai gow in some casinos and in some versions of online pai gow, the hand A/2/3/4/5 is placed higher than K/Q/J/10/9 and lower than A/K/Q/J/10. This variant is not universal, and is notably avoided in many casinos in California.
- Due to the Joker representing an Ace, it is possible to get a five-card straight in pai gow. This outranks the Royal Flush and is the highest ranked five-card hand in pai gow.
Pai Gow Rules: Winning a Hand
Other than these exceptions, the ranking of five-card hands in online pai gow is the same as for 5-stud poker. The order of the ranks from high to low in pai gow is thus 5 Aces, Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-Of-A-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-Of-A-Kind, Two Pair, Pair, Nothing.
The best two-card hand in pai gow is a pair. One of the interesting rules of pai gow is that the two-card hand must not be of a higher value than the five-card hand. There can be penalties for not arranging your hands correctly in pai gow. This can range from being forced to rearrange your hand in a particular way through to an automatic loss. Some online pai gow rooms may warn you of a possible foul hand before you play it, though it is best not to rely on it.
In order to win a hand of pai gow, the player must beat both of the dealer's hands. If one hand wins and the other loses, then the player pushes and no money changes hands. In the event neither hand beats those of the dealer, the player loses, and their stake goes to the dealer. Anytime the dealer and player tie on a particular hand, the dealer wins that hand.
A winning player is paid even money on their stake, but casinos may require a 5 per cent commission on wins. Some casinos merely charge a flat fee per hand played, though. When playing online pai gow, it is advantageous for players to try many different online pai gow rooms to guarantee the best price per hand.
Pai Gow Strategy: Using the Joker
Pai gow strategy is mostly universal, though differences in how the Joker may be used as well as the way the A/2/3/4/5 hand is ranked could see minor changes in specific circumstances. The first thing you must remember when playing pai gow, however, is that draws are extremely common. You can easily find yourself with a good five-card hand only to find the dealer has a strong enough two-card hand to force a draw.
The challenge of pai gow is in constructing the best two hands from your cards. While it is difficult to win on both hands, it can be easy to lose on both if you are not careful to set up a draw. Pai gow is incredibly defensive compared to other forms of poker.
How to Reduce the House Edge
If you are playing online pai gow, then it is especially advantageous to do everything you can to reduce the house edge. This means that improving the odds of winning in your five-card hand may not always be preferable to splitting a good five-card hand to make two decent hands. The following combinations may help you in reducing your losses, though many are designed to make draws more likely than wins.
High Card
Use the highest card for your five-card hand and the second- and third-highest cards for your two-card hand. This should hopefully improve your odds of a draw, though winning with such a combination is unlikely in pai gow.
One Pair
Use the pair for your five-card hand, but use the next two highest cards for your two-card hand. Again, the idea is that you are unlikely to win with a mere pair and thus are better off using your next highest cards to try to win the two-card hand and possibly force a draw.
Two Pairs
If you hold an Ace that isn't part of one of the pairs, then put both pairs into the five-card hand and the Ace into the two-card hand. If you do not hold an ace, then put the high pair in your five-card hand and the low pair in your two-card hand.
Three Pairs
Put the highest pair into your two-card hand. Put the other two in your five-card hand. This may seem unusual, but again the idea is that you can give yourself better odds of forcing a draw if your five-card hand loses by putting the highest pair in the two-card hand.
Straight
Put the Straight in the five-card hand and then make up the two-card hand out of the remaining cards.
However, if you have six cards that could make a Straight, use the highest cards you can for the two-card hand while still preserving the Straight.
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Flush
Use the Flush for the five-card hand and then use the remaining cards for the two-card hand.
Full House
This may seem odd, but the usual advice for a Full House in pai gow is to use the pair for your two-card hand and the Three-Of-A-Kind for the two-card hand. This should give you a good chance of winning with the two-card hand while still giving good odds to win with the five-card hand.
Three-Of-A-Kind
If you have three Aces, put one into your two-card hand with the next highest card and the remaining pair of Aces in your five-card hand.
Essentially, when playing pai gow, you will often need to aim for a draw rather than focusing on just one hand. Pai gow is definitely a game of patience and online pai gow makes it much easier for you to remain patient. Just remember when playing online pai gow to look for the lowest cost rooms to play in, as while many casinos will take a 5 per cent commission from wins, some others will simply charge a low flat rate per hand, which may work out better for you.
Finding Good Pai Gow Sites Online
Pai Gow is hugely popular at casinos across Asia, and now you can get a taste online. Many Internet casinos have real-money Pai Gow games from low stakes. And if you sign up for an account you can enjoy a great deposit bonus upon sign-up.
Pai Gow Poker California Rules Pdf
By H. Scot Krause
History of Pai Gow Poker
The game of Pai Gow originated in China more than a century ago and was played at that time with tiles, like Dominoes, and dice. The Chinese word origin meant “make nine.” The conversion to a poker game happened around 1985 in a California Card Room.
Today, Pai Gow Poker is a table game, increasing in popularity in many casinos around the country. While it is a poker game, it is far less intimidating than sitting down at a live poker room game. One main difference is that in Pai Gow Poker you are playing against the dealer’s hand only, while in a live poker game you are playing against all the other players at the table and not the dealer at all (who gets no hand to play and only deals the cards.)
Another major difference is you are playing a seven-card hand, splitting your dealt cards (there is no re-draw) into two hands; your best 5 card hand (high hand) and your best 2 card hand (low hand), therefore your 2 card hand cannot be higher than your 5 card hand. As an example you cannot use an ace in your 2 card hand with a king high in your 5 card hand. We will get more into how to set your hand later.
After betting (more on how to bet later) and setting your 2 hands, you place them face down in the two appropriate spaces on the table layout in front of you and wait for the dealer to reveal his/her cards. The challenge is to beat both the high and low hand of the dealer’s.
If you win both, you win, usually minus a “commission” paid to the house. However, there are variations of the game like “No Commission Pai Gow” and “Face-Up Pai Gow” (both games played with some slightly different rules) where the dealer’s hand is laid out face up giving you an edge in setting your own hand. If you win one and lose the other it’s a “push” and you save/keep your original bet. If you lose both ways, then you lose your bet.
That was a rather quick synopsis of the game. Now we will look at how to play. As with any table game, you buy-in by laying your money on the table (along with your player’s club card.) We will use $10 as the table minimum and our buy-in is $100 for this example. The dealer will exchange your $100 for chips, giving you 20 $5 chips unless you ask for something different. You might want some smaller $1 chips for side bets—more about those later. You place $10 (2 chips) on the wager spot in front of you.
There can be as few as one player and a maximum of six players because the game uses one 52-card deck, plus a joker, and 7 hands with 7 cards (including the dealer’s) equals 49, the max number of hands you can get from a single 53-card deck. Two decks are actually utilized, one being shuffled in an auto-shuffler machine while the other deck is in play.
The deal is determined by a button (sometimes dice are used) that the dealer presses to assign a random order in which the first hand will be dealt. As an example, let’s say the number 2 comes up. The player seated in the number 2 spot at the table will receive his/her cards first. All 7 cards are dealt out to each player at once; the first 7, the next 7 and so on until all players have received their hands. Now you can look at your cards and determine how to set your 2 hands.
Once you have set your cards and returned them to the table face down and all players have done the same, the dealer will reveal his/her hand and set it according to house rules, placing their 2 card hand on top and their best 5 card hand beneath it. Then the dealer will turn each of the players’ cards over and either collect on losers, knock the table for a push, or pay the winners.
If you beat the dealer on both hands, the bet is paid off as even money, minus the commission. The commission is generally 5%, so in our example of a $10 bet, if you win you would receive $9.50 plus your original $10 bet back for a total of $19.50. The commission is due primarily to the relatively low house edge in Pai Gow. The house edge in this game can vary on how you play and set your hand, but following some basic strategy the house edge is about 2.7% to 2.9 %, not too bad for a novelty table game. It is possible to also lower the house edge by “banking,” whereby the player may bet against the dealer, and other players at the table. For more on banking, see below.
Setting Your Hands
Once you have your 7 cards, you must decide on how to set your 2 hands. Standard poker ranking rules apply to Pai Gow with one twist. Called “the wheel,” the A2345 straight is the second highest straight in most Pai Gow games. As it is not observed everywhere, you may want to ask about this strange rule when you sit down to play. Obviously, three of a kind, a straight, flush, four of a kind, straight flush or royal flush within your 7 cards should be held together as your high card hand and play your 2 best remaining cards as your low hand.
Notice that a full-house should be played differently. The three of a kind should be played as your high hand and the pair played as your low hand. If the dealer has a straight or higher, you will lose your high hand, but you have a good chance to win your low hand with a pair. Obviously, you want to win both the high and low to be paid, but you may want to protect your bet and win at least one of the two hands. While a full house might also accomplish the same thing (winning your high hand against the dealer) if your other two cards are very low cards, you will most likely lose your low card hand and still end up with a push. In a face-up game it becomes apparent what to do against the dealers hand.
Another dilemma is when you have two pair. Most experts agree that if you have two low pairs, like 8’s and 3’s, keep them together for your two pair high hand and put your remaining best two cards into your low hand. But if you have high pairs, like kings and jacks, you may want to split them hoping to beat the dealer both ways. Three pair is easy. Keep your lowest two pair together for your high hand and your highest pair as your low hand. This is actually a very good hand and it has a good chance to win both ways.
Finally, if you are in doubt about how to set your hand there is no harm in asking the dealer. They will tell you how to set it according to house rules; the way they (the casino) would set your hand. You can usually also ask other players at the table for their opinion.
Using The Joker
The joker card is wild in some ways. It is sometimes referred to as a “bug” because of its quirky use. It can only be used as an ace or as any card in a straight or flush, including a straight flush or royal flush.
What is a “Pai Gow?”
I was once sitting at a table when a guy walks up, plops down his money and says, “I want a Pai Gow!” The table laughed. He was serious but obviously didn’t understand the game at that point. Unlike Blackjack where the name implies a great hand, the opposite is true for Pai Gow.
A Pai Gow is the worst hand possible. A “nothing-burger.” It is a 7-card hand of little or no value in terms of poker ranking hands. The worst possible Pai Gow hand would be a 9 high with all 7 cards.
Pai Gow Poker Side Bets
A downside to Pai Gow is that a royal flush is worth no more monetarily to your bet than a single ace when you are playing against the dealer’s hand. In other words, a royal flush will still only get you even money (less the commission) and you would still have to win your low hand to collect on it! And essentially you have the same result holding an ace high in your high hand and say, a king high in your low hand, against a dealer’s king and queen high in the same positions. The payout is the same. This is where side bets become of interest.
The game of Pai Gow Poker itself plays fairly slowly, especially with a full table of players, so you have plenty of time to set your hand and chat among players. But it can be a little boring. The side bets bring some real fun and excitement to the game and also some strategy changes in setting your hands.
The most popular side bet is known as Progressive Fortune Pai Gow. If you have made the side bet for this you could win all or part of the progressive jackpot bonuses for specific hands, like a royal flush (with or without the joker,) 5 aces, etc., as listed on the payout table posted on the table. The highest hand, receiving the top prize progressive jackpot, is for a 7 card straight flush (no joker.) If you are betting the required amount, the dealer will place an “Envy” button above your hand, meaning you are entitled to a cut of the jackpot if anyone at your table hits one of the bonus hands listed.
Pai gow poker betting boxes
Fortune Pai Gow is another variation side bet on the game. Players can place a bet on making hands of three of a kind or better and get paid according to pay table posted. This is where setting you hand may also change wherein you can use cards from all 7 cards to make straights, flush’s, etc.
Emperors Challenge is another commonly found side bet allowing players a sort of “insurance” bet when you have a 7 card Pai Gow hand. The lower your Pai Gow, the higher your payoff if you make that bet. You may also find other side bets. Check the table before you play.
Banking in Pai Gow Poker
One way to gain and advantage in Pai Gow is to bank whenever you have the opportunity to do so. Ask the dealer how and when you may bank. You must have enough chips on the table to pay off all potential winning bets based on the number of players at the table and how much they are all betting. Some casinos will let you “co-bank” with them if you don’t have enough to cover all bets. You reduce the house edge when you bank to about 1.5%.
As the banker, the 5% commission you pay on winnings is handled differently than as one of the regular players at the table. As an example, as just a regular player at the table, if you were to play five hands and won three of them, losing two of them, you would pay the 5% commission due on your three winnings bets. However, if you become the banker, the commission you pay is only on your net winnings at the end of the hand being played. So, if you were to win three hands (and lose two) you would be ahead by one bet, and only have to pay commission on that one bet.
Overall, the game usually plays fairly even, with a lot of pushes! You won’t win a lot playing straight bets without side bets or banking, but unless you just get a horrible run of cards (which can happen in any poker game) you shouldn’t lose a lot either! Good luck and have fun!
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