Pai Gow Poker is a unique game of chance that can be played with a normal deck with 52 cards and one Joker card. It’s one of the most popular casino games in the world and has been around since the 1940s. The game can be played by up to seven people at once, though it’s more commonly played by just two or three players at a time. In this guide, we will explain not only the basics of how to play pai gow poker but will also provide multiple insights that are used by top-tier pros so that you can also win big.
The Essentials Of Pai Gow Poker
Playing cards for a game of Pai Gow Poker consist of the usual 52-card deck plus one Joker card. The Joker is the wild card, able to substitute for any other card in a deck by taking the place of any other card that might otherwise have been dealt to you. You are allowed to use the Joker in order to complete straights and flushes (or occasionally if your opponent misses a straight or flush on purpose), but you may not use it as an ace since there are no Aces displayed.
A straight is a hand that contains five cards in consecutive order, such as 4-5-6-7-8. A flush is a hand that contains five cards of the same suit. This is not necessarily in consecutive order, but it must have all five cards of the same suit. For example, if you have 6-7-8-9 of hearts as your first four cards dealt to you in Pai Gow poker, then the Jack would complete your straight.
However, if your first four cards dealt to you were 3-8-5-6 of hearts, then this would be considered a flush because all five cards are hearts (but they do not form a straight one).
The best thing about this game is that you don’t need any real skill in order to win at Pai Gow Poker! All you need is some basic knowledge of how hands work, which can be easily learned from watching videos online casino or reading articles like this one here!
Playing Against The Dealer, Not Against Other Players
The object of the game is for both of your hands to beat the dealer’s two hands. The dealer hands out seven cards, one to each player and one to himself. Everyone looks at their cards.
If you have a pair that’s smaller than 10, then you need to fold and lose your bet without seeing any more cards (there are no more rounds after this one).
Sometimes you have a larger pair that’s smaller than 10, then you need to draw one more card (the dealer will also draw one) and make sure it doesn’t complete your pair or beat its value before deciding whether or not to fold again. If it does complete your hand or beat its value, then put down those chips; if not, put down some other chips equal in amount as what was originally betted before folding again!
Ranking Of Cards In Pai Gow Poker
The game is played with the standard 52-card deck, including jokers. The rank of the cards is as follows:
- Ace (high)
- King, Queen, Jack (low)
A player must use two cards from his hand to make 2 poker hands. One hand is five cards with no wild card or extra card; this hand must have an ace counted as 1 point. The other hand consists of a 3-2-A-K or 5-card straight flush (poker hand).
Both hands are held face down for all players until the end of the gameplay, when they are turned over together and compared against one another by comparing their highest ranked card in each category – highest rank goes first
How The Game Works?
So as of now we have covered all of the essentials that you need to know in order to understand the game. Now we will begin with the actual juicy part and that is ‘How to play the Pai Gow Poker’!
After everyone has received their starting hands, the dealer reveals his cards. The player and dealer hands are compared. If the player’s 5-card hand is higher ranking than the dealer’s 2-card hand, then he wins and gets paid even money on both hands (1:1). If either or both of those two hands are tied, then it becomes a push bet, and no money changes hands.
Let’s look at an example:
Suppose you split your seven cards into two five-card hands: one with 2H 5S 6C 7D 8S 9C and another with 7S 8D AH QH QC (the first card after each pair indicates which hand that pair belongs to). You have a 4–3 chance of winning with either hand; however, if one of them does win, then both bets will be paid out at 1:1 since they’re not tied together like traditional “pairs” poker would be if there were only two cards remaining in play (a pair when there are only three cards left could mean anything).
Each Player Splits Their Cards Into Two Hands
The first thing you need to do is divide your 7 cards into two hands of 5 and 2 cards. The best two-card hand cannot have a higher rating than the best five-card hand, and there are a few ways to do this.
First, you can choose any 5 cards from your 7 and then use two more that were not chosen for your second hand. Alternatively, you can use all 7 cards as one large hand or as two separate hands (each with five cards). If you decide to play both with just five hands, it’s important that each set matches up exactly in rank—for example, 3h 4s 5d 6c 8s 9d 10h Js Qs Kh As Ah (or any other combination).
The Five-Card Hand Has To Be Better Than The Two-Card Hand
Now that you know what the hands are, it’s time to focus on the specific requirements of each hand. In Pai Gow Poker, The best two-card hand cannot have a higher rating than the best five-card hand and vice versa. In other words, if your two cards are an 8 and a 5 and your five cards are an 8, 4, 2, A (of spades), and K (of hearts), then your two-card hand is more valuable than your five-card hand because it has a pair of 8s while your five cards don’t have any pairs at all!
Addition to this rule being true for both individual hands as well as when comparing them against each other the value of both hands must also be greater than or equal to that of any dealer upcards.
For example: If you’re dealt an ace high straight flush with one 7 in it but only make a pair with your three-hole card (which often happens enough), then no matter how good either one may be by itself—you can’t win on those hands!
The Player And Dealer Hands Are Compared
When comparing hands, the player’s hand must be higher than or equal to the dealer’s. If neither hand is higher than or equal to the other, then it’s a tie (or push), and nobody wins.
For example:
If you were dealt these two hands:
7s 6s 5s 4d 2c Jh
8h 7h 6c 4d 2c Ad
Then they would compare like this:
Player: 7-6-5-4-2-J = 20 (higher than the dealer)
Dealer: 8-7-6 -4 -2 -A = 18 (lower than the player)
So, if we’re comparing our two hands above, then they’re both higher than 21 and lower than 22. As a result, there’s no winner in this round of betting—no one has won anything yet!
How Bets Are Won And Lost In Pai Gow Poker
If both hands defeat the banker, then the player wins the amount of his original bet. If both hands lose, then he loses his original bet. One hand wins and the other loses, it’s a tie or ‘push,’ and nobody wins.
In a game of Pai Gow Poker, at an online casino real money, then there’s a good chance that they’ll offer some kind of bonus code for players. These codes typically give you free money to play at no risk to yourself whatsoever!
Win, Lose, And Tie (Push)
If one hand wins and the other loses, it’s a tie or ‘push,’ and nobody wins. Or both hands are tied, it’s a loss for the player. If one hand is tied and the other wins, it’s a win for the player.
Both hands lose or win at once, that’s called ‘chop,’ which means you’ll have to settle up with your dealer by paying or receiving 1 chip from each bet you made (1 chip = $1).
Winning Strategy For Pai Gow Poker
As with any gambling game, it is crucial to understand and know how to play Pai Gow Poker and its mechanics before actually playing it. Once you know what your options are, you’re ready to start winning!
The strategy behind winning at Pai Gow Poker is pretty simple: don’t play too many hands, and don’t overbet. If you follow this advice, then even if your hand is a losing one that doesn’t come in on the river card, you should still be able to win more than you lose by following these tips.
Basic Strategy
Pai Gow poker is a strategy game, so you should know your hand, the dealer’s hand, and the house rules. You should also be aware of what your odds are of winning at Pai Gow, as well as the table minimums and maximums.
Advanced Strategy
Here, you’ll learn about advanced strategies that you can use to win even more money at Pai Gow Poker.
For example, if you are playing against the house (which means no other players are in the game) and have a winning hand, like 4 of a kind or better, it is best to play your hand aggressively by betting as much as possible. This way, the live casino will lose more money on bad hands than they would if they had won with yours.
If you are playing against another player, there are also some important things to remember: always check first before calling or raising; fold if it looks like someone has already won; stay out of hands that don’t include all four suits; keep track of what each player has in their hand so that when it comes time for them to go bust (lose all their chips), you can beat them with your own big wins!
Tips To Improve Your Chances Of Success At Winning
To become a good Pai Gow poker player, it is important to learn about and practice strategies that will improve your chances of success. As with any other game of chance, Pai Gow poker involves an element of luck; however, there are certain things you can do in order to give yourself the best opportunity to win.
Here are some tips and strategies to help increase your chances of success:
Know when to play conservatively and when to go all in on a hand. The key is knowing which hands are worth playing aggressively and which ones aren’t worth wasting money on. If you know what cards have been dealt out so far (with each round), you can make an educated decision on whether or not it’s worth doubling down or folding early—and save yourself from losing more money later in the game!
This requires knowledge about probability theory (and how probability affects individual hands) and experience playing multiple rounds before making decisions.
Be patient; don’t get too excited if things start going well early on—this could lead towards overconfidence later on when things get tough again!
You can either play with a strong hand or you can play with a weak hand. If you have an Ace and King as your starting cards, then this is considered to be a very strong hand.
On the other hand, if your first two cards are not Aces or Kings but something like an 8 and 9, then this is considered to be a weak hand because it has no chance of winning against any other combination that may come up during the game.
The best way to play Pai Gow Poker against the house is actually by having both strong hands and weak hands at once! This means that even if someone else gets lucky enough to win with their own personal combination of cards after they’ve dealt themselves out one round earlier than expected , there’s still hope left for us if we keep playing while they’re gone so long as our own hands hold together well enough until then, plus also stay focused throughout all five rounds.
How To Play For Big Money In Pai Gow Poker
To make money at Pai Gow Poker, you need to use a betting strategy. There are two basic strategies:
- The “spread” strategy is when you bet more than the minimum required to bet but never more than the maximum allowed. For example, if your minimum hand is a pair of fives and your maximum hand is three jacks or less, then you’ll spread your bets using this strategy.
- The other strategy is playing to win at all costs. If there are no high-value hands being dealt (like an Ace-King), then this means that all players will have to fold their hands because they can’t beat anyone else’s current hand value without some help from the dealer—or they’ll have to keep betting until someone folds so they can win a big pot!
This strategy has its pros and cons; it’s very effective when applied correctly by people who know what they’re doing—but not so much if used incorrectly by someone who doesn’t know what he does best.”
Conclusion
We hope that you found this guide to be informative and helpful in learning how to play Pai Gow Poker. As long as you have an understanding of the guidelines, anyone can have a good time playing this game, and it’s not difficult to pick up. Playing casino games like Pai Gow Poker alongside friends or family members who are already proficient at the game is the most effective approach to improve your skills at the game and increase your chances of winning.
