Pai Gow Poker – when Poker meets China

Chinese people have played games similar to poker for centuries before the game was reinvented in Europe. Sometimes these games involved cards, but most of the times they were played using blocks, similar to dominoes. Pai Gow was such a game – it is still played in Asian casinos in its original form.

Pai Gow Poker was invented and introduced to American casinos by Fred Wolf, manager of the Commerce Casino in the 1980s. It became one of the favorite games of casino players ever since.

Pai Gow Poker is sometimes called ‘double-hand poker’, as it is played with two poker hands – one hand consisting of five cards, and another one consisting of two cards. It is played at a table with seven participants – one banker / dealer and six players. As opposed to normal poker games, in Pai Gow Poker players don’t play against each other, but against the dealer – their goal is to beat the dealer’s hand.

Pai Gow Poker is played with a single standard deck of 52 cards, plus one joker acting as a wild card. Players must form two poker hands – one consisting of two cards, often called the ‘front’ hand, the ‘small’ hand or the ‘low’ hand, and one consisting of five cards, called the hand ‘behind’, the ‘high’ hand or the ‘big’ hand. According to the rules, the ‘small’ hand must be of lower value as the five-card, ‘big’ hand.

Betting in Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow Poker’s betting system is similar to the one used at the Blackjack table. At the beginning of each round the players place their bets against the dealer’s hand. Minimum and maximum bets are set according to house rules. Payouts are 1 to 1, minus the fee taken by the house, that usually represents 5% of the winning.

Playing a round of Pai Gow Poker
When all bets are placed, the dealer gives each player seven cards. The players divide these in two hands – the ‘big’ hand consisting of five cards, and the ‘small’ hand, consisting of two cards. The small hand must never beat the big hand – this is one basic rule of the game. For example, if the small hand has a pair of Kings, and the big hand a pair of tens, it’s a foul – it can lead to forfeiting the hand and losing the bet.
When all hands are arranged according to the game rules, all participants reveal their hands. Big hands are compared first, followed by the small hand.

Winning a game of Pai Gow Poker
If both the player’s big and small hands beat the ones revealed by the dealer, the player wins.
If only one of the player’s hands beats the dealer’s hand, it’s a push – nobody wins.
If both the dealer’s hands beat the player’s hands, the dealer wins.
If both the dealer’s and the player’s hands have the same value, the dealer wins.

The Dragon Hand
The Dragon Hand is usually encountered only in certain real life casinos. It represents a hand dealt to a vacant spot at the table. Players are offered the possibility to bet on the Dragon Hand. Bets placed on the Dragon Hand must be between the table minimum and the player’s bet on his own hand.