On the front page of this webiste is a short article on playing pai gow poker.  You can read it and know enough to go to the casino and have fun playing.  You might even catch a nice run of cards and go home with a little money in your pocket.  If you're going to be playing this game often, however, you will need to learn the subtleties and the details of the game.  It is the only way to learn where your true edge in pai gow poker comes from, and how to exploit it for long term gains.  To do this we will first delve more thoroughly into the rules of pai gow poker.

The Bug 

Pai gow poker is played with a 53-card deck because there is a bug added.  A bug is a restricted joker.  It can be used to fill a straight, a flush or a straight flush.  Otherwise it is an ace.  This tends to confuse the newer players to pai gow poker as the casino will use the joker card from the deck, and many novices believe it is an unrestricted joker.  For learning purposes here we use a card that looks like a bug, so that players are reminded of its restrictions .

Let's look at a few example hands for illustration purposes.

     is five aces. 

     is four kings with an ace kicker.

     is a ten high straight.

     is an ace high flush.  

The bug is always the highest card that completes the hand.

The Wheel

In poker, a wheel is a straight ace thru five (A2345).  It is normally the smallest straight you can make.  In pai gow poker, however, it is given a better rank and becomes the second highest straight one can make after ten thru ace (TJQKA).  Thus      is a better hand than      in pai gow poker.

The Dragon Hand

Pai gow poker starts with all of the players placing their bets for the hand.  Then seven cards are dealt to each player.  If there are fewer than six players at your casino table then the dealer may deal a hand to an empty seat.  This is known as the dragon hand.  One of the players at the table may then opt to put down a second bet equal to his first and take ownership of the dragon hand, essentially playing two hands against the house.  The player is rarely allowed to touch the cards in the dragon hand.  It is set by the dealer according to the same rules the house uses to set the dealer's hand.  Not all land-based casinos offer a dragon hand.  Online casinos do not offer a dragon hand, but some allow you to play multiple simultaneous hands against the house.

Setting the Hand

Once all of the cards are dealt and the ownership of the dragon hand is decided the players set their hands.  This is the act of splitting your seven cards into a 5-card high hand and a 2-card 2nd high hand.  The poker rank of the 5-card hand must be greater than the poker value of the 2-card hand.  You will sometimes hear the 5-card hand referred to as the back hand and the 2-card hand referred to as the front hand.  This is because of their relative positioning on the table when you have set your hand.  You may also hear the 2-card hand called the low hand.  We have elected to refer to the 5-card hand as the high hand and the 2-card hand as the 2nd high hand so that new players become familiar with the strategy of making the 2-card hand as good as possible without being a higher rank than the 5-card hand.

Books will tell you that if you set your hand incorrectly such that the 2-card hand is of a higher rank than the 5-card hand the casino will declare both hands losers and keep your bet.  While the casinos may have this rule on the books we have never seen it invoked.  The casinos have little interest in frightening off or intimidating new players so that they can keep one bet.  In practice if you've illegally set your hand the casino dealer will remind you of the rules and give you a chance to reset your hand.  Online casinos will not let you set your hand incorrectly.  The software prohibits it.

The Rake 

Once the players hands are set the dealer sets his hand and then the player's hands are compared to the dealers hands.  If the dealer's high hand is better than your high hand AND the dealer's 2nd high hand is better than your 2nd high hand, you lose your bet.  If your high hand is better than the dealer's high hand AND your 2nd high hand is better than the dealer's 2nd high hand, then you win the bet.  If one of your hands is higher than the dealers, but the other is lower, then it is a push - both you and the house take back your bets and start again.  A push is the most likely outcome of any pai gow poker hand.

If a hand ties - i.e. your 2nd high hand is 22 and the dealer's 2nd high hand is also 22, the dealer wins.  (This is called a copy in pai gow poker.) This gives the house an advantage, but not a very big one. In fact with just this advantage the house would lose money offering pai gow poker to its customers.  There are too few hands per hour and too may of them are pushes.

To increase the house advantage and to make it profitable for them to offer pai gow poker as a gaming choice for their patrons, the casinos will also rake every pot that the player wins.  The standard for this is 5%.  So, if you bet $100 against the house and win, you will collect $95.  While this may initially strike you as unfair, it's actually not too bad of a deal in terms of casino gaming.  Heads up against the dealer the house only has a 2.6% edge against the player, and that's before you take becoming a banker into account.  (More on being the banker later.)  Compare that to slots (3%+)  roulette (5.2%) or Keno (25%) and pai gow poker becomes a real bargain in the casino.

Keep in mind that minimizing the house advantage and maximizing your own advantage is dependent on your skill at setting your hand. We encourage you to practice doing this often before playing pai gow poker for any significant amount of money.  Ourfree hand examples should be able to help with that, and then you can also practice at any of the excellent online casinos we promote.