About Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker Basics, How To Play, Strategy, Plus History Of The Game - an article by Ankur Vyas

Pai Gow Poker

Sam Torosian and Fred Wolf, the inventers of Super Pan-9, invented the game Pai Gow Poker. The game is derived from Pai Gow (a Chinese game of dominoes), but is emphasized in the American format – it implements on poker hand value instead of Chinese Dominoes. Pai Gow Poker can be played with a set of six players and the dealer. The game is to be played with a 52-card deck and a joker. The joker is a type of wild card which can be used in flushes or straights or by default acts like an Ace. To win, one has to defeat the dealer. The game is best understood in sequential stages as described below. 

Objective 

For players of pai gow poker, he/she must create two poker hands out of the seven cards dealt by the dealer. Both these hands follow standard poker rules. However there are some exceptions which is described later. The value of the two cards must not exceed the hand value of the five cards. The cards are called as per their settings or placements given to the players. The two card hand can be called ‘minor’, ‘on top’, ‘small’, or ‘in front’. The five card hand is often called ‘big’, ‘bottom’, or ‘behind’. The reason why the two-card hand is called “front” is because it’s closer to the dealer while the five-card hand is called behind because it’s closer to you. 

Dealing 

After shuffling, the cards are served in seven piles with seven cards, each pile facing downwards. The remaining four cards are kept untouched regardless of the players involved. Each player is assigned a number from 1-7 as their betting position, starting from the dealer and going clockwise above the counter. A number is chosen from that 1-7 assigned before – practically by dice or electronically – and then begins the deal counter clockwise. If a spot is vacant it is still assigned but on the discard pile with the four untouched cards. 

Hand Ranking (Cards) 

Basically the two-card hand is one-pair and high cards. The hand rankings are quite different than the casinos using the hand A-2-3-4-5 as above a King high straight is, however, below A-K-Q-J-10 at Ace high. This rule does not apply in most of the casinos in California and Michigan, A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest straight possible. In Californian casinos the joker is completely a wild card, it can enhance all hands or straights. However, it’s different in the case of others. 

It is the player’s responsibility to ensure that the 5-card rank is higher than the 2-card rank. If it is not, then this is called a foul and the player loses. As for the two-card hand, the highest is a pair of Aces, and then going down from a pair of Kings to three and two. Two separate individual cards are also a possibility. The cards are generally ranked according to standard poker rules. The two card hand cannot have a flush, since this requires five cards. Also there are several house rules you should be aware of before you place a bet and start gambling. Various land-based casinos each have their own set of rules. 

Determining to Win 

If the hands two and five of seven cards beat the dealer’s corresponding hand then the player wins the bet. If the player wins any one, he continues or else loses to the banker. Ties are always an advantage for the dealer. For example, if a player’s two-card hands lose to the banker and the five hands is a tie, then the player loses. Casinos in California charge a flat fee to play, win, or lose. Other casinos charge a five per cent commission on the winnings which cannot be seen too often as this game takes more time as compared to other games. When all the cards have been dealt, the dealer’s cards are turned up by the banker, whose job is to re-arrange the cards into the highest possible combination. After the banker arranges the cards both hands (that is, the five-card hand and the two-card hand) are compared to that of every player and the payouts are given accordingly. In order for the player to win both their five-card hand and two-card hand must beat the dealer’s respectively. However, if only one hand beats the dealer’s hand while the other does not then it is a tie and no money is exchanged in the process. This is called a ‘push’. Nothing happens when the cards are pushed. Note that when comparing hands between the dealer and the player and if it is a tie then the banker wins (but the banker must have a tie on both hands or one-hand beating the player’s and the other a tie). Also if one hand is a tie and the other hand the player wins then this is also called a push. Usually the two-hand cards is placed in front of the five-hand cards. 

Basic Strategy 

A player should keep in mind to make the highest two-card hand leaving the five-card hand behind. A player can expect a medium to high in five-card hands and an Ace high on top. One should know the tables quite extensively and an approximate value can be calculated with a few rules of thumb. A player can always use House Way when confused as House strategies are always optimal – House Way is the arrangement of the dealer’s hand as it is pre-determined. 

The House makes its money by taking a 5% commission on all winnings. When comparing the hands there could be a tie, which is also known as a copy. Every copy the money goes to the banker. The House way is the fixed rules that govern how the dealer’s hand will be arranged.




The Author:

Ankur Vyas is a prolific author writing on diverse subjects such as online casino gambling and more. You can also vist www.casinostoplayat.com

Introduction To Chinese Poker - by Imteaz Ahmed

This game is probably close to universally accepted as being the best game for a beginner to cut their teeth on, the advanced player will eventually want to branch out and learn other card games. Some obvious choices for branching out include Omaha, Seven Card Stud and their Hi/Lo and lowball counterparts, but a game that people do not talk about that much is Chinese Poker. It is rather unfortunate that not that many people know how to play Chinese Poker because as a game it is one of the most challenging card games on the face of the planet.

The Basic Premise

The basic premise of Chinese Poker is that you are dealt 13 cards and play against the person sitting across from you. You can play the game with two or four players, but the best Chinese Poker games are played with four so that the adversarial relationships can be switched around as the game goes on. With the 13 cards that you are dealt, you need to make one hand of three cards and two hands of five cards. These are known as the front, middle and back hands respectively.

There are not that many restrictions in making these hands, but you do need to make sure in the hand construction that the front hand is smaller than the middle hand and the middle hand is smaller than the back hand. If you are not familiar with Pai Gow Poker you will recognize this stipulation as a running theme through all versions of Oriental poker games.

Once you have set your hands, you compare them to your opponents and score a point for each hand of yours that is higher than your opponents. A clean sweep would score 3 points, a win on two of the hands and a loss on the other would score 1 point and of course you can also lose 1 and lose 3 points to your opponent if the opposite scenarios take place. Over the course of the game the point differential will switch based on each new hand and at the end of the game the loser is required to pay the winner an amount of money equivalent to the point differential multiplied by whatever monetary value had been attached to each point at the start of the game.

Advantages of Chinese Poker

The main advantage of the game is that there are not a lot of people that know how to play chinese poker. For this reason if you are able to get really good at the game you can easily beat other players and win money from them.

For the people that enjoy the challenge, chinese poker also allows for exercising your critical thinking skills on a large level that dwarfs Texas HoldEm or any of the other currently popular poker variants and that in turn means that you get a lot more out of the challenge if you are the type of person that enjoys it.



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What Is Pai Gow Poker Variation? - an article by Dan Roberts II

Pai Gow Poker is a new variation of the game of poker. It is played with 7 cards. They consist of two hands one with two cards and the other with five. The 2-card hand is the low and 5-card hand is the high hand. One of the players on option or dealer by default is made the banker. The game loss and wins are decided comparing your high and low hands with the banker.

Pai Gow Poker is the new variation of Poker Game where your basic objective is beating the banker. Either a player or a dealer could become the banker in the Pai Gow Poker game. However, the player or dealer who assumes the role of the banker has to fulfill the responsibilities for wagers that come up during the playing rounds.

After every round of the game the banking option is offered to each of the players participating. The player who exercises the option to become the banker must have in his or her possession enough chips to cover all the wagers made by all other players. In case no one comes forward to be the banker, the dealer will assume the role by default. Incidentally, each player in the game receives seven cards. Each will make two separate hands using these seven cards. One of the hands will have only two and the other will have five cards. The hands are either set or ranked using the standard ranking system used in the game of poker.

One of the peculiarities of the Pai Gow Poker is that the dealer will deal seven cards in each betting area. It is immaterial that an area is empty due to absence of player. The hand with two cards is called the second highest hand. It is also termed as the low card hand or the front hand. There can be no straight or flush as only two cards are used. The highest hand will be a couple of aces. If a player holds a two card hand that is higher than the five card hand, his hand will be considered foul hand and the player will be an automatic loser. On the other hand the five card hand is the high hand of the player in the game. It is also called the back hand. They contain all the normal poker series like the straight, flush, four, eighteen and such others. The highest hand will be five aces. This can be achieved adding the joker to the four traditional aces.

As in many other poker games, the Joker has a special value. It could be used as an ace or as any of the missing card in a series. That means it can replace any card in the pack. That is why they can be used to create any of the sequences like the pairs, threes, fours or fives of the same kind. It will not however be the fourth ace if you have three aces with you.

If your 2-card and 5-card hands are higher in standing in comparison to the counterparts in the hand of the player acting as bank, you are the winner. If more than one hand carries such position then the player may be given the amount equal to his wager deducting a 5% commission. The commission will be collected by the dealer when the winning wager is disbursed. Similarly, if one of the hands is higher than the banker’s and the other is not in such cases, it will be considered as a tie. This is also termed as a push where neither any money is won nor lost. You will also be allowed to change or drop your bet before the next hand.

However when both of your hands are lower in ranking compared to that of the banker’s you will lose. You will lose the amount wagered though no commission is charged on it. If your hands are identical to the banker, it is considered the “copy hand”. The advantage of your becoming banker is that you will automatically win all the copy hands.




The Author:
Dan Roberts enjoys Pai Gow Poker and online Mahjong If so you can get the latest bonuses and news at CrazyMonkeyCasino. live MahjongPaiGow is also available.

Casino Poker – Games That are Always on the Move - an article by Anthony Woods

The history of casino poker games probably started over ten centuries ago from various games, involving the principles of ranked card or domino combinations and the use of ‘bluffing’ to deceive opponents. It is sometimes claimed that poker games were first invented by a Chinese emperor who played “domino cards” with his wife.

Like with most casino games, poker games became very popular in France in the 17th and 18th centuries and were then carried to Louisiana by French colonists. From there the new games quickly became popular throughout the United States and Canada.

Due to its immense popularity, poker has constantly evolved to develop a great number of variations. This trend was greatly enhanced by the advent of the Internet and the appearance of the first online casinos. Casino poker games are among the most played games at online casinos, mainly due to the exciting combination of bonus features, payout opportunities and various themes and unique options they offer. Online availability has made casino poker games more accessible, more attractive and higher paying than ever.

To give just one example, we should mention Red Lounge Casino (redloungecasino.com), which is one of the most popular online casinos in the UK. The casino offers a wide range of casino poker games intended to meet the needs of even the most demanding customers. All casino poker games available at the casino offer generous payouts of over 99.5%.

For more traditional players, Red Lounge provides Jacks or Better Video Poker, which is a very popular fast-paced game in which the object is to produce a five-card poker hand that contains at least one pair of Jacks, with a better hand resulting in a better payoff.

The Red Lounge Deuces Wild Video Poker is also a popular Video Poker variation in which deuces are “wild”, that is they can be treated as any card. The object of the game is to produce a five-card poker hand that contains at least 3 cards of the same value, known as 3 of a kind. And in the Red Lounge Joker Wild Video Poker, it is the Joker which is ‘wild’.

There are also casino poker games designed for those who seek more unusual and innovative play. Ties Win 3-Card Poker is an especially generous variation of one of the most popular casino games, offering features such as winning all tied hands, the possibility to play three hands per game, and single deck play.

Pai Gow Poker combines classic American Poker with an ancient Chinese domino game, especially intended for those who are willing to try something more exotic and far from the conventional and familiar casino poker games.

The casino also offers the Let Them Ride poker, which is a popular and fast-paced poker game with maximum payout £50,000 per hand.

Red Lounge Casino also offers generous weekly promotions which target various types of games, not least casino poker games. So, players undoubtedly benefit enormously from online gambling – it is never the same, and never boring – as casino poker games prove to us.




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Pai Gow - by Riza

Pai Gow means "double hand" poker. In it, a standard 52-card deck with one joker is used.

How it works: The player must create two poker hands out of the seven cards in his hand: a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The five-card hand must outrank the two-card. The two-card hand is the hand "in front" and the five-card hand is the hand "behind."