6 Players, 1 Dealer: The game is typically played with six players plus the dealer, but in the event that not all seats are filled, the dealer will still deal out 7 cards to each of the places.Īrranging Pai Gow Poker hands becomes intuitive with a little practice.

4-Card Discard Pile: Then, four extra cards are placed in the discard-or muck-pile.7 Piles of 7 Cards: Once the cards have been shuffled, the dealer places them face-down into seven piles comprised of seven cards each.Dealing a hand in Pai Gow is a bit different than other poker-style games. Pai Gow is played with 53 cards-the regular 52-card deck plus one joker. It’s important to understand how to the Pai Gow Poker deal works. Here's all you need to know about Pai Gow Poker's rules. Pai Gow Poker rules aren't complicated, but they're different enough from most forms of poker that new players must learn their nuances. No Bluffing Required: Unlike other poker games, there is no bluffing in Pai Gow poker.In terms of the two-card hand, any pair will beat any two unmatched cards (no other combinations are possible). Special Rules: However, there is one exception: Ace-2-3-4-5 is the second-highest straight or straight flush, while a hand with five aces is the highest hand in the game.

Same Hand Ranks as Poker: The hands have the same value as they would in traditional poker.

2-Card Hand: The two-card hand is known as the “in front, on top, hair, small, minor or low”.

5-Card Hand: The five-card hand’s rank must exceed the rank of the two-card hand. The five-card hand is called the “behind, bottom, high or big”.

Build Two Hands: The goal of Pai Gow is to beat both the dealer’s hands.

The game pits players against the house, but is a game of chance with strategy elements. Pai Gow Poker offers unconventional strategy challenges for poker, because it requires players to build two hands. Both hands are played against the dealer in a head-to-head match, getting 1:1 on their bet if they win each hand. The table game is a cool new version of poker based on a Chinese game of dominoes. Players are dealt seven cards which they then break up into a five-card hand and a two-card hand using Pai Gow poker strategy (the experts at Odds Shark have put together some tips below). Pai Gow poker is a simple table game that offers the player a chance to hit a big hand that can pay as high as 8,000:1 on their bet.

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