If you’re looking for a fun way to spend a few hours without losing too much money at a casino, then look no further than Pai Gow Poker. The game may look intimidating, but trust us when we say it’s not. In fact, it’s one of the most strategy-oriented games in a casino and will surely test your poker intellect. So what the heck is Pai Gow? How can you become the world’s premier Pai Gow player? What makes the poker variation so popular? Let’s find out.

Game Play

The positions around the table are numbered and ultimately depend on the number of slots that are available for play. One of the numbers is randomly chosen to be the starting spot for the deal and seven cards are given to each player (it’s no big deal if this part is complicated, just wait to receive cards). Your goal is to make one five card hand and one two card hand. The only condition is that the five card hand’s value must be greater than the two card hand’s. For example, you could not have a two card hand of A-A and a five card hand of K-K-3-4-9. Bad things would happen if you did.

The dealer does the same thing and creates one five card hand and one two card hand. Then, all of the cards are turned up. If the dealer beats you on both hands (in terms of hand rank), then you lose your bet. If you beat the dealer on both hands, then you win. If you split with the dealer, then nothing happens; another hand is played. The casino has a preset way of determining how it splits cards called the “house way,” but players can ultimately arrange theirs in any order as long as the value of the five card hand exceeds the value of the two card hand.

A small rake (usually around 5%) is charged on your bet, win or tie. You’ll find yourself sitting with a mound of quarters when this game is done if you’re playing at a $5 table, for example, which makes it all the more unique. However, note than when you win on a $5 bet, you’re only scooping $4.75. You’ll find yourself tying the dealer more often than not, which makes for a fun use of time at a casino.

Strategy

There are a bundle of ways to play Pai Gow. If you’re dealt a hand like 2-2-3-3-8-9-K, for example, you could keep the two pair together, creating one hand of 2-2-3-3-8 and one hand of K-9. However, you’d be beat by K-10 or better or any pair. I’ve seen players break flushes apart to obtain two strong hands to tango against the dealer as well.

One of the most common high-ranking hands that players break is a full house, putting the three of a kind and two non-pairing cards into the five card hand and the two of a kind into the two card hand. The real fun of Pai Gow is working through these marginal situations to determine a winning strategy. We’d suggest buying a strategy guide or other materials to check out what the proper way to play Pai Gow is given your local casino’s rules.

Other Add-Ons

You can actually be the dealer in Pai Gow, which is unique to any casino game we’ve ever seen. However, you must have enough in your stack in order to cover all of the bets on the table. There is also a possibility to receive an extra hand. The bottom line is that there are tons of ways to make Pai Gow Poker even more fun. It’s an entertaining way to kill a few hours, so grab a friend and sit down to figure out Pai Gow. You’ll be happy you did.