Pai Gow Poker Concepts

Learning the pai gow poker concepts.

Pai Gow is a popular gambling game from China. This Asian game can be played using tiles that are similar to dominoes. When Pai Gow reached the United States, the American version of this game was developed so more people can understand and play it. This Chinese game was then called Pai Gow Poker. This game involves conventional playing cards and hand rankings used in poker. More individuals became interested in playing Pai Gow Poker because it challenges both the skills and wits of players in creating poker hands. To have a better understanding of this card game, a player must study the different Pai Gow Poker concepts.

Pai Gow Poker Objective
The main goal of a player is to make two poker hands from the seven cards that will be dealt to him. He must create a two-poker hand and a five-poker hand. His five-card hand should be higher than his two-card hand. Two-card hands are sometimes labeled as the hands "on top" or "in front". On the other hand, five-card hands are known as "bottom" or "behind".

Card Dealing
Pai Gow Poker uses a card deck with one joker, which the player can use as an Ace to create a straight or a flush. Four cards will be isolated before the dealing starts. A dealer must distribute the seven seven-card hands despite the number of players at the table. There should also be a person who will act as the banker who will be responsible in throwing a dice to assign the hands to the players. The position of the banker can be 1, 8, or 15 and the hands that were dealt should be passed counterclockwise.

Hand Rankings
The hand rankings used in Pai Gow Poker are based on the traditional poker. When the player arranges his two-card hand, he must have high cards or a pair. Meanwhile, if he is about to make his five-card hand, he can use five Aces, royal flush, straight flush, and four-of-a-kind. He can also have a five-card hand with a full house, flush, straight, three-of-a-kind, two pair, one pair, or high cards.

However, there are variations in the hand rankings in poker depending on the rules followed in different states. In some Nevada casinos, if a player has the A-2-3-4-5 hand, he beats the hand with a king-high straight. But in Michigan and California, the A-2-3-4-5 hand is considered as the lowest-ranking straight.

Identifying the Winner
Again, to win a Pai Gow Poker game, the player must have a five-card hand that is higher than his two-card hand. When the cards are checked and the player arranged his card otherwise, he automatically loses the game or he will have to face a penalty like rearranging his hand. In case of ties, rules say that the banker wins.

To lessen the confusion, the banker sets his hand in a particular manner that is often tagged as the house way. This is done so that the dealer will not need to make strategies to beat the Pai Gow Poker players and to standardized the allowed hand rankings.

It may take a lot of time and practice before a player can make his own techniques to win in a Pai Gow Poker game. But, he can begin his training by mastering the different Pai Gow Poker concepts. After that, he can test his skills and play at different Pai Gow Poker rooms and beat his opponents.

Last Updated ( Friday, 14 December 2007 )

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