All You Need to Know About Pai Gow Poker Online
Inspired by the Chinese domino game of the same name, Pai Gow Poker is well-known amongst poker players for its slow-paced gameplay and low-risk stakes. With even the barest grasp of poker, Pai Gow poker is incredibly easy to play, making for an accessible and low-risk game that’s ideal for amateurs and casual online players. In most instances, it’s fairly clear how you should play a hand, and learning the right strategy for the rest of the hands is really straightforward. Overall, Pai Gow Poker is a fun and social game that’s easy and enjoyable to play.
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How to Play Pai Gow Poker Online
If you’re at all familiar with poker, Pai Gow is very easy and simple to play. Unlike poker, however, players in Pai Gow play against the dealer and not against one another for the big prizes. A game of Pai Gow calls for up to six players and a dealer. The players are dealt seven cards each, they then divide the seven cards into two further hands; one with two cards and the other with five. A pai gow is a hand with straights, flushes, or pairs.
Players must ensure that their five-card hand is stronger than their two-card hand. The players then place their bets. The dealer does the same with his or her cards and both parties lay their cards on the table. Each player plays against the dealer, so most of the time the table win and lose together. If both the player’s hands beat the dealer’s then the player wins the round. If only one hand is better than the dealer hand, then the player and dealer tie for the round.
Pai Gow can be a little frustrating at first because games often end in a tie. On the other hand, this does mean that players stand to lose a less than they might otherwise expect in a usual game of poker. Playing Pai Gow well comes down to hand-setting. There are so many possibilities with seven cards, so setting your high hand your low hand correctly are really important. For instance, a high hand could be a straight and a low hand could be a pair. Winning on one hand and lose on the other results in a push and as you can imagine there can be a lot of pushing in Pai Gow.
From Amateur to Pro: Pai Gow Strategy & Tips
The following are some tips on building a winning Pai Gow poker strategy. Rather than play the best single hand, players need to play the best two hands possible. This isn’t always possible if you concentrate your best cards in just the high hand, so always be sure to aim for a degree of balance in your hands rather than just one single winning hand. The dealer will always set the Banker hand using a casino-chosen house way. Despite the temptation to play the best possible high hand in Pai Gow, the safest and surest strategy for winning and minimizing your losses is to play with balance between the two hands. Of course, the player only wins if both of their two hands beat the banker’s two hands. Again, the player’s aim should always be to play the best two hands possible and that means ensuring that your two-card hand is at least equally as good as your five-card hand. In this regard, there are some similarities but also stark differences toblackjack, where you attempt to beat the dealer by forming the highest hand possible.
There are few simple rules to remember for a decent Pai Gow poker strategy. When you have no pairs, flushes, or straights, simply play the highest card in your high hand and the next two highest cards in the two-card hand. Split when you have a top pair of aces or kings. Any two pair below sixes, you should split unless you also have an ace. In this instance, you should play the ace in the high hand and the next highest card in the two-card hand. With Jacks through Aces, you should split with the highest pair in the high hand.
Check Out These Pai Gow Poker Variants
Just like with other popular online casino games, there are a number of variants of Pai Gow poker. Most were developed between 2004 and 2009 when the game first became really popular online. Pai Gow Mania was the first successful variation of Pai Gow to really come to light. Instead of the usual one side bet per hand, this version of Pai Gow poker allows for two side bets, which can liven up gameplay to no end. Fortune Pai Gow swiftly followed Mania and remains one of the most popular variants of Pai Gow. In this version, players can make a side bet on a poker hand to further increase their chances of winning big. Much like Fortune Pai Gow, Emperors Challenge allows a side bet on 7 card Pai Gow. Finally, Progressive Fortune Pai Gow includes – as the name suggests – a progressive jackpot side bet to really spice things up. Part or all of the jackpot can be won on a side bet and landing one of the hands-on the payout table. Only a seven-card straight flush can win all the jackpot. If you’re keen to play, head to our recommended casino below for a chance to play Pai Gow Poker online for real money!