What makes a great casino game? It’s a matter of personal preference. If you like a game with just a little bit of skill to keep things interesting, but not so much skill that it hurts your brain, Pai Gow Poker is about as good as it gets. Invented (but not patented) in 1985 by Sam Torosian, owner of the since-closed California Bell Casino in Los Angeles, Pai Gow Poker combines the ancient Chinese dominoes game of pai gow with the less-ancient game of poker – as the name suggests. You can find Pai Gow Poker at live casinos around the world, and you can play it online at Bovada Casino.
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While both pai gow and poker can take some time to learn, Pai Gow Poker is easy to pick up. The game uses a standard deck of 52 playing cards, plus a Joker. After you place your bet, you and the dealer each receive seven cards – yours are face-up, the dealer’s are face-down. The object of Pai Gow Poker is to split these seven cards into two hands: one containing five cards, and the other the remaining two, trying to make the best poker hands possible. Then the dealer’s cards are revealed. If both your hands beat the dealer, you win. Piece of cake.
Pai Gow Rules
The thing about pai gow that inspired Torosian was the way the players split their dominoes into two hands: the front hand, and the rear hand. Then the hands are compared to the Dealer’s to see who wins. Torosian thought something similar would work with playing cards. When you play Pai Gow Poker, you place your bet, then receive seven cards from the standard 52-card deck, plus a Joker. You then divide those cards into two hands: Your front hand gets two cards, and your rear hand gets five cards.
The object of Pai Gow Poker is to make stronger hands than the Dealer’s. Your front hand is compared to the Dealer’s front hand, and your rear hand to their rear hand. If both your hands are stronger, you win the bet and get paid out at even money, minus a 5% commission. If both the Dealer’s hands are stronger, you lose the bet. If you have one strong hand and the Dealer has the other, it’s a push, and your original bet is returned to you. Any ties with the front or rear hands go to the Dealer.
Pai Gow Poker uses the standard hand rankings for poker, with a few exceptions. The Joker in question is a “semi-wild” card that you can use to complete Straights or Flushes. If the Joker is used for any other purpose, it’s considered an Ace; that means you can get Five of a Kind in Pai Gow Poker, but only if you have four Aces and the Joker. This is the highest-ranking hand in the game – it even beats a Royal Flush.
One other twist with the hand rankings: In regular poker, the lowest Straight you can make is the wheel: Five-Four-Three-Deuce-Ace. In Pai Gow Poker, the wheel is the second-highest Straight, behind only the Broadway Straight (Ace-King-Queen-Jack-Ten). Otherwise, the usual hand rankings apply. Note that with your 2-card front hand, you either have a Pair or you don’t. Two consecutive cards don’t count as a Straight, and two suited cards don’t count as a Flush.d you can use the Practice Play mode at Bovada to work on your Pai Gow Poker skills. It just might be your new favorite game.
Pai Gow Poker Hands
The five-card hand in Pai Gow Poker adheres to standard poker rankings plus the five of a kind for having four Aces and a Joker. See below for the Pai Gow five-card hand rankings beginning from the best hand and going down to the lowest hand.
| Hand | Description |
| Five of a Kind | Four Aces plus a Joker |
| Royal Flush | Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten – suited |
| Straight Flush | Five cards in consecutive rank – suited |
| Four of a Kind | Four cards of the same rank |
| Full House | Three cards of the same rank and two cards of the same rank |
| Flush | Five cards of the same suit |
| Straight | Five cards in consecutive rank |
| Three of a Kind | Three cards of the same rank |
| Two Pair | Two two-card sets of matching cards |
| Pair | Two cards of matching rank |
| High Card | When you don’t have a set from above, your hand is based on your highest card |
Hand rankings for the two-card hand are much simpler; you either have a pair or don’t have a pair, in which case your hand is assessed based on your high card. The highest hand for the two-card hand is a pair of Aces. The highest non-pair hand is Ace, King.
Pai Gow Poker Odds
Knowing the odds of landing a certain hand will help you manage expectations and make strategic decisions. See below for the odds of getting each hand.
| Hand | Odds |
| Five of a Kind | 140,000-1 |
| Royal Flush | 6,000-1 |
| Straight Flush | 750-1 |
| Four of a Kind | 500-1 |
| Full House | 36-1 |
| Flush | 25-1 |
| Three of a Kind | 20-1 |
| Straight | 14-1 |
| Two Pair | 9-2 |
| Pair | 5-2 |
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How to Play Pai Gow Poker
There’s only one decision point in Pai Gow Poker: How do you split your seven cards? It’s not quite as easy as it looks. If you’re at a live casino and you accidentally set your cards so the rear hand (the 5-card hand) isn’t stronger than the front hand, you’ll foul and lose your bet. That’s one of the great things about playing Pai Gow Poker casino games online at Bovada – if you foul, you get to try again without penalty.
The Dealer doesn’t have to worry about how to split their cards, either. Their decision is made automatically using the house way, which can differ slightly from location to location. You, on the other hand, have to decide the best way to split your cards. Here’s the good news: Thanks to computers, we can figure out exactly which two cards to set aside for your front hand, to keep the house edge as tiny as possible.
Optimal Strategy
Here’s an example of a 20-step Pai Gow Poker strategy that will generate a house edge of around 2.7%. To use this strategy, first determine whether your seven cards have the power to make a Straight or a Flush. If they can, see which of the following categories apply to your cards, and follow the directions, remembering to maintain that Straight/Flush in your 5-card rear hand. If more than two categories apply, pick the one closest to the top of the list.
- Four of a Kind: Play the highest Pair possible up front.
- Three of a Kind and a Pair: If you have a Pair of Sevens or better, put them up front if you can maintain your Straight/Flush. If not, put Three of a Kind in your rear hand.
- Three of a Kind: Play your best two kickers up front.
- Three Pair: Play the highest of your Pairs up front.
- Two Pair: This will depend on the strength of each Pair and the kickers left over. Definitely put your better Pair up front if the face value of the Pairs adds up to at least 17; for example, Queens and Fives (12+5). The lower you get from 17, the more you’ll want to keep that Two Pair in your rear hand.
- One Pair: Play the best front hand you can – unless you have Queens through Nines, in which case play Ace-King up front if possible.
- No Pair: Play the best front hand you can.
If your seven cards don’t have any Straight/Flush potential, use the following 13 categories instead – again, pick the one closest to the top if more than one category applies.
- Five of a Kind and a Pair: Put two Aces in the front, and leave a Full House in the rear.
- Five of a Kind: Put two Aces in the front, and leave a Set of Aces in the rear.
- Four of a Kind and Three of a Kind: If your Quads are at least two ranks higher than your set, split those Quads and put a Pair up front, leaving a Full House in the rear. Otherwise, split your set.
- Four of a Kind and a Pair: Put the Pair up front.
- Four of a Kind: If you have Queens or better, split them up and put a Pair in your front hand. If you have Fours or worse, keep your Quads together in your rear hand. Everything in between will depend on the strength of the kicker you can put up front.
- Three of a Kind and Three of a Kind: Split your higher-ranking set and put two of those cards up front.
- Three of a Kind and Two Pair: Put the higher Pair up front.
- Three of a Kind and One Pair: Put the Pair up front.
- Three of a Kind: Put the two highest kickers up front, unless you have three Aces, in which case use an Ace and your highest kicker.
- Three Pair: Put the highest Pair up front.
- Two Pair: Follow the same strategy you use when you have seven cards that can make a Straight/Flush.
- One Pair: Put your best two kickers up front.
- No Pair: Put your second- and third-best kickers up front.
That’s still a lot to handle if you’re new to Pai Gow Poker, and as you can see, there are a few steps (No. 5 on each list, and No. 11 at the bottom) where you still might have to decide for yourself what to do. But this near-optimal strategy won’t take too long to get ingrained – you can use the Practice Play mode at Bovada Casino and try it out for free before hitting the real money Pai Gow Poker tables. Best of luck, and we’ll see you on the felt.
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