Pai Gow Joker
Many of you have played Pai Gow Poker at the best online casinos, but are you playing with a proper strategy? Despite the claim that Pai Gow Poker is a game of luck, there are strategies that you can use to improve your odds of winning.
Pai Gow Poker is a game that uses a 53-card deck. In addition to the standard cards, there is a joker. While a joker would be wild and replace any card in most poker games, it has narrow uses in Pai Gow Poker. A joker may only replace a card missing from a straight flush, flush, or straight. Otherwise, it is simply an ace. Dec 24, 2020 Pai Gow Poker is a casino game played with a standard 52-card deck plus one joker. The rules are simple. After making a stake, every player is dealt seven cards and they should make two poker hands: A standard five-card poker hand and a two-card poker hand. Pai Gow Poker merges poker and pai gow an ancient Chinese gambling game. The modern game of Pai Gow was invented in the 80s and is played with cards in lieu of dominos.
Today, we will look at the basic strategy for playing your hands in Pai Gow Poker. Note that this strategy is based on you playing your hands as the player. It does not account for live Pai Gow games where you can play as the banker.
Playing Uncordinated Hands
There are going to be many times where you will receive a hand that’s completely uncoordinated. With these hands, you don’t have as much as a pair for either hand. When this happens, you have to play two high card hands and hope that the dealer has a bad low hand.
First, you will take your highest card and add your four lowest cards together. This is your high hand. You’ll take your second and third highest cards to make your low hand. For example, if you have A-K-J-9-7-5-2, you’d play A-9-7-5-2 for high and K-J for low.
One Pair Hands
Another common hand is where you only have a single pair and nothing else in your hand. In this case, the pair will be your high hand. Take your two highest kickers and play them as your low hand. For example, if you have A-Q-10-8-8-6-2, you’d play A-Q for low and 8-8-10-6-2 for high.
One pair hands are scoop capable when you have a medium pair and at least one card of queen or higher in your low hand.
Two Pair Hands
The hands that will be the trickiest to play in Pai Gow Poker are hands with two pair. That’s because you’re often going to split your pair. Splitting pairs is where most people get tripped up in this game.
First, let’s look at the three types of pairs. Low pairs are deuces through sixes. Medium pairs are sevens through tens. High pairs are jacks or better.
Here are the times where you will be splitting two pair, regardless of what your other cards are:
- Anytime one of your two pairs is aces.
- When you have two high pair.
- When you have one medium and one high pair.
In the following scenarios, you will also split two pair provided you do not have an ace in your hand:
- One low pair and one high pair.
- One Low pair and one medium pair.
- Two low pairs.
- Two medium pairs.
In all other cases where you have two pair and an ace in your hand, you will play your ace and the second-highest non-pairing card as your low hand and the two pair for high.
Playing Trips in Pai Gow Poker
Playing trips, aka three of a kind, is easy in this game. In most cases, you will play trips for your high hand and your two highest kickers for the low hand. The only exception is when you have trip aces. In this case, you will split the trips and play one ace as part of your low hand.
Flushes and Straights
Hands with a straight or flush are usually going to play themselves. In the majority of cases, you’ll play the straight or flush as the high hand. For the times where you have a seven-card straight or a seven-card flush, you will play the two highest cards as your low hand.
The one exception for playing a flush is when you have a flush along with two pair. When this happens, you’re going to break the flush and split the pair according to the rules for splitting pairs.
Quads
You might be tempted to automatically play quads (four of a kind) as a high hand, but that’s not the case. When you have quad jacks or better, you’re splitting the hand into two pair. The same applies to medium quads, provided that you don’t have an ace in your hand. If you do, you will play the quads. For low quads, you will play them together.
Five Aces
As counterintuitive as it sounds, you’re almost never going to play five aces together. Instead, one ace and the joker will become your low hand and you’ll play trip aces for high.
The exception to this rule is when you have a pair of kings and five aces. Then, you’ll play the kings for low and five aces for high.
This Strategy Helps, But Not By Much
The above strategy is a great strategy to use to help improve your odds at winning in games where the dealer is always the banker. This applies to most Pai Gow Poker games at real money online casinos. However, the edge you gain with this strategy isn’t massive. It only improves your odds by about 0.21%. The general house edge when using this strategy is around 2.5%
Where this strategy helps is in games where the player is the banker. In those games, the house edge is reduced down to less than a half of a percent. However, you will find few online Pai Gow games offering player banking. However, it is still great to know when you play in live Pai Gow Poker games.
Pai Gow Poker Guide
We’re giving you the lowdown on Pai Gow Poker, hands-down one of the most popular real money table games and Ignition Casino. Played all around the world, this is a game of skill and guts, which is why it’s perfect for Ignition’s players.
What Is Pai Gow Poker?
Pai Gow is actually an ancient Chinese game of dominos – 32 to be exact – which later got appropriated for poker. It’s no cake walk either, but that doesn’t mean the poker version is difficult. Actually, it’s pretty easy. You just have to learn the fundamentals.
Thanks to Sam Torosian, owner of the California Bell Club cardroom, we now have a simplified version of pai gow uses playing cards instead of dominoes.
How to Play Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow Poker uses the standard 52-card deck, plus a Joker. It’s you against The Dealer; after you place your bet, you each receive seven cards – yours are face-up, the Dealer’s are face-down. Your task is to split your seven cards into two hands, one with five cards and the other with two cards. Your five-card hand must rank higher than your two-card hand.
Once you’ve decided how to split your cards, the Dealer’s cards are flipped over and arranged, then the hands are compared. If both your hands are better, you win even money minus a 5% commission. If both the Dealer’s hands are better, you lose the wager. If one is higher and one is lower, the hand is a push and your bet is returned. Any tied hands go to the Dealer.
As with all table games at the casino, Pai Gow Poker comes with a house edge attached. That edge depends primarily on two things: Your skill at the game, and the method the Dealer uses to complete their two hands. This method is known as the “house way,” and you’ll need to tailor your Pai Gow Poker strategy accordingly. If you’re playing at a live casino, the house edge is also affected by whether you are the Banker or not. But as a rough guide, you can expect the house to have an edge of between 2.5% and 2.7% when you use at least a simplified strategy playing online.
While it’s always nice to find a big made hand in your seven Pai Gow Poker cards, you’ll be dealt a Pair or worse a shade more than half the time. Here are the chances of getting dealt each possible rank:
Five Aces 0.000732%
Straight or Royal Flush 0.137%
Four of a Kind 0.199%
Full House 2.72%
Flush 4.00%
Straight 7.29%
Three of a Kind 4.85%
Two Pair 23.1%
One Pair 41.7%
High Card 16.1%
The Rules
Them’s the rules: the standard hand rankings for poker apply, except for one twist. The second-best Straight you can make in Pai Gow Poker is the wheel (Five-Four-Three-Deuce-Ace), which is the lowest Straight possible in regular poker. Your two-card hand is either a Pair or High Card. And the Joker in this game is a “semi-wild” card that can be used to complete a Straight, Flush, Straight Flush or royal Flush; otherwise, the Joker is considered an Ace.
There are more rules to learn if you want to play Pai Gow Poker live. This is a banking game, meaning the player has the option of betting against other players, or even the Dealer. Players will take turns around the table acting as the Banker, although in most cases, they’ll decline the option and the turn will get passed around the table until it lands with the Dealer. You won’t have to worry about any of this at Ignition Casino – there are no other players at the table, and you’re always betting on yourself.
Optimal Strategy
Deciding how to split your seven cards is where Pai Gow Poker strategy comes in. Like Blackjack, this game has been “solved” by computers, and if you play an optimal strategy, you can narrow the house edge down as low as possible. However, the optimal strategy for Pai Gow Poker is more difficult to learn than it is for blackjack. A simpler, near-optimal strategy that’s easier to remember will get you most of the way there.
Whether you’re working with a simplified or an advanced Pai Gow Poker strategy, you’ll be separating your hands into 20 categories, depending on the seven cards you’ve been dealt. These categories are then listed in order of hand strength; you’ll choose the highest rank that applies to your cards, and follow the recommended instructions. It’s the same approach that you’d use to play Video Poker as optimally as possible.
The 20 categories for your Pai Gow Poker strategy are further divided into two sections: One, cards which complete a Straight, Flush, Straight Flush or royal Flush; and two, those which do not. The first section is relatively easy to handle, since you already have a made five-card hand at your disposal – remember, your five-card (high) hand has to be stronger than your two-card (low) hand. Here’s a simplified Pai Gow Poker strategy for this section.
1. Four of a Kind: Play the highest Pair possible in your low hand while maintaining your Straight/Flush.
2. Three of a Kind and a Pair: If you have a Pair of Sevens or better, put them in your low hand if you can maintain your Straight/Flush. If not, settle for putting Three of a Kind in your high hand.
3. Three of a Kind: Play your best kickers for the low hand while maintaining your Straight/Flush.
4. Three Pair: Play the highest of your Pairs in your low hand while maintaining your Straight/Flush.
5. Two Pair: This one’s a little tricky. Depending on the strength of each Pair, and what kickers are left over, you might want to put your better Pair in your low hand. Definitely do this if the face value of the two Pairs adds up to at least 17; for example, Kings and Fours (13+4) or Nines and Eights (9+8). Splitting your Pairs is less advised as their face value drops.
6. One Pair: Play the best low hand you can while maintaining your Straight/Flush – unless you have Queens through Nines, in which case play Ace-King in your low hand if possible.
7. No Pair: Play the best low hand you can while maintaining your Straight/Flush.
Working with cards that cannot make a Straight/Flush in Pai Gow Poker requires a few extra steps, because now you might have cards that fall into additional categories. Here’s what to do with your seven cards in these situations:
8. Five of a Kind and a Pair: Put two Aces in the low hand, and leave a Full House in the high hand.
9. Five of a Kind: Put two Aces in the low hand and leave a Set of Aces in the high hand.
Face Up Pai Gow Poker
10. Four of a Kind and Three of a Kind: If your Quads are at least two ranks higher than your set, split your Quads and put two of those cards in your low hand, leaving a Full House in your high hand. Otherwise, split your set.
11. Four of a Kind and a Pair: Put the Pair in your low hand.
12. Four of a Kind: This category requires a little more savvy. If you have Queens or better, split them up and put a Pair in your low hand. If you have Fours or worse, keep your Quads together in your high hand. Everything in between will depend on the strength of the kicker you can put in your low hand.
13. Three of a Kind and Three of a Kind: Split your higher-ranking set and put two of those cards in your low hand.
14. Three of a Kind and Two Pair: Put the higher Pair in your low hand.
Pai Gow Poker Bovada
15. Three of a Kind and One Pair: Put the Pair in your low hand.
Pai Gow Poker Rules Strategy
16. Three of a Kind: Put the two highest kickers in your low hand, unless you have three Aces, in which case use an Ace and your highest kicker.
17. Three Pair: Put the highest Pair in your low hand.
18. Two Pair: Follow the same strategy as when you have seven cards that can make a Straight/Flush.
19. One Pair: Put your best two kickers in your low hand.
20. No Pair: Put your second- and third-best kickers in your low hand.
Pai Gow Poker Tiles
Even as a simplified strategy, this is quite a lot to absorb for newer Pai Gow Poker newbies. But most of these steps are pretty intuitive, and most of the time, you’ll be dealt seven cards that fall into one of these easier categories. The more you practice, the better you’ll get at following the strategy; then, if you choose, you can start on a more complex strategy by adding in some of the exceptions to these rules. For example, if you have seven cards that make a Straight/Flush and include both Three of a Kind and One Pair, and you have three Sevens and two Aces, you’ll only put the Aces in your low hand if your two kickers are Six-Five or worse.