Basics of Pai
Gow Poker
By Henry
Tamburin
Pai
gow poker (pai is pronounced like pie, gow rhymes with now) is a
cross between the ancient game of Chinese dominoes and the American game of
poker. The game is played on a blackjack-size table with up to 6 players and a
casino dealer. A single deck of playing cards is used plus one joker. The joker
can be used as an ace or it can be
used as a wild card to complete a straight, flush, or straight flush.
The
gist of the game is this. You’ll be dealt 7 cards from which you must create a
5-card poker hand and a separate 2-card poker hand. The dealer or banker will
do the same. Your objective is to have your 5-card poker hand and your 2-card poker hand be higher in
rank then the corresponding banker’s 5 and 2-card hands. If you do, you win!
A
quick word about dealers and bankers. In pai gow poker, players compete against
a banker who may either be the casino dealer or a fellow player. In fact this
is one of the few casino games where players can act as the banker, which as
you can imagine can be advantageous. For the time being, let’s assume the
casino dealer is the banker and later I’ll go over the rules of how players can
become the banker.
The
play of the game varies slightly from one casino to another. Here is the
typical way the game is played. An automatic shuffler shuffles the cards and
after every player makes a bet, the dealer will activate a random number
generator with a digital readout. The purpose is to determine which player
receives the first hand from the shuffled deck of cards and it also ensures
that the hands are randomly distributed to players. The dealer is number 1, the
player position to the right of the dealer is number 2, and so on around the
table. The dealer will then place a stack of 7 cards in front of each playing
position with the player position corresponding to the random number receiving
the first 7-card hand.
Variations
to the above procedures you may encounter include manual shuffling, use of a
dice bowl to generate the random number, and in some casinos the seven hands
are stacked in front of the dealer prior to distributing the hands to the
players. These are minor procedural differences that result in the same
objective – the random distribution of 7-card hands to every player and dealer
from a shuffled deck of cards.
After
the hands are distributed to the players, each player can pick up their cards.
Your goal is to arrange or “set” the cards into a 5-card poker hand (known as
the high hand) and a 2-card poker
hand (low hand).
Here
is the first important rule to remember.
Your high hand must always be higher in poker rank then your low hand otherwise you automatically lose (this is known as a foul hand).
The
above rule is not that difficult to remember. Just remember that the high hand
must be higher in rank then the low hand. So if you’ve got a pair of
jacks and a pair of 5’s you would automatically lose if you put the jacks in
the low hand and the 5’s in the high hand. The correct way to set the hand is
to place the higher pair (the jacks) in the 5-card high hand and the lower pair
(the 5’s) in the 2-card low hand.
The second way that a hand could be declared “foul”
is if the high or low hand contains the wrong number of cards. However, this
rarely occurs as most players have enough sense to know that the low hand must
contain two cards and the high hand five cards.
Once
you’ve set your hands, you place each hand face down on the layout in the
indicated position (the low hand is placed closest to the dealer and the high
hand closest to the player). The dealer will then face his 7 cards and set them
by house rules into a 5- card high hand and 2-card low hand. One-by-one the
dealer will then turn over the player’s 5 and 2-card hands starting with the
player to his immediate right. He compares the player’s 5-card high hand to his
high hand and the player’s 2-card low hand to his 2 card low hand to determine
who wins.
When
the player’s high or low hand is equal in rank to the banker’s corresponding
hand this is known as a “copy”.
According to Stanford Wong (Optimal
Strategy for Pai Gow Poker), copy hands will occur about 2.5% of the time.
Why is this important to know? Because
the banker always wins copy hands. This is what creates the natural
1.3% edge for the banker over the player in pai gow poker.
In
order for you to win your bet, both your high hand and low hand must be higher
in rank then the dealer’s high and low hand. If the 5-card high hand is higher
in rank but the 2- card low hand is lower or
vice versa, this is a tie (no decision) and no money is exchanged.
The
overall frequency for banker and player wins and ties as follows:
Banker wins 32.6%
Player wins 31.4%
Ties occur 36.0%
These
percentages may vary slightly depending upon the player’s skill in setting
hands.
Notice
that ties occur about a third of the time in Pai Gow Poker. From the player’s
perspective, this means you can enjoy playing for a relatively long time
without worrying about losing a bundle (compared to the losses which occur on a
cold blackjack or craps table).
Also,
note that the banker wins slightly more times than the player. It is therefore
to your advantage to be the banker as often as possible.
The
casino earns its money on this game in either of two ways: 1) from the natural
banker edge when the casino dealer is banker and 2) by charging a 5% commission
on all winning bets. In practice this is how it works.
When
the casino is the banker, the dealer will payoff winning bets to players but
then immediately collect the 5% commission. If you bet $5 and won for example,
the dealer will pay you one red chip and you then place a quarter on the table
that he collects as the commission. Also, if a player is the banker, the casino
will collect the 5% commission on all amounts won by the player and banker.
Your objective is to set your 5-card high hand so that it is higher in poker rank then your 2-card low hand. You also want to try to have the highest poker rank possible for both hands so that hopefully both of your hands will beat both of the banker hands.
The
Table below contains a basic playing strategy for pai gow poker to improve your
chances of winning. The first column lists the type of 7-card hand. The second and third columns summarize how
the 7-card hand should be set to form the 5-card and 2-card high hands
respectively (note: A = ace).
Since the banker has the natural advantage it is advantageous to be the banker as much as possible. However, when you are the banker you must have a sufficient bankroll to bank all the bets made by your fellow players.
Normally,
the casino dealer will open the game as the banker. In subsequent hands,
players can request to be the banker. A small plastic marker (called a chung)is placed in front of the banker’s
betting area to designate that this player is the banker.
The
casino banking rules vary greatly. Some casinos allow the same player to be the
banker on every other hand or a maximum of 2 consecutive hands. Others will
allow a player to bank only once out of every 8 or the extreme 14th
hand.
Because
the rules for banking differ it’s important that you shop around. Your goal is
to bank as many hands as the casino will allow because that is the only way you
can get the edge.
Just
because you bank and have the edge doesn’t mean you won’t take your lumps. A
few losses to players can put a severe dent in your bankroll. Therefore, it’s
important you have enough bankroll to withstand a couple of losing hands.
When
the casino dealer is the banker, the casino edge in pai gow poker is about
2.8%. By skillfully setting your hands you can reduce the casino’s edge to
about 2.5%. By being the banker as much
as possible and betting as small as
possible when you are the player, it is possible to have a slight monetary
edge playing pai gow poker (about 0.2%). A smart player, therefore, should bank
as much as possible and learn how to correctly set the hands. That’s the secret
to winning at pai gow poker.
7-Card Hand
Dealt 2-Card Low Hand 5-Card High Hand
One pair two
highest ranked cards pair
Two Pair * low
ranked pair high
ranked pair
Three pair highest ranked pair two lowest ranked
pairs
Three-of-a-kind ** 2 highest ranked cards three-of-a-kind
Straight, Flush, or Straight 2 remaining cards in low hand straight,
flush, or straight flush
Flush
Full House
pair 3-of-a-kind
Four 2’s through 6’s 2
highest ranked cards four-of-a-kind
Four 7’s through A’s ** * one pair one
pair
Five A’s pair
of aces three
aces
* If you have a single ace, keep the ace in the low hand and the two pair in the high hand.
** If you have three aces,
keep one ace in the low hand and the other two aces in the high hand.
*** If you have a single ace and four 7 through 10’s, keep the ace in the low hand and the four-of-a-kind in the high hand.