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AIM OF THE GAME
Pai gow poker is a variation of
the Chinese domino game gai gow. Pai gow poker is played
with a 53 card deck, including a joker. The game is one on
one, the player(s) against the banker, each competing to
make the best possible hands. Due to a rather slow pace
and a lot of ties pai gow poker is less intense than most
casino games and a modest buy in usually last a long
time. Seven cards are dealt to each player from which they
must make two hands, one of two cards (low hand) and one
of five cards (high hand). The aim of the game is to beat
the banker with both hands.
HOW TO PLAY
Pai gow can be played with up to
seven players. When the players receive their cards, they
set them into two hands of five and two cards. The
two-card hand is known as the low hand is placed in front
of the five-card hand known as the high hand. Each
five-card hand is ranked according to the pai gow poker
hierarchy which varies only slightly from the standard
poker hand ranking, the only real difference being that
five aces, by adding a
joker
to four aces, beats a royal flush and is the highest hand
in the game.
The ranking of the two-card
hands is much simpler in that the hand is either a pair or
it is not. The highest two-card hand is a pair of aces,
and the rank of subsequent pairs falls in order from kings
down to two's. The same ranking applies to high cards if a
pair is not achieved.
It is the players'
responsibility to ensure that their five-card hand has a
higher ranking then their two-card hand. If the two-card
hand turns out to be higher, the hand is said to be
foul
and the player automatically loses his bet. However when
playing online the system usually prevents player from
making any fouls.
When all the player's cards
have been set, the dealer's cards are turned face up by
the dealer which they then arrange the into a two-card
hand and a five-card hand. The dealer's hands are then
individually compared to the players' hands in a clockwise
order, starting with the player who received the cards
first.
To win, both of the player's
hands must beat both of the dealer's hands. If the
player's two-card hand and the dealer's two-card hand have
equal poker value, they are said to be
copies.
The same applies if the five-card hands match in value as
well. The dealer wins all copies. If one of the player's
hands beats the dealer's, but the other does not, the
result is a tie and no money changes hands.
Banking in Pai Gow
According to which casino you
use, the players don't necessarily always play against the
dealer all the time; players can opt to become the banker.
In this situation the house initially assumes the role of
the bank with the dealer as the banker, then the position
moves around from player to player. Player's are usually
allowed to bank for one or two consecutive hands before
passing the role on to the next player.
When a player becomes the
banker they must play their hand according to the "house
way", essentially how the dealer would play which is a
fixed way of combining cards to provide the best
opportunity to win. The role of banker can be declined by
any player, and passed on to the next person in line. If
rotating banker is used in the game the house makes its
money by taking a 5% commission on each winning bet. The
dealer collects the commission from each player that wins
a hand, and from the total of the banker's winnings.
House Edge
The house advantage in pai gow
poker depends partially on your skill setting hands
but more on how much of the action you bank. An entire
book could be written on this topic. For the sake of
simplicity I shall only address the head to head game
against the dealer. I shall assume that both the player
and dealer are following the Trump Plaza house way.
Possible Outcomes
in Pai Gow Poker
|
Outcome |
Probability |
|
Player wins both |
28.62% |
|
Tie |
41.47% |
|
Banker wins both |
29.92% |
From the above table the
following table shows the house edge for playing as the
banker, player, and combined in a one on one game.
House Edge in One
on One Pai Gow Poker
|
Status |
House Edge |
| Player |
2.73% |
| Banker |
0.20% |
| Combined |
1.46% |
Pai Gow
Probabilities
The following table shows the
probability of forming any specified poker hand. These
probabilities consider all seven cards and without regard
to how the player may play the hand.
Probabilities in
Pai Gow Poker
|
Hand |
Combinations |
Probability |
| Five aces |
1128 |
0.00000732 |
|
Straight/royal flush |
210964 |
0.00136862 |
| Four of a
kind |
307472 |
0.00199472 |
| Full house |
4188528 |
0.02717299 |
| Flush |
6172088 |
0.04004129 |
| Straight |
11236028 |
0.07289350 |
| Three of a
kind |
7470676 |
0.04846585 |
| Two pair |
35553816 |
0.23065464 |
| Pair |
64221960 |
0.41663862 |
| Nothing |
24780420 |
0.16076246 |
| Total |
154143080 |
1 |
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