Pai Gow Poker is a casino card game played with a standard deck of 52 cards plus one Joker. It’s a variation of the ancient Chinese domino game. The object of the game is to create two poker hands out of seven cards, a five-card poker hand and a two-card poker hand. The five-card hand must rank higher than the two-card hand. The player wins if his hands beat the dealer’s hands. The joker can only be used to complete straights or flushes; otherwise it counts as an Ace.

To start playing you have to make a wager. Then the players and the dealer all receive seven cards. The players then each arrange their seven cards into a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The five-card hand is ranked as in normal poker. The only two-card hands are one pair and high cards. The best two-card hand is a pair of aces and the lowest is a 2-3.

After the players have arranged their hands the dealer arrange his according to a set of fixed rules known as the house way. Then the player's five-card hand is compared to the dealer's five-card hand. And the player's two-card hand to the dealer's two-card hand. The highest hand wins. Dealer wins any copied hand.

The player wins if both the 5-card and the 2-card poker hand outrank the dealer’s hand. Winnings paid to the player are even minus a 5% commission.
If the player wins one hand and loses one the bet is a push.
If the player loses both hands the player loses the entire wager.

The ideal strategy for the player is very complicated but as a basic strategy players should try to set the highest two-card hand that they can legally set: the best two-card hand that still leaves a higher five-card hand behind.

If the player has no possible pairs, straights or flushes, he can set the second- and third-highest cards in his two-card hand.

If the player only has one pair, he can set it in his five-card hand and put the two highest remaining cards in his two-card hand.

If the player plays perfect the house edge for Pai Gow Poker is approximately 2,3%. But to play this good is not easy and takes a lot of practice.

Pai Gow Poker is a fun and interesting game to play. The house edge is not too big, and since many hands push, you can play a lot of Pai Gow Poker without loosing too much money.

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