The same is oddly true for online casinos. While the 'avoid machines at the end of long rows and near exits' may be much harder to apply at an online casino, it is a solid rule of thumb that if you haven't seen a win on a machine you're playing in a long time, it's probably best to move on to another machine. Pai Gow is a great game that involves both luck and skill, with the excitement of traditional poker. You need to create two powerful hands and understand the different options available and use the cards in an optimal way. Learning how to play Pai Gow online is not a problem with the wealth of casinos online offering the game.
A Combination of Chinese Tiles and Classic Poker
Pai Gow Poker
The ancient game of Chinese tiles gets an overhaul in this amusing and relatively new variant of the classic Poker game. It might be based on an old and slow paced game, but nothing about it screams dated with the Poker twist it's received (amongst other things). Since its inception online, Pai Gow, or double-hand Poker, has got faster and simpler. 'Win together, lose together!' is the motto of the game as every player plays against the house, unlike in other variations of Poker where the players battle each other and bluff their way to acquire the contents of the pot. The game therefore draws a similarity to the other Casino Poker game, Casino Hold'em, within which every player plays against the house. Traditionally, each player takes a turn as banker thus gaining a small edge when in that position. The American version was created using playing cards instead to make it easy to use for the western player. As a land casino table game, it isn't one of the most popular and generally is outplaced by Blackjack, Three-Card Poker and Roulette on the casino floor. Online, however, the game is a little simpler to play; it's a one versus one with the virtual house and, as a result, the game enjoys growing popularity amongst online table game players looking for something that little bit different than the stock games or slots. Overall, it's an enjoyable and friendly game much like Craps, but a lot less complicated.
Why play Pai Gow Poker?
- It's a low-risk game
- It's fun and sociable
- It's a game of luck as well as skill
The History of Pai Gow Poker
Pai Gow Poker is established on the century-old Chinese game of tiles or dominoes and when translated means ‘nine'. The game used 32 dominoes to make a whopping 35,960 four-tile combinations – imagine keeping track of all of the possible combinations! In today's modern version of the game, the dominoes have been replaced by cards, adding to its growing popularity. The old game goes as follows; approximately eight players would arrange four tiles each into two hands, what was known as a 'back' and 'front' hand. The objective of the game was the same as it is today, to beat both of the banker's respective hands. The winning bets paid out even money (1:1), however, deciding upon the winner was overly complicated so it never caught on in the western world until much later. During the 19th century, the rules of the game were altered and it once again became extremely popular in China. It made its way onto US soil during the 1980s and was the baby of the American casino owner (of the Bell card club in Southern California) by the name of Sam Torosian in 1985. It was here in California that many Chinese immigrants came to set up home. Pai Gow Poker reared its head along the Las Vegas strip in 1987 and took some time to reach Atlantic City due to some laws of the state. It was initially designed to encourage more Asian players to gamble at American casinos. Nowadays it can be found in many online casinos accessible all over the world.
Playing Online Pai Gow Poker
The contemporary game is played with up to six players and one who acts as banker/dealer. Pai Gow is one of the few card games that uses the joker alongside a standard deck of 52 cards, to give it that extra kick. When playing Pai Gow online, the house or casino takes on the role of the banker. Before the game begins, each player must place a wager. Most online casinos offer a pretty wide bet range on table games to accommodate all bankrolls so you should find something that suits, I've seen anywhere from a single credit to 1000 credit stakes available with a multitude of options in between! A roll of the dice determines who will receive their cards first. Each player is then dealt seven cards face down and must arrange his cards to create two Poker hands from the cards given. These consist of a five-card and a two-card hand, termed the 'behind' or 'big' hand and the 'front' or 'small' hand, respectively. At this point, only the players can look at their cards, and the dealer cannot. Once you've decided upon your two hands, they must be placed face down back onto the table so that the dealer can reveal his cards. No one can touch or rearrange their cards after the dealer has exposed his, so make sure you're satisfied with your hands before setting them down. Now it's the dealer's turn to arrange his cards into his two best hands as specified by the 'house way' rules.
Players turn over their cards and begin comparing their individual hands to those belonging to the dealer to win. The players' 'big' hands are compared to the dealer's 'big' hand, and same goes for the 'small' hands. It is of the utmost importance that your 'big' hand has a higher value than your 'small' hand, otherwise your hand will be considered void. With regards to the joker, the semi wild-card plays a dual role in the game, although its use is limited; it can be used as a filler card to complete a straight, flush or straight flush. In the other winning Poker hands (for example, in the case of a royal flush, full house, four of a kind etc.), it is played as an Ace. Your five-card hand is ranked according to standard Poker rules – of course, it goes without saying that the only Poker hand that can apply to the two-card hand is a pair or no pair, after which the highest cards determine the winner. The following are some possible outcomes:
- If both your hands are worth more than the banker's corresponding hands, then you win and the dealer pays out your bet.
- If only one hand is worth more than the corresponding hand belonging to the dealer, it is considered a tie, or push, and no one wins.
- You lose your wager when each hand of yours is worth less than the banker's corresponding ones.
- If you both have the same hand values, the dealer automatically wins and you lose the bet.
- Finally, in the case of a push on one hand and a win for the dealer on the other, it is the banker who wins. However, if it were vice versa and the player wins one hand while the other hand is tied, this is regarded as a push and so no money is exchanged.
So, let's say you were dealt KK, QQ, 10, 8, 5 with no flush. Ideally, you want to keep the cowboys in the big hand (hoping the dealer can't beat the pair) and the Queens in the second hand to hopefully beat the dealer's next best hand. It's against the rules to put your best hand in the smaller of the two hands, so despite the simplicity of play, you will need a strategy. The key thing with this game versus regular Poker is to remember that you have two hands which you need to win with, don't get blinkered or lasered in on one big hand – you only need enough to beat the dealer with both, they don't both have to be monsters! To help you out, here are the Pow Gow Poker hand rankings:
Five Aces: Consists of A-A-A-A plus a Joker.
Royal Flush: Consists of 10-J-Q-K-A of the same suit.
Straight Flush: Includes five sequential cards of the same suit, ranked in order. For example, 7-8-9-10-J of Hearts.
Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank. For example, 2-2-2-2.
full House: Is made up of three matching cards of one value and two matching cards of another value. For example, Q-Q-Q and 6-6.
Flush: Is formed when all five cards are of the same suit, irrespective of their ranking. For example, 2-4-6-9-Q of Diamonds.
Straight: Consists of five cards of different suits in a sequence. For example, 3-4-5-6-7 of different suits, however, in the game of Pai Gow A-2-3-4-5 is the second highest hand.
Three of a Kind: Is made up of three cards of the same rank. For example, 7-7-7.
Two Pair: Is when you have two cards of the same value plus another two cards of another rank. For example, 10-10 and 3-3.
One Pair: Is formed using two cards of the same rank. For example, 6-6.
High Card: Can be any one of the following cards: Ace, King, Queen, Jack.
If you're still not sure about how to set cards, in an online game you can choose the ‘House Way' option to help you.
Beginners' Tips
Free Online Pai Gow Games
Now that you're up to date with the rules and winning hands of the game, here are a couple of suggestions which could help you become a Pai Gow expert in no time!
- The most basic rule of Pai Gow Poker is that your 'big' or 'behind' (high) hand must be worth more than your 'small' or 'front' (low) hand or you will be disqualified from the game. Remember that your low hand is just as important as your high hand. Ideally, you should try to find the right combination of two equally strong hands with the odds of winning both. Remember, you lose if only one hand wins.
- In this variation of Poker, the conventional ranking rules apply, although with one strange anomaly; the A-2-3-4-5 straight (which is called 'the wheel') is considered the second highest straight. Some casinos have dropped this outrageous rule, while others have embraced it, all the more reason to be aware of it.
- Unlike most casino games, in Pai Gow Poker the player may bet against the dealer and other players. This type of wager is known as 'banking'. Unfortunately, this is not offered in online play.
- The turn to act as banker is supposed to rotate around the table, but at some casinos, it zig-zags between the dealer and each player in turn. The player may always decline to bank (which is usually the case), therefore, the option to do so will revert to the next player. A word of advice; when given the opportunity to be the banker you should always take it. When hands are duplicated, the bank wins and the odds move from 1% to 2% in the banker's favour. In this position, you should bet as much as possible and as little as possible when you're not playing banker. In brick and mortar casinos the role is passed around between players (sometimes there is a limit to the number of hands you can play in this position).
- A full house should never be played as your high hand.
- If you are given three pairs, the highest-ranking pair should go in the small hand. The other two pairs give the player a sound high hand. In the case of six cards to a flush, the lowest high card should start the flush, leaving the high card to be played in the small hand.
Variations of Pai Gow Poker
You will see that additional features have been added to the base of the game to create the following versions. These variations of Pai Gow are, in fact, quite rare and not easily found online. They are even less common in land-based casinos. Regardless, if you do come across one of these games, be sure to give them a ‘Gow'!
As the name suggests, there are no ties (pushes) in this variant of the game, therefore, the banker always wins if a tie is drawn. As a result, the odds of winning are definitely in the banker's favour.
Pai Gow Mania: This is the same game, except with two additional side bets, one of which you can make after you view your first three cards, and the second you can make after all your cards have been dealt. Free slots 7777.
Fortune Pai Gow Poker: In this version, the skill element of the game has been removed as you are required to judge your hand without splitting it. You're also given an envy bonus, that is, a fixed limit which is paid out when the higher-ranking hands are disclosed. The game sometimes features a progressive jackpot which can be all yours with a seven-card straight flush.
Playing Pai Gow Poker for Real Money
Pai Gow Poker has been developed at many online casinos for both head to head casino play and live dealer play. If you're a beginner, you can start yourself off with free play until you get used to how the game works. If you're looking for a big payout, you should check our top five reputable casinos at the top of the page for a safe place for your deposit. It's an easy game to optimise for mobile use so you should have no problems at all finding a site to play at. We review some of the best sites by game on a regular basis to help with that.
FAQ
Is there an optimal strategy I can use to win at Pai Gow Poker?
Being a game of mixed elements of luck and skill, seasoned players have come together and created an optimal, yet rather complex, strategy to get you on top and winning. First of all, when you have no pair, straight, or flush, you should play the highest card in your big hand and the next two highest cards in your small hand.
Two Pair: In a hand where you have two pairs including a pair of Aces, you should split them. If the top pair is K-K, you should also split them except when the other pair is deuces, in this case, play them together and play the two highest remaining cards in the low hand. Otherwise, use these two-pair rules:
- 6-6 and lower, split unless you hold an Ace, then play together with the Ace and the next highest card in the low hand.
- 7-7 through to 10-10, split unless you hold an Ace, then play together with the Ace and the next highest card in the low hand.
- J-J through to A-A, split - obviously with the highest pair in the high hand.
Three Pair: In this scenario, it's best to play the highest pair in the low hand.
Three of a Kind: Always play your pairs together except when the cards are Aces, then play a pair of Aces in the big hand and a single Ace with the next highest card in the small hand.
Straights and Flushes: Keep the straight or flush in the high hand, choosing whichever gives you the highest card for the low hand. The exception is when you also have two pairs, in this case, revert back to the two pair rules. Straights and flushes are best kept together in the five-card hand unless you also have a 10-10 or better. In instances when you have a 10-10 for a five-card hand with an A-K or better for the two-card hand, you might want to consider breaking up the straight or flush.
Four of a Kind: Like two pair, four of a kind has some guidelines too:
- With 6-6-6-6 or lower, keep them together.
- In the case of, 7-7-7-7 through to 10-10-10-10, you should split them into pairs unless you have an Ace or better to play in the low hand.
- With face cards such as Aces, Kings, Queens, or Jacks, you should always separate them, unless you have another pair to play in the low hand.
Five Aces: You should always split this hand unless you also have a pair of Kings, then you should play the Kings in the low hand.
Michael Shackleford: Hi, my name is Mike Shackleford with the Wizardofodds.com website, and I'm here with Angela Wyman and Dan Lubin to try to teach you about Pai Gow poker. Before I get started, a word of explanation. This table here is for easy Pai Gow, which is a little bit different than standard Pai Gow poker, so we're going to pretend this is standard Pai Gow poker, and we'll talk about easy Pai Gow later. Shall we learn by an example?
Dan Lubin: All right, everybody gets a packet of seven cards. Let me look at your hand.
Michael: The object is to separate your seven cards into a five-card high hand according to poker rules, and to two-card low hand. The way the low hand works is a pair of aces would be the highest hand. If you don't have a pair, then it goes by the two singletons. The best non-pair would be Ace-King, and the lowest would be Two-Three.
In your case, I see a pair of queens. Pair hands are really easy to set. You play the pair in the high and the two highest singletons in the low. Let's see what I got. I got the joker. There is one joker in the deck in Pai Gow poker. This can be used to complete a straight, a flush, a straight-flush. Otherwise, it counts as an ace.
Fortunately, this is going to help me complete a straight two different ways. I could do a Nine-Ten-Jack-Queen-King straight using the joker as the queen, playing a Two-Seven in a low, which would be a horrible low hand. Or I can use the joker as an eight, playing a jack-high straight and king-high in the low. This is obviously the better way to play the hand. It's really unlikely that it's going to matter how high my straight is, but a king-high low is significantly better than a seven-high low.
Now the dealer turns over his cards, and he's going to separate them according to casino rules known as 'the house way'.
Dan: All right then, I have nothing. I have a four of spades, can't make the flush. I have an ace-high Pai Gow, and the ace is the strongest, so it goes into the five card. When I don't have a pair or better, then the second and third cards go up into the low hand, and this is my hand.
Michael: Dan has what's called a 'Pai Gow hand', meaning he can't even make a pair, so he's going to play the two highest singletons in the low hand.
Dan: My low hand beats your low hand – King-King, but my ten kicker beats your two kicker, so I win on the low said, but your straight beats my high card high side, so you win, and a split decision is a push.
Michael: Right. I win on the high, lose on the low, so that results in a push.
Dan: Her ace beats my king, and her pair beats my singleton ace, and she wins.
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Michael: One of the two ways the house has advantage in Pai Gow poker is that when you win, you have to pay a 5% commission. Angela bet a 100 USD, so she won 95. When in doubt, ask the dealer how would the house set this hand, and the house way is usually the right way.
Angela Wyman: That's a great tip.
Dan: But not always. Generally.
Michael: Okay. Let's see what you got.
Angela: I'm having one pair of hand. The pair should go in bottom, and then my highest single card would go on the top, so I got the Ace-Ten on top, pair of nines on the bottom.
Michael: Exactly. Two highest singletons are on top. Let's see what I got here. I have a full house. Full houses are really obvious. Unless there's other straights or flush muddying the waters, you always separate them, playing the pair in the low and the three of a kind in the high.
Dan: There is one exception. If you have a low pair like fours, or threes, or twos, and you have an Ace-King, then you would play the full house together to be straight or flush on the dealer's high side, with the Ace-King being very strong. But most people just always split it up.
Question 1 - [04:28]
Michael: Can you be specific about this house way exception about splitting up before house?
Dan: Since an Ace-King is about as strong as a pair of twos on the low side, and a full house is significantly stronger than a three of a kind, which is what you have after you split it up, if you have an Ace-King and a pair of twos, keep the full house together, the jacks and the twos Ace-King up. Else you would just split off the pair part
Michael: So, you're saying, if you have an Ace-King singletons and your pair is fours or less, then you play the two high singletons in the low.
Dan: Exactly.
Question 2 - [05:03]
Michael: And don't some houses just always split up the full house? Crazy 8 games free online.
Dan: Yes. In other words, the exception is so rare that if you always split a full house, it almost always plays the same.
Michael: Okay, let's see what you got.
Straights and Flushes: Keep the straight or flush in the high hand, choosing whichever gives you the highest card for the low hand. The exception is when you also have two pairs, in this case, revert back to the two pair rules. Straights and flushes are best kept together in the five-card hand unless you also have a 10-10 or better. In instances when you have a 10-10 for a five-card hand with an A-K or better for the two-card hand, you might want to consider breaking up the straight or flush.
Four of a Kind: Like two pair, four of a kind has some guidelines too:
- With 6-6-6-6 or lower, keep them together.
- In the case of, 7-7-7-7 through to 10-10-10-10, you should split them into pairs unless you have an Ace or better to play in the low hand.
- With face cards such as Aces, Kings, Queens, or Jacks, you should always separate them, unless you have another pair to play in the low hand.
Five Aces: You should always split this hand unless you also have a pair of Kings, then you should play the Kings in the low hand.
Michael Shackleford: Hi, my name is Mike Shackleford with the Wizardofodds.com website, and I'm here with Angela Wyman and Dan Lubin to try to teach you about Pai Gow poker. Before I get started, a word of explanation. This table here is for easy Pai Gow, which is a little bit different than standard Pai Gow poker, so we're going to pretend this is standard Pai Gow poker, and we'll talk about easy Pai Gow later. Shall we learn by an example?
Dan Lubin: All right, everybody gets a packet of seven cards. Let me look at your hand.
Michael: The object is to separate your seven cards into a five-card high hand according to poker rules, and to two-card low hand. The way the low hand works is a pair of aces would be the highest hand. If you don't have a pair, then it goes by the two singletons. The best non-pair would be Ace-King, and the lowest would be Two-Three.
In your case, I see a pair of queens. Pair hands are really easy to set. You play the pair in the high and the two highest singletons in the low. Let's see what I got. I got the joker. There is one joker in the deck in Pai Gow poker. This can be used to complete a straight, a flush, a straight-flush. Otherwise, it counts as an ace.
Fortunately, this is going to help me complete a straight two different ways. I could do a Nine-Ten-Jack-Queen-King straight using the joker as the queen, playing a Two-Seven in a low, which would be a horrible low hand. Or I can use the joker as an eight, playing a jack-high straight and king-high in the low. This is obviously the better way to play the hand. It's really unlikely that it's going to matter how high my straight is, but a king-high low is significantly better than a seven-high low.
Now the dealer turns over his cards, and he's going to separate them according to casino rules known as 'the house way'.
Dan: All right then, I have nothing. I have a four of spades, can't make the flush. I have an ace-high Pai Gow, and the ace is the strongest, so it goes into the five card. When I don't have a pair or better, then the second and third cards go up into the low hand, and this is my hand.
Michael: Dan has what's called a 'Pai Gow hand', meaning he can't even make a pair, so he's going to play the two highest singletons in the low hand.
Dan: My low hand beats your low hand – King-King, but my ten kicker beats your two kicker, so I win on the low said, but your straight beats my high card high side, so you win, and a split decision is a push.
Michael: Right. I win on the high, lose on the low, so that results in a push.
Dan: Her ace beats my king, and her pair beats my singleton ace, and she wins.
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Michael: One of the two ways the house has advantage in Pai Gow poker is that when you win, you have to pay a 5% commission. Angela bet a 100 USD, so she won 95. When in doubt, ask the dealer how would the house set this hand, and the house way is usually the right way.
Angela Wyman: That's a great tip.
Dan: But not always. Generally.
Michael: Okay. Let's see what you got.
Angela: I'm having one pair of hand. The pair should go in bottom, and then my highest single card would go on the top, so I got the Ace-Ten on top, pair of nines on the bottom.
Michael: Exactly. Two highest singletons are on top. Let's see what I got here. I have a full house. Full houses are really obvious. Unless there's other straights or flush muddying the waters, you always separate them, playing the pair in the low and the three of a kind in the high.
Dan: There is one exception. If you have a low pair like fours, or threes, or twos, and you have an Ace-King, then you would play the full house together to be straight or flush on the dealer's high side, with the Ace-King being very strong. But most people just always split it up.
Question 1 - [04:28]
Michael: Can you be specific about this house way exception about splitting up before house?
Dan: Since an Ace-King is about as strong as a pair of twos on the low side, and a full house is significantly stronger than a three of a kind, which is what you have after you split it up, if you have an Ace-King and a pair of twos, keep the full house together, the jacks and the twos Ace-King up. Else you would just split off the pair part
Michael: So, you're saying, if you have an Ace-King singletons and your pair is fours or less, then you play the two high singletons in the low.
Dan: Exactly.
Question 2 - [05:03]
Michael: And don't some houses just always split up the full house? Crazy 8 games free online.
Dan: Yes. In other words, the exception is so rare that if you always split a full house, it almost always plays the same.
Michael: Okay, let's see what you got.
Dan: Let's see what I got. I got Joker-Queen. Now, this is interesting. I've got three pairs.
Question 3 - [05:24]
Michael: You played the high pair in the low, right?
Dan: Right. There's some cases where, if you have a medium pair and two low pairs, you took the middle pair up, because if you're facing a two pair hand on a bottom, you want to beat that too. But as a simple rule of thumb, if you have three pairs, you put the highest pair up, and play a two pair hand on the bottom. My queens meet your eights on top, and your three of a kind beats my two pairs on the bottom, and the split decision is a push.
What do we have got here? You have an Ace-Ten losing to my pair, and your pair of nines is toast to my two-pair.
Michael: Let's try another hand. What do you think you should do?
Angela: I have one pair, so the pairs go on bottom, my Ace-King on top.
Michael: Yes. I have garbage. This is again called the Pai Gow hand. I don't even have a pair, so I am going to play the second and third highest singletons in the low, because I have to play the highest hand in the high.
Dan: I have one pair, no straight, no flush. That's the pair, and that's the ace. My ace beats your ten, and my pair of kings beats your high card sequence. And Ace-King beats Ace-Ten. There's a often lot of face-offs, but my pair of kings beat your pair of sixes. Split decision is a push.
Michael: Okay. Let's play another hand, shall we?
Dan: All right.
Angela: Thank you. I've got the two pair hand.
Michael: Two pairs are the trickiest hand in Pai Gow poker. You could keep the two pair together in the high hand and have a pretty strong high hand, and play two singletons in the low or you could separate the two pair, playing the higher pair in the high and the low pair in the low. So, there's a tradeoff – do you want to play a strong high hand, or strong low hand? There's no one way that works for every situation. You have to consider the both of the pairs and your highest singleton.
I'm going to explain a rule that's in my book and on my website, called 'the nine-fifteen rule'. Here's how it works. For the two pairs, you count the number of points in each pair. Twos through tens, counting hit value, jacks being 11 points, queens 12, kings 13, and aces 14. in this case, we got two points here, 11 points here. Two plus 11 means 13.
Here's what my rule says to do. If you have nine points or less, then if you had a king, or a singleton you would play that high singleton in the low. Otherwise you would maintain the two pairs. If you have 15 points, to 10 points, then if you have an ace singleton, you would play the ace in the low and the two pair in the high. Otherwise you would separate the two pair. If you had 16 points or more, then you always separate the two par. So usually you're going to be separating the two pair, but there are exceptions. This is one of those exceptions.
And it's intuitive. Why? Here we got a pair of twos in the low. You can significantly increase the high by playing the two pair, and you're not significantly decreasing the low by playing an Ace-Eight, because Ace-Eight is not that much worse than a pair of twos. So, my advice is to play the Ace-Eight in the low hand, but two highest singletons and hope for the best.
Dan: I have four diamonds with the joker, I got a pair of threes, so I can't make the straight. I have a pair of three solid bottom and an Ace-King on top, and she's got Ace-Eight, and jacks and twos, and she's a push, 'cause my Ace-King is over her Ace-Eight on the top and we'll just push this round.
Over her Ace eight on the top and we just push this round
Mike: All right, shall we play another game.
Free joker poker video games. Angela: Batman vs superman games free download. Absolutely.
Mike: Let's see what you got. Another two-pair hand. So, you've got Queens and threes. So that would be 12 points for the Queens. Three points for the threes. So that's 15 points. So, if you have an A Singleton then you play the two highest singletons in the low. So, you meet my exception therefore maintain the two pair by the Ace, King and 11. Let's see what I've got. This is complicated. So, remember the Joker can be used to complete a straight four flush. So, there's two viable ways I could play this hand. I can use it to complete the flush, and I'm going to have a great high hand and a horrible low hand. This is almost certain I'm going to push and I could also use the joker to complete a straight. So, I've got seven, six, five, four, three.
Dan: and a two.
Mike: I've actually got a seven card straight which would be great for some side bets but we're not talking about that right now. So, I'm going to make my best possible low hand which would be this and play the low straight. So, my choices are flush and a horrible low hand or a straight and a mediocre low hand. Now correct me if I'm wrong, Dan, but when you can play a straight or a flush you go with the way resulting in the highest low hand.
Dan: Yes. That's right. And I've got Ace, King, nine, eight, eight, seven, five. I just have a pair of eights, and an Ace King. The split decision is a push. And it's a push it's got. Two pairs on the bottom, Ace King on, and we copy on top.
Question 4 - [12:03]
Mike: So, Dan, tell us what a copy is.
Dan: All right. The copy is a hand that is equivalent. It's not better. It's not weaker. It's the same.
Mike: It's exactly the same.
Dan: The same in terms of poker value. And in that case the coin toss gives it to the one who is banking which in this case is The House. Now since The House is banking the game The House wins this copy. So, The House wins the top by the copy rule. And your hand on the bottom is better than my hand because you have two pairs. I have one pair so it's a split decision, and it's a push. You don't lose.
Question 5 - [12:43]
Angela: Okay, Mike. But that raises a question for me. You're saying the tie goes to the banker. Is the banker always the same person? The dealer is not always the banker right now?
Mike: Yes. To make things even more confusing, the dealer is not necessarily the banker in both Pai Gow Poker and Pai Gow Tiles. The way it works is that the players have the opportunity to bank in turn. And if you wish to bank, and it's your turn to then you're going to be playing against every other player at the table as well as the dealer. So, this gives you an advantage because you are now going to win on any copies.
Dan: So, if Angie was banking, she would have won that hand.
Mike: Exactly. So, my advice is that you should bank whenever the turn comes your way and you're comfortable with how much the other players are betting. Now, if you're a hundred-dollar player here and somebody else is betting a thousand dollars that might be more than your comfortable with losing, in which case, you just got to decline it.
Dan: You would also be banking against other people at the table. You are not playing against the dealer with the amount of money you have on your spot. You are banking against the amount of money on everybody else's spot. And if get a really bad hand that loses to the rest of the table, you pay the rest of the table.
Mike: Often times you'll be playing by yourself in which case there's absolutely no reason to decline banking. And you may be wondering, 'How much is the dealer going to bet against me?' He is going to bet the same amount that you bet against him the last time the dealer was banking.
Dan: Right. So, if you were betting a hundred dollars a hand and you felt, 'Well, I'm losing some money. Let me drop down to $10.' Then right after that hand you get the bank, you can't say to me, 'I want to bank for a hundred.' I'll say, 'Your last hand was 10 bucks. That's the most you can bank.'
Mike: Another good thing about banking is that if there's a bunch of players, the 5% commission applies to the total net win not on the hand by hand basis which works to your advantage. Mathematically speaking, the house advantage when you're not banking is about 2.5%. When you are banking it's right around break even because the effect of winning on copies almost exactly offsets the 5% commission. If you want to bank and you should want to bank you have to be vigilant sometimes about invoking your right when it's your turn. Hardly any players even want to bank so the dealers almost never will ask you, 'Do you want to bank' when it's your turn. And there will be a white pock that moves around the table to show whose turn it is but sometimes the dealer doesn't use it or it's not clear whose turn it is. In that case never hesitate to tell the dealer, ask the dealer, it's my turn to bank.
Dan: Right, if nobody had banked in the past three hands or two hands on a busy table, on a full table and the dealer forgot to move the button, the first person who requests to bank without any other player objecting should be able to bank.
Mike: And if any of this is not clear, it's all on my website.