Pai Gow Poker Basics
Pai Gow poker by Amaya is an Americanized version of a Chinese domino game. The game is played with a standard 52 card deck including the joker. The aim of the game is to make two hands that beat the dealer. Pai Gow is a simple game but with offers a lot of value to players. There is a low house edge and with even a small budget, you will be able to play a lot of hands.
How To Get Pai-Going
Pai Gow is played against the Dealer who deals out seven cards to you, as well as to themselves. The games objective is to form a 5 card poker hand, known as the high hand, as well as a 2 card hand, known as the low hand, that is better than the dealer’s. Standard poker hands are used for ranking hands.
The best High Hand you can achieve is essentially 5 Aces, being made up of four Aces and a Joker. After that comes the Royal Flush and the rest of the standard poker hands. The best Low Hand is a pair of Aces. If you do, you win, if you have only one hand that is better, it is a tie. If both the dealer’s hands are better than both of your hands, you lose.
Whenever you tie hands with the dealer you will receive your bet back, so due to the low house edge and the game rules, you will pay a commission to the house on your winnings
The Joker And Bonus Betting
One feature that makes Pai Gow a non-traditional card experience is the inclusion of the joker card. It does not act as a wild though, that can substitute any card, and instead it acts only to complete missing cards in specific poker hands. The Joker can complete a Royal Flush, a straight flush, a flush and a straight. In any other case, the joker will act as an ace.
If you are feeling particularly lucky, in Amaya’s Pai Gow poker you can place additional bonus bets before your hand is dealt. This bonus bet will pay out according to the strength of your total 7 card hand, so before you split your hands into a high and low set.
Some Pai Gow Strategy
Since you need to consider both hands you play, there are some handy tips to take into account, for instance if you have a hand consisting of two pairs, Aces high pair, split your hands.
If you do not have any pairs or a standard winning mobile poker nz hand, keep your highest card in the High hand and the next two highest cards in the low hand, this will maximizing your chances of a tie with the dealer
If you have two pairs that are lower than 6, split them unless you also have an Ace, in which case use this card and the next highest card in the low hand.
If you manage to have three pair, split the lowest pair in the low hand with four of a kind in hand, being 6’s or lower valued, keep them together. If you have high cards for instance between 7 and 10’s, split them unless you have an Ace high to put in your low hand.