Category: Pai Gow Poker

Casino Poker – Games That are Always on the Move

The history of casino poker games probably started over ten centuries ago from various games, involving the principles of ranked card or domino combinations and the use of ‘bluffing’ to deceive opponents. It is sometimes claimed that poker games were first invented by a Chinese emperor who played “domino cards” with his wife.

Like with most casino games, poker games became very popular in France in the 17th and 18th centuries and were then carried to Louisiana by French colonists. From there the new games quickly became popular throughout the United States and Canada.

Due to its immense popularity, poker has constantly evolved to develop a great number of variations. This trend was greatly enhanced by the advent of the Internet and the appearance of the first online casinos. Casino poker games are among the most played games at online casinos, mainly due to the exciting combination of bonus features, payout opportunities and various themes and unique options they offer.

Online availability has made casino poker games more accessible, more attractive and higher paying than ever.

To give just one example, we should mention Red Lounge Casino, which is one of the most popular online casinos in the UK. The casino offers a wide range of casino poker games intended to meet the needs of even the most demanding customers. All casino poker games available at the casino offer generous payouts of over 99.5%.

For more traditional players, Red Lounge provides Jacks or Better Video Poker, which is a very popular fast-paced game in which the object is to produce a five-card poker hand that contains at least one pair of Jacks, with a better hand resulting in a better payoff.

The Red Lounge Deuces Wild Video Poker is also a popular Video Poker variation in which deuces are “wild”, that is they can be treated as any card. The object of the game is to produce a five-card poker hand that contains at least 3 cards of the same value, known as 3 of a kind. And in the Red Lounge Joker Wild Video Poker, it is the Joker which is ‘wild’.

There are also casino poker games designed for those who seek more unusual and innovative play. Ties Win 3-Card Poker is an especially generous variation of one of the most popular casino games, offering features such as winning all tied hands, the possibility to play three hands per game, and single deck play.

Pai Gow Poker combines classic American Poker with an ancient Chinese domino game, especially intended for those who are willing to try something more exotic and far from the conventional and familiar casino poker games.

The casino also offers the Let Them Ride poker, which is a popular and fast-paced poker game with maximum payout £50,000 per hand.

Red Lounge Casino also offers generous weekly promotions which target various types of games, not least casino poker games. So, players undoubtedly benefit enormously from online gambling – it is never the same, and never boring – as casino poker games prove to us.

Rules of Free Pai Gow Poker Game

• Pai Gow Poker is a game of skill and chance between you and the Dealer. It is played with a deck of 53 cards. The extra card is a Joker. The deck is shuffled after every game.
• You can qualify for Bonus Payouts if you place a Bonus bet.
• The objective of the game is to form two separate hands from the seven cards dealt to you, and beat the Dealer’s two hands.
• You and the Dealer are dealt seven cards that are divided into two hands, a Low Hand of two cards, and a High Hand of five cards. If your High Hand and your Low Hand separately, are higher than the Dealer’s corresponding hands, you win. If only one of your hands beat the Dealer’s corresponding hand, the game is a tie.
• The Joker is not a true wild card. It can only be used to complete a Straight, Flush, Straight Flush or Royal Flush. Otherwise the Joker is treated as an Ace.
• When playing Pai Gow Poker, you can choose to have the cards automatically arranged according to the House Way rules or manually arrange your cards.

Payout Schedule

A winning hand pays out at odds of 1:1, less a 5% House Fee taken by the Casino.

Bonus Payout Schedule

You only qualify for Bonus payouts if you place a Bonus bet. The Bonus bet is made at the beginning of a game, when the main bet is placed.

The Bonus payout is determined by the hand combination of the seven cards dealt, before they are split into your High Hand and Low Hand.

The winning hand combinations are:

• 7 Card Straight Flush pays 8,000:1
• Royal Flush plus a Pair of Deuces pays 2,000:1
• 7 Card Straight Flush with a Joker pays 1,000:1
• Five Aces pays 400:1
• Royal Flush pays 150:1
• Straight Flush pays 50:1
• Four of a Kind pays 25:1
• Full House pays 5:1
• Flush pays 4:1
• Three of a Kind pays 3:1
• Straight pays 2:1

Hand Rules

• The Low Hand cannot have a greater value than the High Hand.
• The Joker can only be used to complete a Straight, Flush, Straight Flush or Royal Flush.
• The Joker is considered equal to the value of an Ace, if used in conjunction with other Aces. So, you can use the Joker to make a pair with an Ace.
• If your cards do not contain any valid hands, the card of highest value must remain in the High Hand.
• If you and the Dealer both have high cards of the same value, the second highest value cards are compared.
• If your Low Hand value is equal to the Dealer’s, the Dealer wins.
• If your High Hand value is equal to the Dealer’s, the Dealer wins.
• If you and the Dealer have the same High Hand or the same Low Hand, it is called a Copy. The Dealer’s hand wins.
• If you win one hand and lose the other hand, the game is a Push. Your total bet is returned to you.
• A Straight completed by a Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace is the highest ranking Straight. An Ace, Two, Three, Four and Five is the second highest ranking Straight. All other Straight hand combinations are ranked according to their value, and the highest ranking Straight wins.

Pai Gow Poker is a new variation of the game of poker. It is played with 7 cards. They consist of two hands one with two cards and the other with five. The 2-card hand is the low and 5-card hand is the high hand. One of the players on option or dealer by default is made the banker. The game loss and wins are decided comparing your high and low hands with the banker.

Pai Gow Poker is the new variation of Poker Game where your basic objective is beating the banker. Either a player or a dealer could become the banker in the Pai Gow Poker game. However, the player or dealer who assumes the role of the banker has to fulfill the responsibilities for wagers that come up during the playing rounds.

After every round of the game the banking option is offered to each of the players participating. The player who exercises the option to become the banker must have in his or her possession enough chips to cover all the wagers made by all other players. In case no one comes forward to be the banker, the dealer will assume the role by default.

How the game works

Incidentally, each player in the game receives seven cards. Each will make two separate hands using these seven cards. One of the hands will have only two and the other will have five cards. The hands are either set or ranked using the standard ranking system used in the game of poker.

One of the peculiarities of the Pai Gow Poker is that the dealer will deal seven cards in each betting area. It is immaterial that an area is empty due to absence of player. The hand with two cards is called the second highest hand. It is also termed as the low card hand or the front hand. There can be no straight or flush as only two cards are used. The highest hand will be a couple of aces.

If a player holds a two card hand that is higher than the five card hand, his hand will be considered foul hand and the player will be an automatic loser. On the other hand the five card hand is the high hand of the player in the game. It is also called the back hand. They contain all the normal poker series like the straight, flush, four, eighteen and such others.

The highest hand will be five aces. This can be achieved adding the joker to the four traditional aces.

The Joker

As in many other poker games, the Joker has a special value. It could be used as an ace or as any of the missing card in a series. That means it can replace any card in the pack. That is why they can be used to create any of the sequences like the pairs, threes, fours or fives of the same kind. It will not however be the fourth ace if you have three aces with you.

If your 2-card and 5-card hands are higher in standing in comparison to the counterparts in the hand of the player acting as bank, you are the winner. If more than one hand carries such position then the player may be given the amount equal to his wager deducting a 5% commission. The commission will be collected by the dealer when the winning wager is disbursed.

Similarly, if one of the hands is higher than the banker’s and the other is not in such cases, it will be considered as a tie. This is also termed as a push where neither any money is won nor lost. You will also be allowed to change or drop your bet before the next hand.

However when both of your hands are lower in ranking compared to that of the banker’s you will lose. You will lose the amount wagered though no commission is charged on it. If your hands are identical to the banker, it is considered the “copy hand”. The advantage of your becoming banker is that you will automatically win all the copy hands.

Why not learn some different type of poker other than Texas holdem, 7 card stud, 5 card draw and Omaha? Yes, try pai gow poker. Now you must be wondering that pai gow sounds little Chinese; yes you are right this game is a mixture of the Chinese game pai gow and our very own American poker. Definitely this is not one of the most popular forms of poker but still widely played. It can be played by up to seven players.

It is played with one deck of 52 cards, plus a joker. Interestingly, joker can be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush, a straight flush, or a royal flush. The important thing here to remember is other than the usual ranking of hands we have one more winning hand that is “Five Aces” (five aces including the joker). Surprisingly, five aces beat all other hands including royal flush.

Each player is dealt seven cards. The cards are arranged to make two hands; a two card hand and a five card hand. The five card hand must rank higher or be equal to the two card hand. Finally both of your hands must rank higher than both of your opponents hands (both five and two card hands). Further the two card hand can only have two combinations; one pair and high card.

After the cards are arranged in to two hands, they are placed on the table face down. Once you put them down, you can no longer touch them. The dealer will turn over his cards and make his hands. Each players hand is compared to the dealer’s hands. If the player wins one hand and loses the other, this is known as “push” and no money is exchanged. If dealer wins both hands then he/she wins the players stake and vice versa. Now what if there is a tie, the only advantage with the dealer here is he/she wins all ties.

After the hand is played, the next person clock-wise becomes the dealer and the next hand is played. The major disadvantage to this game is that there is no skill involved and you rely too much on luck. Also the odds are poor compared to playing with a pot. Also visit us for other poker game rules.

Learn how to play a more exciting version of poker with this article.

How to Play Pai Gow

Pai Gow means “double hand” poker. In it, a standard 52-card deck with one joker is used.

How it works: The player must create two poker hands out of the seven cards in his hand: a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The five-card hand must outrank the two-card. The two-card hand is the hand “in front” and the five-card hand is the hand “behind.”

Seven cards are dealt to each player. The only two card hands are pairs or high card. The player then makes his five card hand with the remaining cards.

The five card hands use the standard poker rankings.

How you win: If both of your separated hands beat the banker?s hands, you win. If only one wins, it is a push. If both lose, the player loses. Ties will go to the banker, which gives the house a small advantage. Make sure you understand the rules and do not foul your hand when you split it into two.

Strategy: The first goal is to set the best two-card hand possible within your limits of the game. In other words, the best possible two card hand that still leaves the player with a better five-card hand; your five-card hand must outrank your two-card hand. In general, an average hand will have a pair in the five-card and an ace or king high in the two card hand.

In a Playtech casino, the rules are fixed, but some variations on which hand is best exist in live casinos, so make sure you ask the house rules in these situations. The value of the joker also varies from place to place.

About Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow poker was founded in the early 1980s at the Commerce Casino in Los Angeles by the gaming innovator Fred Wolf. The game become popular very quickly, and was soon in Las Vegas and then all over the world. It is an important staple of online gaming now.

The house edge on Pai Gow Poker is not as high because of the length it takes to play, so in general the takeout is higher. But there are many pushes, and it is a game where you can get action for quite some time.

In a playtech casino, the house edge is under 3 percent, roughly 2.85. The house is always the banker in a Playtech casino.

Pai Gow is an interesting twist and combines elements of stud, but it also requires the player to make strategic decisions on how to split the hand. Take some time to play online and get the rules down, and you will find this version of casino poker might be the most interesting to play.