Some Pai Gow Poker Variants

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.