Rules of Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker is poker game played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards and a joker, which is used as a wild card in flushes, straights and straight flushes. In any poker hand, joker can be utilized as an ace and can be considered as a wild card in some casinos. The deck is shuffled by the dealer and 7 stacks of 7 cards are dealt by him/her and remaining 4 cards are discarded. Bets are placed and then three dice are shacked and rolled out by the dealer from a teacup for determining about the player initially getting the stack of cards. The amount reflected in the dice is counted by the dealer, and then he/she begins with him/herself, sums up around the players sitting on the table in the clockwise direction till he/she not reached the player getting the initial hand. All other players dealt with the remaining hands in the counter-clockwise direction.

The cards received by the players are set into 2 hands of 5 and 2 cards. The hand consisting of 2 cards is called a low hand, where as the other one is called a high hand. The ranking of every hand of 5 cards depends upon the hierarchy of Pai Gow poker game that slightly differs from the hierarchy of standard hand of poker games. 5 aces only make the difference that accomplishes while adding 1 joker to 4 aces hits a Royal Flush and is regarded as a highest poker hand in the game.

Whether the hand is a pair or not, the hierarchy is really very simple for a two card hand. A pair of aces constitutes a highest hand of two cards and the ranking of consequent pairs falls in the downward sequence from Kings to Twos. Similar order of ranking is applied to single cards.

Players are responsible for the assurance of higher ranking to their five card hand than their hand of two cards. If higher ranking is attained by the two card hand, it can be referred as a foul and automatically the player loses the bet.

When the cards of every player are set, the cards of the banker are turned into facing up position by the dealer. Now, it becomes the job of the banker instead of the dealer the arrangement of the stack into a five-card hand and a two card hand. Then there is an individual comparison between a banker's as well as a player's hand in a clockwise direction, beginning with the player receiving the cards initially.

Both the hands of the banker should get beaten by both of the hands of the player for winning the game. If there is an equal value constituted by the two card hands of the banker as well as the player, they will be referred as the copies. Similar things are applied when the five card hands value of the player and the banker matches. All the copies are won by the banker. There becomes a tie if any of the banker's hands is beaten by a player's hand, but the other remain unbeaten, also hand will not be changed by any money.

Banker' money is used by the dealer for paying the player even money for their bet after the victory of the player. Player's bet is awarded to the banker, if the player loses his/her hand. The money is made by the house by collecting a commission @ 5% on every winning bet. Commission is collected by the dealer from all players who have won a hand, and also from the total winnings of the banker.