- Pai Gow Poker Joker Rules Against
- Pai Gow Poker Joker Rules Games
- How To Play Pie Gow
- Pai Gow Poker House Rules
- The deal is Pai Gow is more sophisticated than other poker games: The dealer deals seven hands of seven cards, discarding the remaining four cards. Each card is dealt one at a time, face-down. The dealer rolls three dice then counts the players at the table, starting with themselves and moving clockwise, up to the number rolled by the dice.
- Pai gow poker shares similarities with other poker games but uses a 53-card deck: the standard 52 cards plus the joker. It is played with a dealer and a maximum of 6 players around the pai gow poker table. The object of the game is to beat the “banker”.
- Updated February 15, 2019 Pai Gow Poker is a casino table game and is played with a standard 52-card deck plus one joker. The rules are fairly simple. After making a bet, each player is dealt seven cards and must make two poker hands: A standard five-card poker hand and a two-card poker hand.
- How to Get Used to Playing Pai Gow Poker. Pai Gow poker is run by a standard deck which has 52 cards and 1 joker card. The joker is applied as an ace or a card that fulfills a straight or flush. Gamblers and the dealer will get seven cards and divide them into two hands: five cards and two cards.
Understanding Basic Pai Gow Rules
Pai Gow Poker Rules That is played with 53 cards – a standard deck of cards plus one joker. The joker can be used to complete some of the highest paying hands, such as a straight, flush, straight flush, or royal flush. Players and the dealer receive seven cards each.
Pai Gow starts with each player placing their own bet. The order the cards are dealt in is determined randomly by the dealer, who then deals each player 7 cards from a 53 card deck containing the usual 52 card poker deck plus a single Joker. In online pai gow, this is handled electronically through a specialised online pai gow room.
Many of the cards and five-card hands in pai gow are the same as in most other poker games. The possible exceptions are:
- The use of the Joker may vary, so be sure to find out which rules the room you are playing in uses. For many games of pai gow poker, the Joker may be used as an Ace in order to complete a straight, a flush, or a straight flush. In some games, it may simply be equivalent to an Ace. Many casinos only allow the Joker to act as an Ace in the two card hand, but occasionally the Joker may be wild without limitation.
- When playing pai gow in some casinos and in some versions of online pai gow, the hand A/2/3/4/5 is placed higher than K/Q/J/10/9 and lower than A/K/Q/J/10. This variant is not universal, and is notably avoided in many casinos in California.
- Due to the Joker representing an Ace, it is possible to get a five-card straight in pai gow. This outranks the Royal Flush and is the highest ranked five-card hand in pai gow.
Pai Gow Rules: Winning a Hand
Other than these exceptions, the ranking of five-card hands in online pai gow is the same as for 5-stud poker. The order of the ranks from high to low in pai gow is thus 5 Aces, Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-Of-A-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-Of-A-Kind, Two Pair, Pair, Nothing.
The best two-card hand in pai gow is a pair. One of the interesting rules of pai gow is that the two-card hand must not be of a higher value than the five-card hand. There can be penalties for not arranging your hands correctly in pai gow. This can range from being forced to rearrange your hand in a particular way through to an automatic loss. Some online pai gow rooms may warn you of a possible foul hand before you play it, though it is best not to rely on it.
In order to win a hand of pai gow, the player must beat both of the dealer's hands. If one hand wins and the other loses, then the player pushes and no money changes hands. In the event neither hand beats those of the dealer, the player loses, and their stake goes to the dealer. Anytime the dealer and player tie on a particular hand, the dealer wins that hand.
A winning player is paid even money on their stake, but casinos may require a 5 per cent commission on wins. Some casinos merely charge a flat fee per hand played, though. When playing online pai gow, it is advantageous for players to try many different online pai gow rooms to guarantee the best price per hand.
Pai Gow Strategy: Using the Joker
Pai gow strategy is mostly universal, though differences in how the Joker may be used as well as the way the A/2/3/4/5 hand is ranked could see minor changes in specific circumstances. The first thing you must remember when playing pai gow, however, is that draws are extremely common. You can easily find yourself with a good five-card hand only to find the dealer has a strong enough two-card hand to force a draw.
The challenge of pai gow is in constructing the best two hands from your cards. While it is difficult to win on both hands, it can be easy to lose on both if you are not careful to set up a draw. Pai gow is incredibly defensive compared to other forms of poker.
How to Reduce the House Edge
If you are playing online pai gow, then it is especially advantageous to do everything you can to reduce the house edge. This means that improving the odds of winning in your five-card hand may not always be preferable to splitting a good five-card hand to make two decent hands. The following combinations may help you in reducing your losses, though many are designed to make draws more likely than wins.
High Card
Use the highest card for your five-card hand and the second- and third-highest cards for your two-card hand. This should hopefully improve your odds of a draw, though winning with such a combination is unlikely in pai gow.
One Pair
Use the pair for your five-card hand, but use the next two highest cards for your two-card hand. Again, the idea is that you are unlikely to win with a mere pair and thus are better off using your next highest cards to try to win the two-card hand and possibly force a draw.
Two Pairs
If you hold an Ace that isn't part of one of the pairs, then put both pairs into the five-card hand and the Ace into the two-card hand. If you do not hold an ace, then put the high pair in your five-card hand and the low pair in your two-card hand.
Three Pairs
Put the highest pair into your two-card hand. Put the other two in your five-card hand. This may seem unusual, but again the idea is that you can give yourself better odds of forcing a draw if your five-card hand loses by putting the highest pair in the two-card hand.
Straight
Put the Straight in the five-card hand and then make up the two-card hand out of the remaining cards.
However, if you have six cards that could make a Straight, use the highest cards you can for the two-card hand while still preserving the Straight.
Flush
Use the Flush for the five-card hand and then use the remaining cards for the two-card hand.
Full House
This may seem odd, but the usual advice for a Full House in pai gow is to use the pair for your two-card hand and the Three-Of-A-Kind for the two-card hand. This should give you a good chance of winning with the two-card hand while still giving good odds to win with the five-card hand.
Three-Of-A-Kind
If you have three Aces, put one into your two-card hand with the next highest card and the remaining pair of Aces in your five-card hand.
Essentially, when playing pai gow, you will often need to aim for a draw rather than focusing on just one hand. Pai gow is definitely a game of patience and online pai gow makes it much easier for you to remain patient. Just remember when playing online pai gow to look for the lowest cost rooms to play in, as while many casinos will take a 5 per cent commission from wins, some others will simply charge a low flat rate per hand, which may work out better for you.
Finding Good Pai Gow Sites Online
Pai Gow is hugely popular at casinos across Asia, and now you can get a taste online. Many Internet casinos have real-money Pai Gow games from low stakes. And if you sign up for an account you can enjoy a great deposit bonus upon sign-up.
Thread Rating:
| 5 votes (33.33%) | |
| 10 votes (66.66%) |
15 members have voted
A question arose as to whether the joker takes on a specific card value - so where you can have in existence a suited pair operating in the deck - at the time that it is used in a hand, or is it like a 'connector' or fill-in putty, where the completed flush or straight is simpy 'a completed flush or straight,' not interfering with the card that could be used. If it is used to form a suited pair is in the same hand, it may be a clear non-starter:
The hand Ah-<joker>-Qh-Jh-10h is a Royal flush, and NOT Ah-Ah-Qh-Jh-10h - which is a flush that simply has a suited pair of aces, the way Bovada sometimes treats it.
So we can first assume you may not use it to create a suited pair in the same hand, as it acts like the King of hearts to complete the Royal, instead of making it a double Ace-high flush.
Now, if that Royal faces another heart flush, lets say it faces Kh-9h-7h-3h-2h, you now have a Pai Gow deal where a Royal 'containing' the King of hearts beats a King-high heart flush, this time with the Real McCoy King of hearts. No conflict here. not in the same hand, or used for the same poker components.
So okay. We can make a rule that the joker replaces another exact card in the deck, but it cannot do so in the same hand, although it can face another hand that clearly has that card out in the open, without it being a 'suited pair' issue arising. It sounds like a good rule, right?
But now, what about the hand 5d-5s / 7s-6s-<joker>-4s-3s. You now got a striaght flush with a pair of fives up, AND it is a perfectly valid Pai Gow poker hand.
And it has two 5 of spades in the SAME hand, one in the pair top, and one to complete the straight flush! Huh? Try to let someone tell you that the high side ISN'T a straight flush because the 5 of spades is used on the two-card said in the pair, and watch the arguments begin.
It isn't used in ther same side of the hand, that is, it is used within a different poker component or element. So in this latest hand, The joker may take on a unique value that isn't a duplicate within the same hand side, although it is within the same full hand; the 'joker 5 of spades' is completing a straight flush, while the real 5 of spades in completing the pair part in the same hand on the other side, and it's a valid hand, too. 5d-5s / 7s-6s-<joker>-4s-3s. This hand is valid. But think of the straight flush jpker as a connector or 'flush putty,' and not as another 5 of spades.
Instead of the joker being 'another 5 of spades,' it is instead some sort of a 'valid fill-in connector,' with the Real McCoy 5 of spades not conflicting with it. The real 5 of spades is still simply that, but the joker is simply 'magic putty' to fill in the straight flush card gap, and not another 5 of spades clone as it is just flush putty.
In practice it is: 5d-5s / 7s-6s-<flush putty>-4s-3s, and NOT 5d-5s / 7s-6s-<another 5s>-4s-3s
If you look at the joker as replacing an exact card, you will always have a suited pair in the single deck somewhere. If you look at the joker as a connector like magic putty that fillls in a straight or flush rather than 'it is exact card 'x', you might be better off in handling the joker. It is essentially 'valid straight fill putty' or valid 'flush fill putty' that doesn't so much take on a card value as much as it is a connector that fills the gap in the poker component that needs it, without needing to steal the identity of another existing card in the deck. Now the clause becomes: the joker (acting like putty) must fill in an available space in the straight or flush, and not a space already used by an existing card in the same poker element. The joker is a gap-filler, and not another copy of some other card, especially in the same poker element. It fills in a gap like a connector.
So when it is truly treated as a duplicate of another card within the SAME Poker element, a la Bovada (Ah-*Ah-7h-5h-2h) instead of (Ah-*Kh-7h-5h-2h), it is acting like a suited pair within the same poker element, a flush, an impossibility, instead of filling a gap like a valid poker 'connector' had it filled the King spot as it should.
Which is why you cannot use it as a second suited card on the same hand side, as the Real McCoy ace was already there. The joker doesn't replace an existing card in the deck, it simply connects over an absent card putty-style, to complete an otherwise incomplete poker element. That's really the essence of the bug joker. In this sense the joker is not any sort of copy of the real card used somewhere else, it a connector for the poker element at hand, and only that.
Certainly, when used in five aces, it is the fifth ace of 'no suit,' Now here it doesn't replace any other card or ace, it's putty to fill in the five of a kind.
If we think of the bug joker as a 'Poker element connector for an open slot,' we'll always use it right.
you may not use it to create a suited pair in the same hand
There is such a thing as a suited pair? What is the significance of it being suited, if it is a pair?
Which is why you cannot use it as a second suited card on the same hand side, as the Real McCoy ace was already there.
In a way I guess this is the same question twice, but surely there is no reason the top hand couldnt be ranked as a pair of Aces using the joker, as long as the other hand has a higher value? This must have something to do with declaring two cards as something that I have never heard of. You can't have Ad 5d in the top hand and say you have a flush. So what can a pair be other than a pair?
So what if it adds umpteen percent to the house edge....
I do not think it adds anything to the house edge, unless the house gets the bug more often than a player.I.E. It helps whoever has it the same as it helps anyone else when they have it.
it's simpler to know what your holding and how to set it without surprises caused by the unusual rules surrounding the Bug...
If a joker is restricted to being only a discarded, undrawn, or otherwise unheld card (a 'transporter'), that makes more sense.
If the value of the bug changes because someone else is holding a specific card, then that's a surprise too.
I was going to go with the 'putty' argument, until I thought of the hand with 5 aces and a pair. You'd keep the aces together, therefore, you'd be playing two of a specific card.
Based upon that, I think the hand in question from that threasd about Bovada was correctly scored.
Also, I have voted 'replace' although I would say 'Replace or duplicate.'
a) Replace any undealt (discarded, etc) card, at player discretion, if such is applicable;
b) Any game with a joker is a N+1 deck game. A joker is an entire deck of cards, of which you can play any.
Generally the second one makes more sense. In older poker variants with a joker, there is such a hand as five of a kind.
The 'connector' justification of otherwise arbitrary and chaotic rules is a bit too magical TBH.
I do not think it adds anything to the house edge, unless the house gets the bug more often than a player.
I.E. It helps whoever has it the same as it helps anyone else when they have it.
Thanks. I hadn't done the specific combinatorics with a joker factored in and wasn't sure whether it made a mathematical difference.
it's simpler to know what your holding and how to set it without surprises caused by the unusual rules surrounding the Bug...
If a joker is restricted to being only a discarded, undrawn, or otherwise unheld card (a 'transporter'), that makes more sense.
These comments are contradictory.
Pai Gow Poker Joker Rules Against
If the value of the bug changes because someone else is holding a specific card, then that's a surprise too.
I just mean that I think the best poker (any
Pai Gow Poker Joker Rules Games
, not just Pai-Gow) has no jokers, but if one insists on them, then the restrictions I described make the most sense, IMO.BTW, When you refer to a 'queen-high pai-gow' hand, what are the hallmarks of such a thing besides, obviously, the queen. What does the 'pai-gow' refer to in the rest of the hand (if anything)?
There is such a thing as a suited pair? What is the significance of it being suited, if it is a pair?
In multi-deck games suited multiples exist as play elements, in single-deck games, even with a joker, they're verbotten.
For example, in the Bust-it side bet for multi-deck blackjack, the bonus pays its jackpot on three suited 8's - a suited three of a kind.
In a way I guess this is the same question twice, but surely there is no reason the top hand couldnt be ranked as a pair of Aces using the joker, as long as the other hand has a higher value? This must have something to do with declaring two cards as something that I have never heard of. You can't have Ad 5d in the top hand and say you have a flush. So what can a pair be other than a pair?
Game rules are arbitrary creations. The game designer creates - by fiat - the rules of a game based on what he sees as possible outcomes, while considering its possibilities. (and however, if the game designer leaves out some deep details, then the 'house' or casino operator will create some arbitrary rules when situations arise). Hopefully, the more thought put into a game, the better. In the bust-it side bet game, the creator made a rule that the suited htree of a kind outranks a 'same color' three of a kind, which outranks and off-suit, two-color three of a kind, when the dealer busts on three 8's.
As for the joker's existence in PGP:
1. the joker was used in some poker games by the point Pai Gow Poker was created at the Bell club in California, and;
2. the joker helps 'unbalance' (or create more win-loses decisions) to counter-act the abundance of pushes.
The basic game of Pai Gow Poker was created by Sam Terrosian and Fred Wolfe at the Bell Club in the 1980's, and the casino version of it (along with Pai Gow 'Asian' Tiles) was configured as specifically a casino house-banked pit game by William 'Billy Woo' Walsh
BTW, When you refer to a 'queen-high pai-gow' hand, what are the hallmarks of such a thing besides, obviously, the queen. What does the 'pai-gow' refer to in the rest of the hand (if anything)?
The term 'Pai Gow' specifically means 'No hand.' In fact, in some Asian language, it actually means 'nothing'.When you're at a PGP table, you will sometimes hear the other players chant something. I originally thought it was 'plop-plop'. I later realized that it was my American ears hearing the heavy Asian accent, saying 'pai gow' - they were calling for the dealer to have no hand.
I heard it ('pai gow') means 'makes nine,' - which is also a nothing hand in Tiles.In Pai Gow Poker, a Pai gow type hand has no poker elements aside from high-card singletons: Qd-Js-10h-7d-5h-3c-2c. Getting a hand like this is like sevening out at dice, the 'Aww, sh]t, I shouldn't have bet black' flowing out of your mouth means you know you lost.
I agree with Serpent, the tighter the upfront restrictions the less fudge-factor there is in hand disputes.
I had players sometimes try to argue that the Broadway straight is 'higher with the joker,' - that AKQ<joker>10 is higher than AKQJ10 because it is 'also is another Ace.' Bovada thinking. No it isn't, both Ace-high straights are copies. When it's in a flush or a straight, the joker is not particularly viewed as 'card x' (looking at it as a card replacement) as much as it 'makes the straight or flush,' by plugging the highest unoccupied gap in the poker element, looking at it from the point of view of completing a particular poker element. That's it.
However, the joker IS considered separately when looking at it bonus bet value, versus its hand-setting value.
The hand AA / AKQ<joker>10 is:
1. Four aces for the bonus payout, but
2. Just an Ace-high straight with a pair on top for the play-of-the-hand.
In other words, the hand's strongest poker element is four aces for the bonus bet's purposes, but it's strongest element is a straight - for the play of the hand's purposes.