Best Casinos for Playing Pai Gow Poker

Nomini is a certified gambling venue by Curacao, where you can play plenty of table games, including your favorite Poker variants. The venue works with the best software developers, such as Microgaming, Play’N Go, Wazdan, and Quickspin, so you can be sure to expect top-notch game mechanics and HD quality graphics and designs. All your transactions and gambling sessions are protected by the latest SSL encryptions so that no data is shared with third parties.
Rabona is a licensed, certified, and trustworthy gambling platform. It has obtained its license from the Government of Curacao and all the games on the site are tested regularly to provide fair RNG and fair game outcomes. Rabona offers the best Poker games, as well as live dealer game sessions. You can play your favorite table games variants with professional live dealers in realistic, authentic gambling sessions, feeling like you are the casino from the comfort of your own home. Enjoy casino table games like Troy Poker, Oasis Poker, Caribbean Poker, and Stud Poker 3D!
Cobra Casino is a fair, highly-secured online casino that works with the latest safety measurements to protect its players. The operator has met all the required security standards set by the law and has obtained a license from the most proven jurisdictions, such as the Government of Curacao. At this venue, you get to enjoy numerous slots, table games, live casino games, including Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat, and Poker. The venue only works with proven game providers, such as Booming Games, NetEnt, Evolution Gaming, Thunderkick. Much popular on the site are games like Caribbean Stud Poker Live, 3x Deuce Poker, or even slots like Book of Dead or Reactoonz.
Frank Casino is amongst the top online casino platforms because of its high security on all offered casino games. They keep all sensitive players’ data secured and protect all banking information with encryptions against any attempts of fraud or identity theft. They have a license by the Government of Curacao. You can find games by developers, like Microgaming, Playtech, Yggdrasil, Habanero, and BitSoft on the casino’s platform.
 

The history of the Pai Gow Poker Variant

Pai Gow Poker was officially invented by Sam Torosian back in 1985. He was an owner of the Bell Card Club, a land-based casino in California when a Philipino customer told him all about the Chinese version of poker, Pusoy. Pusoy was more simplified as players needed only basic knowledge of the poker hands to participate. Sam Torosian then thought that a similar, simpler version of Poker would attract players, as it is easier to learn and the hands would be dealt much faster. He then came up with the Pai Gow Poker idea, based on the Chinese game Pai Gow, but instead of being played with the traditional pai gow dominos, it would be played with cards. Soon Pai Gow Poker gained quite the customer base and was played by many gamblers.
The creation and the overall success of Pai Gow Poker was one of the most memorable, inspiring moments in the carrier of Sam Torosian. None of his other gambling product inventions has reached such success up until this point. Unfortunately, he made a big error by not patenting the game, meaning he didn’t earn a dime for his invention, even though, the game became extremely popular. According to some statements, this cost him around 100 million dollars that he could have easily earned! Some say the mistake was made by his lawyer who misleads him that the game couldn’t be patented.
 

Pai Gow Poker – The Rules of the Game

The game of Pai Gow Poker is played with a standard 52-card deck and an additional Joker card. The table is set for 6 players and the dealer. Each player is dealt 7 cards that he needs to split into two hands. The first-hand consists of 5 cards and is referred to as ‘the higher hand’. The second-hand consists of 2 cards and is referred to as ‘the lower hand’. The 5-hand must be higher than the 2-hand otherwise it is considered a foul. The dealer is also dealt 7 cards face down.
In this poker variant, you bet against the dealer, and the main aim is for you to score higher hands then the dealers to score a win. Once you have set your 2 hands on the table, the dealer will turn over their cards and split them according to the House Way. The highest hands and the second hands will then be compared. The general rankings of the hands are the same as in classic Poker rules, you can read more about it below!
If both of your hands are lower than the dealers, then he wins and collects your bet. If only one of your hands is higher than the dealers, then it is considered a tie, and no bets or wins are being collected. If both of your hands are higher than the dealers, than you win 1:1 your bet, while 5% of the win are gathered for the bank.
 

Pai Gow Poker Hands – Learn the Winning Combinations

Hands in Pai Gow Poker are ranked similar to Poker standards rules, with some slight differences. Firstly, this version includes a Joker Card. which can be used as an Ace. This means that the highest possible hand would be Five of a Kind, consisting of 4 Aces plus Joker, instead of the Royal Flush which will be the second-highest hand. Not only that but the Joker Card can act as a substitute to complete Straight, Flush, and Straight Flush, meaning those hand combinations would be easier to land. Let’s look a little bit more into the hand rankings for each player’s hand.
For the 5 higher hand, the highest-ranked is the Five of a Kind, followed by the Royal Flush, which consists of 10, J, Q, K, A of the same suit; the Straight Flush, which includes 5 cards of the same suit in a sequence; Four of a Kind, including 4 cards with the same numerical value; Full House 3 cards of the same rank plus 2 cards of the same rank; Flush, including 5 cards of the same suit not in sequence. And the lowest possible hand would be the Straight, 5 consecutive cards of different suits. Of course, the worst possible outcome for you as a player would be to have no hand at all.
Regarding the 2 lower hand, the highest-ranked would be Two Pair, having 2 cards of the same rank with another 2 cards of the same rank. The best hand would be having two Aces, followed by a pair of two Kings. After that is the One Pair of 2 cards of the same rank. And the lowest possible hand is the High Card, a combination of cards that don’t match any of the other possible hands.
 

Pai Gow Poker Strategy

There are several strategies and tips you can follow when playing Pai Gow Poker to have the best possible outcome. The first tip we have for you is to use the House Way if you are a beginner at this game. Some game variants of Pai Gow Poker allow you to set the House Way option, and your cards are split between the 2 hands automatically, according to a certain set of rules. This is the most suited strategy for beginners because it makes the gameplay much more simplified and easier to play. The House Way automatically picks the highest possible combination for the highest hand.
Another possible strategy is to split your cards to have the best possible 2nd hand, to lower the House Edge when losing. However, this might not be the best option in each case, because you might end up missing a chance to score a winning 5 hand. There are several tips to follow when having a certain combination of cards in your hand. For example, if you only have a high-ranked card, place it in the front hand and the next two highest rank cards in the back.
In the case of having one pair, put it in the back-hand, and the other two highest rank cards in the front. It is good to place side bets as well when possible, as they grant you higher chances of scoring a win. You can also play the demo version of the game before actually gambling with real money, to have a chance to get familiar with the gameplay and set up a better betting strategy. And when you are ready, choose one of the best online casinos to play Pai Gow Poker from this page and compete for those high payouts the game has to offer!
 

The Payouts you can expect playing Pai Gow Poker

In all Pai Go Poker variants, the main wager pays out 1:1. However, when you play Pai Gow Poker, you will find that there are different variants of the game, and some allow you to place additional side bets, granting you a chance to win a bigger payout. There are two types of side bets, side bets on the Dealers Cards, and side bets on the Players Cards.
For example, having a 7-Card Straight Flush in the players’ cards can pay out 8000:1, while in the Dealers cards it can pay out 500:1. Depending on the software developer which made the game, those numbers can vary. So always make sure to check the game’s paytable by clicking the information option while playing. It is always good to have a side bet for a chance to score bigger cashouts and have even more fun while gambling.