Pai Gow Rules

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Pai Gow is played against a dealer.

Players are dealt seven cards, as is the dealer. These cards are dealt from a deck including one joker. The joker can count as an ace or as any card that completes a flush, straight, or straight flush. Players form two hands from their seven cards, a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The five-card hand must outrank the two-card hand, and the two-card hand can only count as a pair or lower (e.g. [2-3] does not count as a straight).

Players compete against the dealer. Whoever beats the other’s two hands wins.

The five-card hand is ranked as normal, except that an [A-2-3-4-5] straight ranks as the second-highest straight behind [10-J-Q-K-A]. The two card hand can be a pair or a high card.

Pai Gow is based on a popular Asian dominoe-style game.

The Deal A set amount is bet by each player, within a minimum and a maximum amount.

Players are dealt seven cards each, and the dealer is also dealt seven cards. Players choose their two hands (5-card hand and 2-card hand) and separate them.

The Dealer’s Hand and Showdown The dealer makes their hands in the same way the players did, though face up. The dealer plays strictly to certain hand-making ‘rules’.

The player’s then each compare their hands to the dealer’s. There are three possible outcomes: The player wins the dealer wins a tie (or ‘push’)

If the player wins both hands (their two-card hand beats the dealer’s two-card hand and their five-card hand beats the dealer’s five-card hand), they win the amount of the bet (i.e. they double their money).

If the dealer wins one hand and the player wins one hand, a ‘push’ occurs, and the player keeps their initial bet.

If the dealer wins both hands, the player loses their initial bet.

A tie counts as a win for the dealer, so if the player wins one hand and the other is tied, the result is a ‘push’ (a draw – the player gets their bet back). If the dealer wins one hand and the other is tied, the dealer wins and the player loses their bet.