Section 01 · Start Here

Pai Gow Poker in three minutes.

Pai Gow Poker is a slow, social game built on standard poker hand rankings. You're dealt seven cards. Your only job is to split them well — the rest is comparison against the dealer.

01

What is the game?

A 53-card deck (52 + one Joker) is dealt: seven cards to you, seven to the dealer. You split your seven cards into two hands — a five-card high hand and a two-card low hand. The five-card hand must outrank the two-card hand.

5 · high hand 2 · low hand

Seven cards, dealt face-up You split them five and two

02

What do the cards count?

Standard poker. The five-card hand is ranked the same way as in any poker game — pairs, straights, flushes, full houses. The two-card hand can only be a pair or two high cards.

= A high

= K high

= wild·ish

Joker = an Ace, or completes a straight, flush, straight flush, or royal flush. Otherwise it's just an Ace.

Best 5 + best remaining 2 → but the 5-card hand must outrank the 2-card hand

03

What happens at the table?

Place your bet. One wager, before the deal.
You and the dealer each get seven cards, face down.
Set your hand: pick two cards as your low hand. The other five are your high hand.
Dealer reveals and splits using a fixed house way. Both your hands are compared to the dealer's. Win both → win. Win one → push. Lose both → lose.

Try a hand in the simulator ▸

Section 02 · The Cards

A standard deck — plus one Joker.

Pai Gow Poker uses the familiar 52-card deck and adds a Joker — 53 cards in total. Three of the cards in this deck behave a little differently than you'd expect. Hover any of the face-up cards for the rules.

牌九

The 53rd card

Joker · semi-wild

Plays as an Ace by default. The only ranks it can substitute for are the ones needed to complete a straight, a flush, or a straight flush.

牌九

Standard face card

Queen · rank 12

No special rules — counts as a Queen in every comparison. Pairs of Queens or higher are the threshold for the house way's two-pair split decision.

牌九

Highest single card

Ace · rank 14 (or 1)

Plays high in straights (A-K-Q-J-10) and low in the wheel (A-2-3-4-5 — the second-strongest straight). Combined with the Joker and the other three Aces, makes Five Aces: Pai Gow's invented top hand.

牌九

53 cards · 52 + Joker · hover the face-up cards

A quirk worth memorizing

In most casinos, the second-highest straight is A-2-3-4-5 — beaten only by A-K-Q-J-10. So an Ace-low "wheel" outranks a King-high straight. Worth knowing when you're choosing how to set a hand.

Section 03 · The Table

Your seat at the table.

Scroll through the six steps below to walk a single hand — from wager to settlement, with the seven-card deal and the split in between.

Section 04 · One Full Hand

Anatomy of a single hand.

Every Pai Gow Poker hand is the same five steps: deal, set, dealer reveals, dealer sets the house way, compare. The only choice you get is how you split — and that one choice is the whole game.

The deal · seven each, face down

Dealer deals seven cards to every player and seven to themselves. Cards stay face-down until everyone has set their hand.

Your seven cards

Set your hand · split 5 + 2

Pick the two cards for your low hand. The other five form your high hand. The high hand must outrank the low hand — set them backwards and the hand is fouled (automatic loss).

Your seven cards

↓ split ↓

High hand

5 cards · pair of 9s, A high

Low hand

2 cards · K-Q high

Dealer reveals · seven cards face up

Once every player has set, the dealer flips their seven cards face up.

Dealer's seven cards

Dealer sets the house way · no choice

The dealer never splits creatively. They follow a fixed table called the house way — a published rule for every possible seven-card combination. Same hand, same split, every time.

Dealer's high hand

5 cards · pair of Jacks, 8 high

Dealer's low hand

2 cards · 7-2 high

House way ≠ optimal

Dealers play the house way to remove decision time and accusations of favouritism. It's conservative, not optimal. With practice you can occasionally beat it — that's where Pai Gow strategy lives.

Compare and settle · closest to nine? no — both must beat

Your high hand vs dealer's high. Your low hand vs dealer's low. Win both → you win, paid 1:1 minus a 5% commission. Win one, lose one → push (bet returned). Lose both → bet collected. Tie on either hand goes to the dealer (called a copy).

High · You vs Dealer

9-9 vs J-J · dealer wins

Low · You vs Dealer

K-Q vs 7-2 · you win

Result · push. One won, one lost. Bet returned.

Section 05 · The House Way

When does a card go to the front?

You don't need to memorize this. The dealer applies these rules automatically — and most casinos let you ask the dealer to set your hand the house way too. This table just shows you what they're doing, and where you might do better.

No pair

Seven mismatched cards

High card · no pair

Best two singletons go to the low hand

You hold	House way
Seven different cards	2nd + 3rd highest to low

One pair

Pair of 9s + five singletons

A single pair

Pair stays with the five-card hand

You hold	House way
One pair + 5 singletons	Pair stays high · top two singletons low

Two pair

Two pair (9s · 4s) + three singletons

Two pair · the pivot decision

Split or keep both — depends on rank + side card

Top pair rank	House way
2s through 6s	Both stay high (unless A in hand → split)
7s through 10s	Split (lower pair to low) unless K-or-better singleton
Js + Qs · Qs + Ks · etc.	Always split
Aces + anything	Always split — lower pair to low

Three pair · trips · monsters

Three pair (Qs · 8s · 4s) — promote highest

Stronger holdings

Most cases: keep the strength high, send the highest pair forward

You hold	House way
Three pair	Highest pair to low; play other two pair high
Three of a kind	Trips stay high (unless Aces → split)
Full house	Trips high · pair to low
Straight · flush · straight flush	Keep intact unless two pair are also present

Section 06 · Hand Rankings

What beats what.

Standard poker hand rankings, plus one Pai Gow Poker oddity at the very top — five aces, made by combining the Joker with all four natural aces.

01

Five Aces

Joker + four natural Aces. Pai Gow's invented top hand.

02

Royal Flush

A-K-Q-J-10, all the same suit.

03

Straight Flush

Five suited consecutive cards.

04

Four of a Kind

Four cards of the same rank.

05

Full House

Three of a kind plus a pair.

06

Flush

Five cards of the same suit, not consecutive.

07

Straight

Five consecutive ranks. A-2-3-4-5 is the second-highest straight in most casinos.

08

Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank.

09

Two Pair

Two pairs of different ranks.

10

One Pair

Two cards of the same rank.

11

High Card

No pair. Highest card breaks all ties.

Section 07 · Bets & House Edge

One bet. One commission.

Pai Gow Poker has only one main wager. It pays even money less a 5% commission on wins. The reason it isn't lower is the copy rule — when your hand exactly ties the dealer's, the dealer wins.

Win both ≈ 28.6% of hands

pays 0.95×

Push (split) ≈ 41.5%

no swing

Lose both ≈ 29.9%

−1.00×

The headline number: ~2.84% house edge if you play the house way. That's higher than baccarat Banker (1.06%) but lower than every craps proposition and most blackjack variants when played without basic strategy. The push rate is the magic — over 40% of hands settle as a push, which is why a single chip can last a remarkably long time at the table.

Banking — at most casinos a player may, when offered, be the bank for one hand. The bank wins copies and earns the house's edge against everyone else, but pays the same 5% commission. It's the only spot where Pai Gow Poker tilts in your favour.

Side bets — same advice as everywhere else

Casinos offer Fortune Bonus, Pai Gow Insurance, Progressive side bets. House edges typically run 7% to 25%. Skip them. Your one main bet at 2.84% is already the best math at the table.

The math, in one sentence

Play the house way, take the bank seat when offered, and ignore every side bet. That's the entire short-term strategy.

Section 08 · Splitting Strategy

When to deviate from the house way.

The house way is conservative. With a few simple deviations you can shave the edge down a bit further — and play better than the dealer is forced to.

Intermediate

Two-pair pivot

With two pair, the rule is simpler than it looks: split unless your top pair is small (6 or under) and you have an Ace. Splitting wins more low hands; keeping both wins more high hands. The dealer's house way is conservative — splitting more often is correct.

Adjusts ~30% of hands Edge cut ~0.3%

Beginner

Avoid fouls

A "fouled" hand — one where the low hand outranks the high hand — is an automatic loss. The most common foul is putting a pair in the low hand while the high hand is just a high card. If your only pair is in the low hand, the high hand can have no pair and must be high enough — almost never worth it.

Foul rate ~1 in 200 Cost Full bet

Intermediate

Three-pair rule

If you're dealt three pair (rare — about 1 in 60 hands), always send the highest pair to the low hand. The remaining two pair sit high. This wins more often than keeping the two top pair together because pairs in the low hand are very hard for the dealer to beat.

Frequency ~1 in 60 Win rate ~70%

The truth

No splitting strategy turns Pai Gow Poker into a winning game against the house. What it does is reduce variance, extend your session, and minimize the cost of being entertained. The bank seat is the only positive-edge spot — take it.

Section 09 · Live Simulator

Sit down. Set a hand.

Everything you've just read, in a live deal. Tap two cards to send them to your low hand — the rest become your high. Hit "Set hand" to compare against the dealer.

Pai Gow Poker · Live

53-card deck (Joker semi-wild) · Wins pay 0.95:1 · Copies go to dealer

Bankroll

$1,000

How it plays

You and the dealer each get seven cards. Pick two for your low hand (the rest become your high hand). Your high hand must outrank your low hand or it's fouled. Both your hands are compared to the dealer's. Win both → win. Win one → push. Lose both → lose. Exact ties on either hand go to the dealer.

—

Awaiting deal

Place a bet to deal

Your high · 5 —

Your low · 2 —

Coach Place a bet, then deal.

Place a bet to begin the shoe.

Hands

0

Wins

0

Pushes

0

Losses

0

Net

$0

—Place a bet and deal to begin.

Section 10 · Focus

Before you sit down.

Rules and odds tell you how the game works. These habits decide how long your bankroll lasts and what you walk away with.

Math One main bet, no side bets. The base game runs at ~2.84% edge. Every side bet — Fortune, Insurance, Progressive — pushes that into double digits. Stick to the simple wager.
Tempo Pai Gow is slow. Forty percent of hands push, which means an average $25-bettor sees $25 swing back and forth across an hour. That's the appeal. Don't fight the tempo by betting bigger to feel something.
Sizing Keep your base bet at 2% of bankroll or less. A $500 session means $5 to $10 chips. With Pai Gow's high push rate, that's enough to play for hours.
Bank Take the bank when offered. Banking flips the copy rule in your favour and lets you absorb the table's edge. The only consistently positive-EV spot in Pai Gow Poker.
The rule Set a loss limit and a win target before you sit. When you hit either, you leave. The push rate makes Pai Gow a uniquely sticky game — you can play for hours without crossing either line, and that's how casinos eventually win.

Bonne chance.

— La maison salue ses joueurs

Welcome — quick tour?

Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker in three minutes.

What is the game?

What do the cards count?

What happens at the table?

A standard deck — plus one Joker.

Your seat at the table.

Anatomy of a single hand.

When does a card go to the front?

No pair

One pair

Two pair

Three pair · trips · monsters

What beats what.

One bet. One commission.

Side bets — same advice as everywhere else

When to deviate from the house way.

Beginner

Intermediate

Advanced

Sit down. Set a hand.

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Before you sit down.