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The
Rules of Pai Gow Poker
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Pai
Gow poker is a variation
of the Chinese domino
game Pai Gow. Pai Gow
first appeared around
the mid-1800's, and Pai
Gow poker started gaining
popularity in 1986 in
Californian card rooms.
Pai Gow is played with
a 53-card deck - a standard
deck of 52 cards and one
Joker (the Joker may only
be used as an Ace, or
to complete a Straight,
Flush or Straight Flush).
Pai Gow poker is played
one on one, the player
against the dealer (or
banker), each competing
to make the best possible
hands. After placing an
initial bet, both player
and dealer receive seven
cards. The object of the
game is for the player
to split (or "set") the
seven dealt cards into
two hands - a five-card
"High" hand, and a two-card
"Low" hand. The cards
must be set in such a
way that the five-card
hand has a higher poker
rank than the two-card
hand.
For example, the player's
hand is: 6,7,8,9,10,A,A.
The player sets the pair
of Aces as the Low hand,
and 6,7,8,9,10 (straight)
as the High hand. The
dealer's hand is: 2,2,2,A,K,4,5.
The dealer sets the Ace
and King as the Low hand,
and 2,2,2,4,5 (three of
a kind) as the High hand.
The player beats both
the dealer's High and
Low hands, thus winning
the round.
The hands are ranked according
to standard poker rules,
with the exception that
an A-2-3-4-5 straight
is the second highest
straight. By the way,
the best Low hand is a
pair of Aces. After the
player finished arranging
his/her hands, the dealer
arranges his/her hands
according to a set of
fixed rules (the "House
Way"). The player's two
hands (High and Low) are
then compared with the
dealer's two hands (High
and Low) to determine
the winner. In order to
win, both the player's
High and Low hands must
have a higher poker rank
than both the dealer's
High and Low hands (according
to the Pai Gow Poker Hand
Ranks table below).
If the player's two hands
beat the dealer's two
hands, the player wins
an amount equal to the
initial bet minus a 5%
commission.
If both of the dealer's
hands beat both of the
player's hands, the dealer
wins.
If the player wins only
one of the two hands,
the game is a push and
neither the dealer nor
the player wins.
If either the five-card
hands or the two-card
hands rank exactly the
same, the equal hands
are called "copies" of
each other. The dealer
wins all copy hands. For
example, if the player
beats the dealer in the
High hand but copies the
dealer with the Low hand,
the game is a push. In
case of a push, all bets
are returned to the player.
Pai Gow Poker Hand Ranks
(from highest to lowest)
The only real difference
between Pai Gow poker
hand ranks and standard
poker hand ranks is that
a five-Aces hand (four
Aces and a Joker) beats
a royal flush, and is
the highest hand in the
game.
| Rank |
Hand |
Description |
| 1 |
Five
of a Kind |
Four
Aces and a Joker |
| 2 |
Royal
Flush |
Five
consecutive denomination
cards of the same
suit, starting from
10 and ending with
an Ace - 10,J,Q,K,A |
| 3 |
Straight
Flush |
Five
consecutive denomination
cards of the same
suit |
| 4 |
Four
of a Kind |
Four
cards of the same
denomination |
| 5 |
Full
House |
A
set of three cards
of the same denomination
plus a set of two
cards of the same
denomination |
| 6 |
Flush |
Five
non-consecutive
denomination cards
of the same suit |
| 7 |
Straight |
Five
consecutive denomination
cards of different
suit |
| 8 |
Three
of a Kind |
Three
cards of the same
denomination |
| 9 |
Two
Pairs |
Two
sets of pairs of
the same card denomination |
| 10 |
One
Pair |
Two
cards of the same
denomination |
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Gameplay
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Table
Limits
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| Table
Type |
Minimum
Bet |
Maximum
Bet |
| I |
$2 |
$20 |
| II |
$5 |
$50 |
| III |
$25 |
$400 |
General
Text Boxes
Message - This
indicates whether 'You
are the Player' or whether
'You are the Dealer'.
Opponent - This
tells you the name (or
nickname) of your current
opponent.
Last Round - This
tells you how much you've
won or lost in the previous
round.
Credit Points -
This is your current Credit
Points balance. As Player,
you accumulate 1 Credit
Point on every dollar
you place as a bet. As
Dealer, 1 Credit Point
is deducted for every
1 dollar bet against you
(see example below).
Fun Balance / Balance
- This is your current
Fun / Real-Money Balance
(in US dollars).
Commission - When
playing as Dealer, you
pay a commission of 1.5%
on the total bets placed
against you (when playing
as Player you do not pay
commissions), see example
below.
General
Options
Back - Pressing
'Back' returns you to
the Options Screen.
'?' (Help) - Pressing
'Help' opens the Help
screen relevant to the
room you're currently
in. In this case, Blackjack.
'$' (Cashier) -
Pressing '$' opens the
Cashier screen.
Timer - This is
the circle at the bottom-right
corner of the screen.
On every round, you have
45 seconds to make your
decisions when playing
as Player, and 35 seconds
to make your decisions
when playing as Dealer.
The Timer indicates how
much time you have left
before reaching the time
limit. If you haven't
finished making your decisions
during the specified time
limit, you will exit the
table.
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Playing
as Player
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BeTheDealer
Casino lets you play either
as Player or as Dealer.
Playing as Dealer is optional
and is not mandatory.
If you do not wish to
play as Dealer, you can
play the traditional role
of the Player, knowing
you can rely on the fairness
and credibility of BeTheDealer
Casino.
Pai
Gow Text Boxes
Bet Labels - These
labels appear to the left
of your bet and inform
you how much money you
have placed on the table.
Won / Lost Labels
- These labels appear
above the cards and indicate
whether you have won or
lost (bust).
Game
Options
Game Chips:
$1, $5, $25 and $100
With the Game Chips you
make your bet on the table
by creating a "Chip Tower".
You may remove chips from
the Chip Tower by clicking
on the left mouse button
while placing the cursor
on the Chip Tower.
Deal
Once you've placed your
bets on the table press
'Deal' to deal the cards.
Game Cards
Click on the Game Cards
to select the two cards
that you want to set as
the Low Hand. The cards
must be set in such a
way that the two-card
(Low) hand has a lower
poker rank than the five-card
(High) hand.
Split
When setting the two cards
above the other cards
press split and the two
hands will be split.
House Way
You may ask the house
to automatically set your
cards by pressing the
"House Way" button.
Disconnections
Communication problems
over the Internet may
cause sudden disconnections.
We have designed our software
to cope with such incidents
in a manner that our clients
will be protected from
unjustifiable loss, while
eliminating the possibility
of intentional disconnections
and/or system abuse.
Should a disconnection
or timeout occur after
the Player placed his/her
bet and before the Player
pressed the 'Deal' button,
the Player's bet will
be returned to his/her
Balance.
Should a disconnection
or timeout occur after
the Player pressed the
'Deal' button, the round
will continue as if the
Player had decided to
split his/her hand according
to the House Way.
After connection is re-established
the Player can enter the
"History" page and see
the results of the last
round ("History" is available
for Money mode only).
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Playing
as Dealer
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BeTheDealer
Casino offers you the
unique option of playing
the role of the Dealer.
This option increases
your chances of winning,
since you gain some of
the favorable odds reserved
for the casino. At the
end of every round the
casino takes a commission
of 1.5% of the total bets
bet against the Dealer.
Example
A Dealer chooses to play
in Table II. This means
that the Dealer meets
the minimum requirements
for playing in this table
type: a minimum of 50
Credit Points and a minimum
balance of $60. The system
then matches a Player
to the Dealer and after
the Dealer 'Approves'
the next round, the Player
places his/her bets on
the table. Notice that
the view of the table
has changed to that of
the Dealer's. Let's say
the Player places $50
and receives 2,3,7,8,K,K,A.
The Player sets A,8 as
the Low hand, and 2,3,7,K,K
as the High hand. The
Dealer's hand is: A,A,2,3,4,5,6.
According to the House
Way, the Dealer sets the
pair of Aces as the Low
hand, and 2,3,4,5,6 (straight)
as the High hand. The
Dealer beats both the
Player's High and Low
hands, thus winning the
round. The Player loses
his/her bet and since
the bet against the Dealer
was $50 the casino takes
a commission of 1.5%*50
= $0.75, which means the
Dealer wins 50-0.75 =
$49.25 on this round.
The casino's edge in Pai
Gow with these rules is
approximately 2.9% (bear
in mind that this 2.9%
is how the casino makes
a profit on Pai Gow) so
as the Dealer you actually
gain an edge of about
1.4%.
Minimum Credit
Points and Balance
You can play
as Dealer once you have
accumulated enough Credit
Points and in addition
you need to have enough
money in your Balance,
according to the game's
limits described in the
Game Options page.
The Minimum Balance required
is a bit higher than the
total winnings of the
Player in a given round,
which are: (Maximum Bet)
+ 1.5%(Casino commission)
* (Maximum Bet)
Game Options
"Approve" Button /
'Auto-Approve' Feature
When playing as Dealer,
before each round commences
you must 'Approve' the
next round. After you
approve the round, the
Player can place his/her
bets and play the round.
The 'Auto-Approve' feature
lets you automatically
approve the next rounds,
without having to approve
every round individually.
Disconnections
Communication problems
over the Internet may
cause sudden disconnections.
We have designed our software
to cope with such incidents
in a manner that our clients
will be protected from
unjustifiable loss, while
eliminating the possibility
of intentional disconnections
and/or system abuse.
Should a disconnection
occur after the Dealer
pressed the "Approve"
button, play will continue
until the Player has finished
his turn. This has no
effect on the Dealer,
since the Dealer is played
automatically according
to the rules of the game
(also called the "House
Way").
After connection is re-established
the Dealer can enter the
"History" page and see
the results of the last
round ("History" is available
for Money mode only).
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