How to Deal Pai Gow

Pai Gow is a game originally played with Chinese dominoes. A casino manager from California innovated a new gaming structure using cards. Pai Gow poker is played with a fifty-two card deck with a single joker. It is played at a table with six players plus the dealer. Every participant is playing against the banker who can be the casino dealer or other players at the table. Read on to learn more.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Deal seven cards to each player including. As the Pai Gow dealer, you also deal seven cards to yourself.

2. Have players divide their seven cards into two hands. One hand is of two cards and one made of five cards. The five card hand should be higher of the two.

3. Make sure each player puts the two card hand face down on the table. In Pai Gow, players are not allowed to discuss their hands at any time during the game. The dealer's hand remains face down.

4. Turn over your cards to expose all seven. Divide them into two hands, one made of two cards and one made of five cards. The five card hand must be higher than the two card hand; if the dealer has a pair in the two card hand, his five card hand must have a minimum of a higher pair to qualify.

5. Compare your dealer's hand with those of the others at the table. In Pai Gow, two winning hands results in a pay out to the player. One winning hand and one losing hand is a push and no money is exchanged. No winning hands results in a loss of that which is bet, with the dealer taking all ties.