A Pai Gow Poker game begins with 7 cards being dealt to you facing up, and another 7 dealt to the dealer face down. The object in the game is for you to build a pair of poker hands from your 7 cards. These two hands include a 5-card poker hand as well as a 2-card poker hand. Also, your 5-card hand must always have a higher poker ranking than your 2-card hand. This online version of this poker game is played using a standard deck of 52 cards plus one joker, and players compete solely against the casino, or House.

Your 5-card Pai Gow Poker hand is commonly known as the ‘bottom' or hand ‘behind,' and your 2-card hand is referred to as the hand ‘on top' or ‘in front.'

What's the Deal?

Playing Pai Gow poker online is especially fun due to the number of luxuries available to you which you won't find in a traditional land casino. For instance, when playing at the leading Playtech-powered poker rooms and online casinos like Casino Tropez, after the cards are dealt out, you are granted the option of arranging your hand as you see best, or by clicking the ‘House Way' button, you can have the casino automatically build your best hands for you. This is a feature that only an online Pai Gow poker room can provide.

Pai Gow Poker Hand Rankings

Again, the objective in Pai Gow poker is to build two strong poker hands. However, your two-card hands may only comprise one pair and high cards.

Your 5-card hands are ranked according to regular poker hand rankings. The joker in Pai Gow poker is played as a ‘bug' - meaning you can use it in your 5-card hand in order to complete a flush or straight whenever the situation arises. Otherwise it functions as an ace. Depending on which poker room or online Pai Gow casino you are playing at, the joker in your 2-card hand generally always acts as an ace.

History of Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow poker (aka Double-hand poker) is actually an Americanised variation on the ancient Chinese game of Pai Gow. While Pai Gow Poker is played with regular playing cards, the original Chinese game is played with dominoes.

The game of Pai Gow Poker came to be back in the early 1980s when Fred Wolf, casino manager of the Commerce Casino in California, was in desperate need of new and exciting games in order to draw players into the casino. His introduction of both Pai Gow Poker and Super Pan-9 were immediately successful throughout California and shortly after, the world. Online Pai Gow has seen the popularity of this game increase even further.