Pai Gow Poker originated from the traditional Asian game played with tiles that look like dominos. To make it easier to understand, an American version was invented using standard playing cards and the hands were likened to poker.

Pai Gow is played with a standard deck of 52 cards and one joker. The joker either is used as an ace or a wild card to complete a straight, straight flush, or flush only. The game holds up to six players and a banker. The players play against the banker, which is usually the casino, but players can choose to bank the game if they wish. They just have to have enough money to cover all the other players’ bets.

At the start of the game the players make their bets. The dealer then shuffles the cards and deals out seven piles each containing seven cards, it doesn’t matter how many players it’s always seven. Then the banker shakes a cup containing three dice to determine who gets the first hand.

The player must set up the cards into two hands — a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The five-card must be a higher value than the two-card hand. If you make a mistake, you automatically lose. If both your hands beat the banker’s hands, you win. If one hand wins and one hand loses, it’s a push. And if your hands equal the bankers, the banker wins.

Pai Gow is a slower paced game with a lot of pushes, which I like because I can play a lot longer on the cash I have on hand. The banker has a slight advantage due to the fact that it wins the copies. But if you like to gamble for the fun of it, Pai Gow is the way to go.