Pai Gow Poker (or Double-hand poker)

Pai Gow poker can be played by up to 7 players and was first invented in China as a domino game. This game is played with a 53 card deck which includes the joker. When using the joker as a wild card, it can only be used as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush or a straight flush. It has a rather low variance and a small buy in will usually last quite awhile.

Before the cards are dealt, each of the other players puts up a stake and then seven cards are dealt to each player. The dealer does NOT look at his cards but all the players are able to look at theirs. They then divide them into two hands, one being a two-card hand and the other, a five-card hand.

The values of the hands are about the same as in poker; however there are some differences, one being that five aces is the highest hand, beating a straight flush. For the two-card hand, a pair would beat any two-card hands that don't match, but there are no other possible combinations.

The dealer has the advantage because he wins the tied hands so it's only fair to let everyone be the dealer an equal number of times throughout the session. Pai Gow poker isn't the easiest form of poker to learn as far as a strategy goes, but once you start playing, you learn the hang of it and it can be a very entertaining game.

Other Poker Variations