24-05-2021


Pai Gow Poker is a popular table game in Las Vegas. It is spread at 60 casinos. Many have multiple tables.

Pai Gow Poker, an Americanized, card-game version of Pai Gow, is becoming increasingly popular with Asian players, too. It’s a good game to play in a casino regardless of your ethnicity, because it’s relatively slow-paced and features lots of pushes. That results in a low volatility game where you don’t lose a lot of money per hour. Pai Gow poker is played with a standard English deck of 52 cards plus the joker, or bug. The joker can only be used as an ace or a card that completes a straight or flush. Players and the dealer receive seven cards they place into two hands: five cards and two cards. The five-card hand must be of a higher total rank than the two-card hand.

One draw of Pai Gow Poker is its slow pace and number of pushes. This helps players stay in the game longer and rack up free drinks. The low minimum bet is also another draw. Some casinos spread it for as little as $5 at locals’ joints.

Las Vegas Pai Gow Minimum Bets

$5 Pai Gow Poker
  • Aliante Casino
  • Arizona Charlie’s Decatur and Boulder
  • Binion’s
  • Boulder Station
  • Cannery
  • Club Fortune
  • Eastside Cannery
  • Fiesta Rancho and Henderson
  • Sam’s Town
  • Santa Fe Station
  • South Point
  • Suncoast
  • Texas Station
$10 Pai Gow Poker
  • 4 Queens
  • Cosmopolitan
  • Downtown Grand
  • Excalibur
  • Fremont
  • Gold Coast
  • Golden Nugget
  • Green Valley Ranch
  • Hard Rock
  • Linq
  • Luxor
  • M Resort
  • Main Street Station
  • Monte Carlo
  • New York New York
  • The Orleans
  • Palace Station
  • Palms
  • Plaza
  • Rampart
  • Red Rock
  • Silverton
  • Sahara Las Vegas
  • Stratosphere
  • The D
  • Treasure Island
  • Tropicana
  • Westgate
$15 Pai Gow Poker
  • Flamingo
  • Paris
  • Planet Hollywood
  • Rio
$25 Pai Gow Poker
  • Aria
  • Bellagio
  • Caesars Palace
  • Encore
  • Harrah’s
  • Palazzo
$50 Pai Gow Poker
  • Venetian
Pai gow card game online

How to Play Pai Gow Poker

#1: Place Your Bet – Players start by making a wager on the hand. There are usually at least two other side bets. Some Las Vegas casinos offer three. These may include a progressive jackpot, high hand, crown hand and Pai Gow Insurance, which pays if a player makes a hand that does not have any pairs or better.
#2: Seven Cards are Dealt – Once the players make bets, the dealer gives each player seven cards. The order is determined by a machine or dice shaken by the dealer or player. These cards are given in consecutive order and not dealt in a normal poker manner. Seven cards in a row come out of the shuffle machine at the table. The dealer also receives seven cards.
#3: High and Low Hands – Players must set the seven cards into two separate hands. These two hands are low and high. The high hand, consisting of five cards, must beat the low hand, which is only two cards.

#4: Compare Hands with Dealer – Once the player’s hands are set, the dealer shows its cards. The dealer sets the hand based on the house way. This varies from one casino to another in terms of how aggressive it wants to play. Pai Gow Poker is unlike any other game as the operator can determine how the house sets its hand as long as it publishes the method for all players to see.The dealer’s hand is then compared to each player’s hand.

  • If both player hands beat both dealer hands, the player wins.
  • If both dealer’s hands beat both of the player’s hands, the house wins.
  • If the dealer ties one of the player’s hands and wins the other, the house wins.
  • If the player wins one hand and ties the other, the hand is a push.
  • A tie between a dealer’s hand and the player’s hand is known as a copy in Pai Gow Poker.
Pai Gow Card Game

Pai Gow Commission

Some casinos require the player to pay 5% of any win as commission. In general, these houses will permit players to bank the game. Otherwise, a commission-less game is spread where the house has a push hand. These push hands may be a queen-high dealer pai gow, or if the house is forced to play a nine in the low hand.

Even if you are not in Las Vegas, you can play Pai Gow Poker online.

Complete Las Vegas Pai Gow Poker Survey 2018

Practice Pai Gow Poker

CasinoGameMin BetMax Bet# of TablesVideo
4 QueensPai Gow Poker105001No
Aliante CasinoPai Gow Poker510003No
AriaPai Gow Poker25100004No
Arizona Charlie’s BoulderPai Gow Poker510001No
Arizona Charlie’s DecaturPai Gow Poker55001No
Bally’sPai Gow Poker1550001No
Bally’sPai Gow Poker2550002No
BellagioPai Gow Poker25100006No
BellagioPai Gow Poker50100001No
Binion’sPai Gow Poker510001No
Boulder StationPai Gow Poker520002No
Caesars PalacePai Gow Poker2550002No
Caesars PalacePai Gow Poker5050002No
Caesars PalacePai Gow Poker10050001No
CaliforniaPai Gow Poker155002No
CanneryPai Gow Poker510003No
Club FortunePai Gow Poker52001No
CosmopolitanPai Gow Poker1050002No
CosmopolitanPai Gow Poker25100002No
CromwellPai Gow Poker2530003No
Downtown GrandPai Gow Poker1010001No
Eastside CanneryPai Gow Poker510002No
EncorePai Gow Poker25100001No
ExcaliburPai Gow Poker1010001No
Fiesta RanchoPai Gow Poker55001No
Fiesta HendersonPai Gow Poker510003No
FlamingoPai Gow Poker1530002No
FlamingoPai Gow Poker2530002No
FremontPai Gow Poker105001No
Gold CoastPai Gow Poker1020004No
Golden NuggetPai Gow Poker1550001No
Green Valley RanchPai Gow Poker1020005No
Hard RockPai Gow Poker1020002No
Harrah’sPai Gow Poker2550005No
LinqPai Gow Poker1030002No
LuxorPai Gow Poker1030001No
M ResortPai Gow Poker1010004No
Main Street StationPai Gow Poker105001No
MGM GrandPai Gow Poker25100001No
MiragePai Gow Poker25100002No
Monte CarloPai Gow Poker1010003No
NYNYPai Gow Poker1020002No
OrleansPai Gow Poker1020004No
Palace StationPai Gow Poker1020004No
PalazzoPai Gow Poker25200001No
PalazzoPai Gow Poker5020003No
PalmsPai Gow Poker1020002No
ParisPai Gow Poker1550003No
ParisPai Gow Poker2550003No
ParisPai Gow Poker10050001No
ParisPai Gow Poker1550003No
Planet HollywoodPai Gow Poker1550004No
Planet HollywoodPai Gow Poker2550001No
PlazaPai Gow Poker1010001No
RampartPai Gow Poker510002No
Red RockPai Gow Poker1020004No
RioPai Gow Poker1550004No
Sam’s TownPai Gow Poker510002No
Santa Fe StationPai Gow Poker510004No
SilvertonPai Gow Poker1010002No
Sahara Las VegasPai Gow Poker10100002No
South PointPai Gow Poker520007No
StratospherePai Gow Poker1010002No
SuncoastPai Gow Poker520003No
Texas StationPai Gow Poker55002No
The DPai Gow Poker1025001No
Treasure IslandPai Gow Poker1050002No
TropicanaPai Gow Poker1020001No
VenetianPai Gow Poker50200001No
WestgatePai Gow Poker1020001No
WynnPai Gow Poker25100004No

Pai Gow Poker

How To Play Pai Gow Card Game

The game is simple and quick to learn, although it is described as slow-paced casino format with low risk. Pai Gow Poker is a game of skill, but it also relies on strategy that is quite obvious in most cases.

How to Play

The game is played with a 53 card deck - don’t be alarmed, it is a regular 52-card deck plus one Joker. Here, the Joker has some qualities of a Wild, but not in every situation. That’s why it is referred to as the semi Wild. The Joker can act as Ace, or a card that completes a Straight, Flush, or Straight Flush, or Royal Flush. The player needs to put up a stake before each round starts and then he or she will receive 7 cards. The objective is to make two poker hands - one 5-card hand and one 2-card hand. Both the hands need to beat the software in order to win. However, of only one of the two is a winning hand, then that’s called a push. It’s the player’s decision to arrange the cards into two hands in whatever way he/she feels most appropriate. The small hand is only allowed to have two high cards or a pair. The big hand needs to be higher in rank, so make sure you don’t ‘foul your hand’ because that’s one of the ways to lose in Pai Gow Poker. The main, five-card hand is ranked according to conventional poker rules.

In the event of either hand being a tie with the virtual dealer, the dealer wins. The way the game was conceived makes it impossible for the player to lose money if just one of the hands is better than the dealer’s. Because of that, players usually split the hands in a way which gives them the strongest possible two-card hand, one that doesn’t outrank the five-card hand.

How To Play Pai Gow Card Game

What More is There to Know About Pai Gow Poker?

Pai Gow Card Game Rules

Some of the advices more experienced players give to novices are: always split five Aces including Joker, unless you also have a pair of Kings; always keep Four of a Kind of 6s or lower together; always play Straights and Flushes in your five-card hand unless you also have two pair and there’s more in strategy charts.

How To Play Pai Gow

The house edge in Pau Gow Poker is rather low to begin with. It can be reduced even more (about 2.8%) if you master the skill of managing your hands optimally. Wins pay 1:1 odds. According to statistics, which consider all seven cards and don’t enter the parameter of player’s handling, the probability of forming a Royal Flush in Pai Gow Poker is 0.00136862, while the probability of forming a single pair is 0.41663862.