Rules for Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker is a casino gambling game played with poker combinations but based on the Chinese Domino game Pai Gow . It can be played by up to seven players.

Before the deal, each of the players puts up a stake. On each deal the dealer plays against the other players. A complete deck of cards plus one joker is used. The joker is a wild card which can be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight flush, a straight, or a flush .

Each player is dealt with seven cards . All players other than the dealer look at their cards and divide them to form two hands - a five card hand and a two card hand .The player must arrange the cards so that the five card hand is higher than the two card hand (so if the two cards were a pair of aces, the five card hand would have to contain two pairs or better). Players are not allowed to discuss their hands at any stage.

The relative values of the five card hands are the same as in poker, with one exception: A-2-3-4-5 is the second highest type of straight or straight flush, ranking between A-K-Q-J-10 and K-Q-J-10-9. Five aces is the highest hand, beating a straight flush. For the two card hand, any pair beats any two unmatched cards, but no other combinations are possible.

The players place their two hands face down, and when all are ready, the dealer's seven cards are exposed. The other players may not touch their cards from this point on. The dealer forms the seven exposed cards into a five and a two in the same way as the players.

Then all the players' cards are exposed. The result between the dealer and each player is determined by comparing the player's 5 card hand with the dealer's 5 card hand and the player's 2 card hand with the dealer's 2 card hand:

• If the player wins both hands the dealer pays out the amount staked by the player.
• If the dealer wins one hand and the player wins the other no money changes hands. This is called a "push".
• If the dealer wins both hands the dealer wins the player's stake.