Pai Gow Poker – Basic Strategy

2008 March 04, Charlie Black

Pai Gow is a traditional Asian game played with tiles that look a lot like dominoes. Pai Gow Poker was developed using standard playing cards which players arrange into poker hands.

Pai Gow Poker is played with a 52-card deck plus one joker. The joker can be used either as an Ace or it can be used as a wild card to complete a Straight, Flush or Straight Flush only.

Players play against the Dealer and must arrange their seven starting cards into two hands, one 5-card hand at the back and one 2-card hand at the front. Players' hands compete with the Dealer's hands. To win, either the Player or the Dealer must win both at the front and the back. Otherwise, it's a tie.

Your 5-card hand must have a higher value than your 2-card hand. If you make a mistake, your hand is declared a 'foul' and the Dealer wins. The Dealer must always set in the House Way.

Basic Pai Gow Poker Strategy:

If you have no pair, straight or flush, put your second and third highest cards at the front and your highest card at the back. Example: You are dealt Ah-Kh-Qs-Jd-7d-4h-2d. You should put K-Q as your front hand, and A-J-7-4-2 as your back hand.

If you have one pair, place it in the back, and your two other highest cards in the front.

If you have two pair:

• Big pair is Jacks or higher: Place small pair in front and the big pair at the back.
• Big pair is Sevens thru Tens: Place both pairs in the back if you can put Ace in front. If you don't have an Ace, put the small pair in front and the big pair at the back.
• Big pair is Twos thru Sixes: Place both pairs in Back if you can put Ace or King in front. If you don't have an Ace or King, put the small pair in front and the big pair at the back.

If you have three pair, place the biggest pair in the front, and the other two pairs at the back.

If you have three of a kind, place the three of a kind in the back and your two highest cards in the front. One exception: If you have three Aces, put an Ace and next highest card in front and a pair of Aces at the back.

If you have two Sets (three of a kind), place a pair from the highest set in front and the smaller three of a kind at the back.

If you have a possible Straight, Flush or Straight Flush:

• With no pair or one pair, put the complete hand in the back and the remaining two cards in the front.
• With two pairs, ignore the complete hand and use two pair strategy.
• With three of a kind, place the complete hand in back and the remaining pair up front.

If you have a full house (Set and pair), put the pair in the front and the Set at the back.

If you have four of a kind:

• Jacks thru Aces: Split the hand up and put a pair in both front and back.
• Sevens thru Tens: If you have an Ace or King, put the four of a kind in the back and the Ace or King up front.
• Twos thru Sixes: Don't split your four of a kind, so long as you can put a card higher than your four of a kind in the front.
• With another pair: Put four of a kind in the back and the pair in the front.
• With another three of a kind: Put highest pair in front, and make a full house at the back.

If you have five Aces (four Aces and a Joker), place a pair of Aces up front and three Aces at the back.

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