Playing Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker can be a gentle game of highly tense, depending on whether you take the opportunities to be the bank of not. This is the twist in Pai Gow. You can be the house for hands when you select to be the bank. When you do this, you are playing against all of the players at the table and need to be able to cover their wagers.

Pai Gow Poker is a game where all players and the dealer are dealt seven each hand is then separated into the best five-card poker hand and the next best two-card poker hand. So let us say that you are dealt two aces and two kings. You would play the Aces in the five-card hand and the kings in the two-card hand. The two-card hand always has to be the lesser poker hand. In order for you to beat the dealer or the banker, you must win both of your hands against the banker's hand. If you both win a part of the hand the bet is tied and no one loses. If the banker wins one hand and ties the other, the bank wins, hence the reason to opt for being the bank. This small edge has a profound effect over the course of many hands dealt.

There are a great number of tie hands dealt in Pai Gow Poker. It is a good game to play, take a break and have a drink before getting into the more intense games like craps or baccarat. In those games there is usually a winner each play. The big money Pai Gow Poker games are found when the betting is larger per hand and the players are taking the advantage of being the bank when they can. One reason to be the bank is if a large bettor is having a bad run of cards and you are not. If you can cover all of the bets at the table then go for it, as this is the best way to make money in Pai Gow Poker. Also taking the bank from the dealer can change the run of cards and maybe change a bad run for your own play. Pai Gow Poker is usually a friendly game to be in as there is a spirit of team play since all players are trying to beat the dealer. Only when a player becomes the bank, does the tenor of the game change.

In a game with many large bettors, it may be hard to get to be the bank as many of the other players will be selecting to be the bank and also you may not want to risk the money needed to cover the bets on the table. However the rule to follow is do not be banker on a cold dealer. If the dealer is getting lousy hands do not change the run of cards for the dealer. Leave the dealer the bad run and do not try to help the cards change by doing anything different.

If most of the players are making modest wagers and there is one big bettor, watch and note how the big bettor's cards are running and if they are bad, consider being the bank. The other option is to just increase your own bet amount to a larger number of units. Only do this if the dealer is cold or running in the non-winner mode.

This game takes little time to learn and the dealer will help you set your hands in what is called the house way of setting the hand. This is not the only way to setup a hand, but it is the best percentage play in most cases.