Pai Gow poker is a variation of the Chinese domino game Pai Gow. Pai Gow first appeared around the mid-1800's, and Pai Gow poker started gaining popularity in 1986 in canberra casino card rooms. Pai Gow is played with a 53-card deck - a standard deck of 52 cards and one Joker (the Joker may only be used as an Ace, or to complete a Straight, Flush or Straight Flush). Pai Gow poker is played one on one, the player against the dealer (or banker), each competing to make the best possible hands. After placing an initial bet, both player and dealer receive seven cards. The object of the game is for the player to split (or "set") the seven dealt cards into two hands - a five-card "High" hand, and a two-card "Low" hand. The cards must be set in such a way that the five-card hand has a higher poker rank than the two-card hand.
For example, the player's hand is: 6,7,8,9,10,A,A. The player sets the pair of Aces as the Low hand, and 6,7,8,9,10 (straight) as the High hand. The dealer's hand is: 2,2,2,A,K,4,5. The dealer sets the Ace and King as the Low hand, and 2,2,2,4,5 (three of a kind) as the High hand. The player beats both the dealer's High and Low hands, thus winning the round.
The online casino hands are ranked according to standard poker rules, with the exception that an A-2-3-4-5 straight is the second highest straight. By the way, the best Low hand is a pair of Aces. After the player finished arranging his/her hands, the dealer arranges his/her hands according to a set of fixed rules (the "House Way"). The player's two hands (High and Low) are then compared with the dealer's two hands (High and Low) to determine the winner. In order to win, both the player's High and Low hands must have a higher poker rank than both the dealer's High and Low hands (according to the Pai Gow Poker Hand Ranks table below).
If the player's two hands beat the dealer's two hands, the player wins an amount equal to the initial bet minus a 5% commission.
If both of the dealer's hands beat both of the player's hands, the dealer wins.
If the player wins only one of the two hands, the game is a push and neither the dealer nor the player wins.
If either the five-card hands or the two-card hands rank exactly the same, the equal hands are called "copies" of each other. The dealer wins all copy hands. For example, if the player beats the dealer in the High hand but copies the dealer with the Low hand, the game is a push. In case of a push, all bets are returned to the player.
Pai Gow Poker Hand Ranks (from highest to lowest)
The only real difference between Pai Gow poker hand ranks and standard poker hand ranks is that a five-Aces hand (four Aces and a Joker) beats a royal flush, and is the highest hand in the game.
Rank Hand Description
1 Five of a Kind Four Aces and a Joker
2 Royal Flush Five consecutive denomination cards of the same suit, starting from 10 and ending with an Ace - 10,J,Q,K,A
3 Straight Flush Five consecutive denomination cards of the same suit
4 Four of a Kind Four cards of the same denomination
5 Full House A set of three cards of the same denomination plus a set of two cards of the same denomination
6 Flush Five non-consecutive denomination cards of the same suit
7 Straight Five consecutive denomination cards of different suit
8 Three of a Kind Three cards of the same denomination
9 Two Pairs Two sets of pairs of the same card denomination
10 One Pair Two cards of the same denomination
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Gameplay
Table Limits
Table Type Minimum Bet Maximum Bet
I $2 $20
II $5 $50
III $25 $400
General Text Boxes
Message - This indicates whether 'You are the Player' or whether 'You are the Dealer'.
Opponent - This tells you the name (or nickname) of your current opponent.
Last Round - This tells you how much you've won or lost in the previous round.
Credit Points - This is your current Credit Points balance. As Player, you accumulate 1 Credit Point on every dollar you place as a bet. As Dealer, 1 Credit Point is deducted for every 1 dollar bet against you (see example below).
Fun Balance / Balance - This is your current Fun / Real-Money Balance (in US dollars).
Commission - When playing as Dealer, you pay a commission of 1.5% on the total bets placed against you (when playing as Player you do not pay commissions), see example below.
General Options
Back - Pressing 'Back' returns you to the Options Screen.
'?' (Help) - Pressing 'Help' opens the Help screen relevant to the room you're currently in. In this case, Blackjack.
'$' (Cashier) - Pressing '$' opens the Cashier screen.
Timer - This is the circle at the bottom-right corner of the screen. On every round, you have 45 seconds to make your decisions when playing as Player, and 35 seconds to make your decisions when playing as Dealer. The Timer indicates how much time you have left before reaching the time limit. If you haven't finished making your decisions during the specified time limit, you will exit the table.
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Playing as Player
Online Casino Dealer Casino lets you play either as Player or as Dealer. Playing as Dealer is optional and is not mandatory. If you do not wish to play as Dealer, you can play the traditional role of the Player, knowing you can rely on the fairness and credibility of BeTheDealer Casino.
Pai Gow Text Boxes
Bet Labels - These labels appear to the left of your bet and inform you how much money you have placed on the table.
Won / Lost Labels - These labels appear above the cards and indicate whether you have won or lost.
Game Options
Game Chips: $1, $5, $25 and $100
With the Game Chips you make your bet on the table by creating a "Chip Tower". You may remove chips from the Chip Tower by clicking on the left mouse button while placing the cursor on the Chip Tower.
Deal
Once you've placed your bets on the table press 'Deal' to deal the cards.
Game Cards
Click on the Game Cards to select the two cards that you want to set as the Low Hand. The cards must be set in such a way that the two-card (Low) hand has a lower poker rank than the five-card (High) hand.
Split
When setting the two cards above the other cards press split and the two hands will be split.
House Way
You may ask the house to automatically set your cards by pressing the "House Way" button.
Disconnections
Communication problems over the Internet may cause sudden disconnections. We have designed our software to cope with such incidents in a manner that our clients will be protected from unjustifiable loss, while eliminating the possibility of intentional disconnections and/or system abuse.
Should a disconnection or timeout occur after the Player placed his/her bet and before the Player pressed the 'Deal' button, the Player's bet will be returned to his/her Balance.
Should a disconnection or timeout occur after the Player pressed the 'Deal' button, the round will continue as if the Player had decided to split his/her hand according to the House Way.
After connection is re-established the Player can enter the "History" page and see the results of the last round ("History" is available for Money mode only).
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Playing as Dealer
Online Casino Dealer Casino offers you the unique option of playing the role of the Dealer. This option increases your chances of winning, since you gain some of the favorable odds reserved for the casino. At the end of every round the casino takes a commission of 1.5% of the total bets bet against the Dealer.
Example
A Dealer chooses to play in Table II. This means that the Dealer meets the minimum requirements for playing in this table type: a minimum of 50 Credit Points and a minimum balance of $60. The system then matches a Player to the Dealer and after the Dealer 'Approves' the next round, the Player places his/her bets on the table. Notice that the view of the table has changed to that of the Dealer's. Let's say the Player places $50 and receives 2,3,7,8,K,K,A. The Player sets A,8 as the Low hand, and 2,3,7,K,K as the High hand. The Dealer's hand is: A,A,2,3,4,5,6. According to the House Way, the Dealer sets the pair of Aces as the Low hand, and 2,3,4,5,6 (straight) as the High hand. The Dealer beats both the Player's High and Low hands, thus winning the round. The Player loses his/her bet and since the bet against the Dealer was $50 the casino takes a commission of 1.5%*50 = $0.75, which means the Dealer wins 50-0.75 = $49.25 on this round. The casino's edge in Pai Gow with these rules is approximately 2.9% (bear in mind that this 2.9% is how the casino makes a profit on Pai Gow) so as the Dealer you actually gain an edge of about 1.4%.
Minimum Credit Points and Balance
You can play as Dealer once you have accumulated enough Credit Points and in addition you need to have enough money in your Balance, according to the game's limits described in the Game Options page.
The Minimum Balance required is a bit higher than the total winnings of the Player in a given round, which are: (Maximum Bet) + 1.5%(Casino commission) * (Maximum Bet)
Game Options
" Approve" Button / 'Auto-Approve' Feature
When playing as Dealer, before each round commences you must 'Approve' the next round. After you approve the round, the Player can place his/her bets and play the round. The 'Auto-Approve' feature lets you automatically approve the next rounds, without having to approve every round individually.
Disconnections
Communication problems over the Internet may cause sudden disconnections. We have designed our software to cope with such incidents in a manner that our clients will be protected from unjustifiable loss, while eliminating the possibility of intentional disconnections and/or system abuse.
Should a disconnection occur after the Dealer pressed the "Approve" button, play will continue until the Player has finished his turn. This has no effect on the Dealer, since the Dealer is played automatically according to the rules of the game (also called the "House Way").
After connection is re-established the Dealer can enter the "History" page and see the results of the last round ("History" is available for Money mode only).
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