Pai Gow Poker Strategy

Online Pai Gow Poker

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Universally recognized as good Pai Gow Poker strategy is to be the banker as often as you can, because ties always go to the banker and therefore, the banker has a statistical edge. Even though it is the banker who must pay a 5% commission on all wins, commissions are calculated only after all wins have been measured against all losses. Once you have located a casino that allows players to be the banker, try to select a table with relatively few players who are making bets much higher than your usual minimum bet. The fewer the players, the more frequently you can be the banker.

Then you want to split your hands according to an optimal strategy. The house's dealer, actually, must split his hands according to the "House Way." House Way rules can be quite complex and can vary from casino to casino though they of course always represent a close to optimal strategy. It is recommended that you procure a copy of the casino's "House Way" and play according to its required hand divisions.

Below you will find a general and simplified guide to setting your Pai Gow Poker hands.

Setting Pai Gow Poker Hands

Your Hand	Set Your Five Card Hand	Set Your Two Card Hand
No Pair	Highest card	Second and third highest cards
One Pair	Pair	Next two highest cards
Two Pair with Pair of Aces	Pair of aces	Other pair
Two Pair	Normally split. Unless your high pair is Jacks or 10's and you have an ace, keep the two pair together and place the ace in the two card hand. If your high pair is nines or lower and you have a ace or a king, keep the two pair together and place the ace or king in the two card hand
Three Pair	Second and third highest pairs	Highest pair
Three of a Kind	If you have 3 aces, play one ace in the two card hand and the pair of aces in the five card hand. With all other's keep the three of a kind together in the high hand
5, 6 or 7 Card Straight	Keep the lowest cards to complete the straight	Two highest cards that keep the five card hand's straight
Straight and Two Pair	Disregard the straight and play as two pair
5, 6, or 7 Card Flush	Keep the lowest complete flush	Two highest cards that keep the five card hand's flush
Flush and Two Pair	Disregard the flush and play as two pair
Flush with Full House including the Joker	Disregard the flush and play as a full house
Full House	Three of a kind	Pair
Three of a Kind and Two Pair	Three of a kind with the lower pair as a full house	Higher pair
Four of a Kind - 2's through 6's	Four of a kind	Next two highest cards
Four of a Kind - 7's through Jacks	Split them except if you have a king or ace you can play in the two card hand
Four of a Kind - Queens, Kings and Aces	Always split
5, 6 or 7 Card Flush	Keep the lowest cards to complete the straight flush	Two highest cards that keep the five card hand's straight flush
Flush and Two Pair	Disregard the straight flush and play as two pair
Five Aces including the Joker	Place a pair of aces in the two card hand
Five Aces with a Pair of Kings	Place the kings in the two card hand

For the advanced player, there is a book which is a sine qua non of the field, Stanford Wong's "Optimal Strategy for Pai Gow Poker." It contains very in-depth analysis of the most favorable hand setting strategies as well as guidelines for playing in such diverse locales as California card houses, where groups of players called "corporations" sometimes bankroll the games, and in Nevada casinos. At the end of the book are some useful quizzes and practice hands.