Pai Gow is an ancient Chinese game played with dominos and dice. Taking along time to play, it can be very complicated and is rarely seen being played in its original form outside of Asia. Over the years this game has been mixed with the traditional Poker game, resulting in Pai Gow Poker. Whilst it has changed considerably, making it easier to understand, it still remains a fairly slow game and is great alternative to the faster casino card games.

Rather using dominos and dice, Pai Gow Poker uses a standard 52 card deck, plus one wild card which is usually a Joker. Unlike most other Poker games, in Pai Gow Poker there are rules as to how the wild card can be played. It can only be used as an Ace or as the fifth card in a Straight or a Flush [see Poker Basics].

After all bets have been placed, both the player and the dealer are dealt 7 cards. These 7 cards must then be separated into two hands known as the 'low' or 'front' hand and the 'high' or 'back' hand. The low hand must consist of 2 cards with the high hand consisting of 5 cards. Once you have split your initial 7 card hand you can not swop cards from one hand to another. Also, the 5 card hand must always be worth more than the 2 card hand. If it is not, it considered a 'foul' and your wager is lost. The object of the game is to beat the dealer with both hands.

The high hand uses Poker hands [see Poker Basics] to determine the winner. However, because of the wild card there are exceptions to this. As it can be counted as an Ace, it is possible to hold 5 Aces which would beat a Royal Flush. Also, a Straight consisting of A, 2, 3, 4, 5 would ordinarily be the lowest Straight. In this game it is the second highest, beating a 9, 10, J, Q, K.

If both of the players hands lose to the dealer, the dealer wins and their wager is lost. If one hand wins and the other one loses, it is a 'push' or a tie. In this case, the wager is returned to the player. When both of the players hands beat those of the dealer, the player wins and their wager is paid at 1 to 1. However, all winning hands are subject to 5% comission which must be paid to the dealer. If both of the players hands are the same as the dealers, it is known as 'copies'. If this is the case, the player loses their wager.