Atlassino Academy · Other tables · Lesson 6 of 10
Pai Gow Poker: the deal and the price
Seven cards make a five-card hand and a two-card hand. Here is how both are compared with the banker’s, who keeps an equal hand, what the joker can be, and what the commission and an hour cost.
Seven cards, two hands, and the banker’s two hands to compare them with. When is your bet paid, when does it come back, and when is it lost?
The short answer
Your five-card hand is compared with the banker’s five-card hand, and your two-card hand with the banker’s two-card hand. Higher in both comparisons: the bet is paid even money, less a commission. Higher in one: a push, and the bet comes back. Higher in neither: lost, and a hand exactly equal to the banker’s counts as the banker’s. On average the game costs about 2.80% of each bet, give or take 0.02%, by our own simulation. At an example bet of $10, an hour costs about $9.50; the $10 is only an example, not a table minimum and not a suggested bet.
Banker
Five-card hand Pair of tens
Two-card hand Ace high
You
Five-card hand Pair of kings
Two-card hand Ace high
The banker above, you below. Your pair of kings is higher than the banker’s pair of tens; the two-card hands are the same ace and queen in different suits, and an equal hand goes to the banker. One comparison each: a push.
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
I dealt this game for years, and most of a pai gow round is quiet: seven cards, two hands, two comparisons with the banker. Two things catch people out every night: a hand exactly equal to the banker’s, and what the joker is allowed to be. Both are on this page.
Seven cards, two hands and the joker
Pai gow poker is played against the banker, who is the dealer or a player taking a turn at the bank. It is dealt from a standard deck of 52 cards and one joker, 53 cards in all, and every player and the banker are dealt seven of them.
Seven cards dealt: the joker, two kings, a nine, a seven, a four and a two. Set into two hands: the five-card hand keeps the pair of kings with the seven, the four and the two; the two-card hand takes the joker and the nine.
Seven cards dealt
Five-card hand Pair of kings
Two-card hand Ace high
The seven cards on the left, set into the two hands on the right. The five-card hand keeps the pair of kings; the two-card hand takes the joker and the nine, and a joker in a two-card hand counts as an ace. Which cards go where is lesson 9.7.
From your seven cards you make a five-card hand and a two-card hand; under the rules for B.C. casinos the two-card hand goes in the front box and the five-card hand in the back box. The banker’s seven cards are set into two hands the same way, and then each of your hands is compared with the banker’s hand of the same size. The five-card hand has to rank at least as high as the two-card hand: a hand set the other way round is a fouled hand, and a fouled hand is lost. At Fallsview Casino Resort the banker’s hand has a foul rule of its own: a banker’s fouled hand is set again by the house ways, the order Fallsview Casino Resort prints for setting seven cards, which lesson 9.7 goes through.
- In a straightStraight to the nineThe joker completes the straight. A nine or a four would do it; we count the joker as the nine, which makes the higher straight.
- In a flushFlush, ace highNeither set of rules says which card the joker is in a flush; we count it as the highest card of that suit the hand is missing, here the king of hearts.
- Anywhere else, an aceTwo pair, queens and sevensThe joker is an ace beside the two pairs: never a third queen, and never a full house.
- Four aces and the jokerFive acesFour aces and the joker make five aces. We count five aces as the highest five-card hand.
Each tile is five cards with the joker among them, and the line under the cards is the hand the five cards make.
The joker can be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush or a straight flush: that is the rule for B.C. casinos. The rules for Quebec casinos say the same, with the royal flush named on its own, and they name five aces, four aces and the joker, as a hand.
One straight is not ranked the same everywhere. Under the rules for B.C. casinos A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest straight and the lowest straight flush; the house ways printed by Fallsview Casino Resort make it the second highest. So the rule for B.C. casinos is not the rule at every table; every figure and every round of the practice run on this page uses it.
- Under the rules for B.C. casinosthe lowest straightbelow 2-3-4-5-6, and the lowest straight flush too
- In the house ways printed by Fallsview Casino Resortthe second highest straightbelow 10-J-Q-K-A, above 9-10-J-Q-K
The same five cards, ranked by two documents. The difference matters only when a straight or a straight flush runs from the ace to the five.
Two hands against the banker’s two hands
Your five-card hand is compared with the banker’s five-card hand, and your two-card hand with the banker’s two-card hand. If both of your hands are higher, the bet is paid even money, less the commission; if one is higher and the other is not, the bet is a push and comes back; if neither is higher, the bet is lost.
| Your five-card hand | Your two-card hand | Your example $10 |
|---|---|---|
| Higher | Higher | paid even money, less the commission: $9.50 beside the bet |
| Higher | Lower or equal | a push: the bet comes back |
| Lower or equal | Higher | a push: the bet comes back |
| Lower or equal | Lower or equal | lost |
| Two-card hand set above the five-card hand | lost: a fouled hand | |
“Lower or equal” is one column for a reason: an equal hand goes to the banker, so for your bet an equal hand works exactly like a lower one. Every paid bet also gets back the $10 that was bet.
When your hand and the banker’s hand are exactly equal, that hand goes to the banker. Equal means equal all the way through: under the rules for Quebec casinos, two hands are identical only when every card outside the combination is equal in rank too. An equal hand does not lose the bet on its own, because the other comparison still decides: if your other hand is higher, the bet is a push; if the banker’s other hand is higher, or equal too, the bet is lost.
| Five-card hands | Two-card hands | Your bet |
|---|---|---|
| yours higher: pair of kings against pair of tens | equal: A♥ Q♣ against A♦ Q♠, so the banker’s | a push: the bet comes back |
| equal: J♠ J♥ 8♠ 6♥ 4♣ against J♦ J♣ 8♦ 6♣ 4♦, so the banker’s | yours higher: K♥ 9♣ against Q♥ 10♣ | a push: the bet comes back |
| the banker’s higher: pair of queens against pair of nines | equal: A♣ J♦ against A♠ J♥, so the banker’s | lost |
| equal: J♠ J♥ 8♠ 6♥ 4♣ against J♦ J♣ 8♦ 6♣ 4♦, so the banker’s | equal: A♠ Q♥ against A♦ Q♣, so the banker’s | lost |
In every row the equal hand is the banker’s, and the other comparison decides the bet.
The commission, the banker and another version of the game
A bet that is paid is paid even money, and the house takes a commission of 5% from the payout. Under the rules for B.C. casinos the commission is charged on every paid bet. Under the rules for Quebec casinos the commission is charged where the table says so, and on a bet that is not a multiple of ten it is worked out on the next multiple of ten above the bet.
A paid bet of an example twenty-five dollars, under two rules for the commission: the payout at even money, less the commission, is what you take beside the bet.
Under the rules for B.C. casinos
Under the rules for Quebec casinos
The $25 is an example bet. A push and a lost bet pay no commission. The price further down this page leaves the rounding used in Quebec out; the practice run uses it in the one round that names it.
The banker does not have to be the dealer. Under the rules for B.C. casinos the dealer banks the first hand, the bank is then offered to the player on the dealer’s right and moves round the table, and the dealer banks every other hand. Every price on this page puts the dealer in the banker’s seat.
- B.C.: the first handthe dealer banksthe dealer starts as banker
- B.C.: after the dealera player may bankoffered first to the player on the dealer’s right, then round the table
- B.C.: every other handthe dealer banks againthe dealer holds the bank on alternate hands
- Quebecnever twice in a rowthe same player may not bank two games running
Fallsview Casino Resort, in Ontario, also deals another version of the game, Face Up Pai Gow Poker: the dealer’s cards are dealt face up, as they are not in the standard game, so you set your hand having seen them; no commission is taken from a bet that is paid, and when the dealer plays ace-high your bet is a push. That is a different game with its own rules, not a different reading of the commission rule, and its price is not worked out on this page.
At Fallsview Casino Resort, if you ask, the dealer will set your hand by its house ways. The rules we could read for B.C. and Quebec casinos say nothing about a player making that request, which is not the same as saying no. Setting the seven cards yourself is lesson 9.7.
- Fallsview Casino Resort: house waysset on requestthe dealer sets your hand by the house ways if you ask
- Fallsview Casino Resort: Face Up Pai Gow Pokerno commissionthe dealer’s cards face up; a dealer playing ace-high makes your bet a push
- Rules for B.C. and Quebec casinosno request printedneither mentions a player asking the dealer to set a hand
What a round and an hour cost
No Canadian document we could read prints what pai gow poker costs, so the price here is our own. It comes from 10,000,000 simulated rounds with a fixed seed: every hand of yours and of the banker set by the house strategy in the rules for B.C. casinos, their printed order for setting seven cards, A-2-3-4-5 as the lowest straight, the dealer as banker, and the commission worked out on what a paid bet is paid.
- The price of the game2.80%of each bet on average, give or take 0.02%
- Rounds that end in a pushabout 41%the bet comes back, nothing paid or lost
- Rounds with at least one equal handabout 2.7%the equal hand goes to the banker
The price of pai gow with both hands set by the house strategy is a simulation of many hands with a fixed seed, shown with its margin. Run again with the same seed, the simulation repeats to the last digit.
No Canadian document we could read prints how many rounds an hour a pai gow poker table deals either. The figure used here is the one in the Las Vegas Strip rating table: 34 hands an hour, and a hand there is one round of the game.
- One round$0.28on average, at an example bet of $10, rounded to the cent.
- Rounds in an hour34the figure in the Las Vegas Strip rating table.
- One hour$9.50on average, give or take $0.08, from the unrounded price of a round.
The hour is the price of a round times the rounds in an hour: a long-run average and not a forecast, and one hour can come out well above it or well below it. Amounts are in Canadian dollars. Price of an hour works out an hour for your own bet and your own hours.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Many rounds end in a push, and a push costs nothing. That makes a round cheap; it does not make a round free, and the house keeps its edge on every bet you make across the hour.
Decide at home how much money and how much time the evening gets, and stop when either one is used up. Putting more down to get a loss back only buys more rounds at the same price, and lesson 10.3, Chasing losses, is about exactly that.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. 19+ in most of Canada; 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. More on responsible gaming.
Practice: play the round
Every round in the practice run has been dealt and set: the banker’s two hands above, yours below. Level 1 asks what happens to your bet and what the commission takes from a bet that is paid, and in two rounds you have set your own cards. Level 2 asks about the two things that catch people out: a hand exactly equal to the banker’s, and what the joker counts as.
Nothing is bet here, and the amounts are examples. Both hands are set by the house strategy in the rules for B.C. casinos, with A-2-3-4-5 as the lowest straight, except in the rounds where you set your own cards; one round follows the commission rule for Quebec casinos, and says so.
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Level 1 · Settle the round
Banker
Five-card hand Pair of fours
Two-card hand King high
You
Five-card hand Two pair, tens and eights
Two-card hand Ace high
Your bet: $10, an example bet
Both hands are set, yours and the banker’s. What happens to your example $10 bet?
- Paid even money, less the commission: you take $9.50 beside the bet Five-card hands: yours (two pair, tens and eights, 10♠ 10♦ 8♠ 8♦ 3♣) is higher than the banker’s (pair of fours, 8♣ 5♠ 4♠ 4♦ 2♦). Two-card hands: yours (ace high, A♠ 7♥) is higher than the banker’s (king high, K♣ Q♥). Both of your hands are higher, so the bet is paid even money, and the commission of $0.50 comes off the payout.
- Paid even money with nothing taken off: you take $10 beside the bet The payout is even money, and a paid bet still pays its commission of $0.50.
- A push: the bet comes back Both of your hands are higher, and a push needs one of them to be lower or equal.
- Lost Both of your hands are higher; the bet is lost only when neither of them is.
Each of your hands is compared with the banker’s hand of the same size. Both of yours higher: paid even money, less the commission. One higher and one not: a push. Neither higher: lost.
Level 2 · Equal hands and the joker
Banker
Five-card hand
Two-card hand
You
Five-card hand
Two-card hand
The joker is in your five-card hand. What does the joker count as there?
- An ace Counted as an ace, the joker would make only ace high; in your five-card hand (Joker 9♦ 8♥ 7♣ 5♦) the joker completes straight to the nine.
- The card that completes a straight or a flush The joker completes straight to the nine in your five-card hand (Joker 9♦ 8♥ 7♣ 5♦); counted as an ace, the joker would make only ace high.
- Any card at all The joker is not any card you like: the joker can be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush or a straight flush, so the joker never makes a pair of any other rank.
The joker can be used only as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush or a straight flush. Where more than one card would complete the hand, we count the joker as the one that makes it higher.
Every round in the practice run is worked out the same way: dealt from one shuffled deck of fifty-two cards and the joker, both hands set by the house strategy in the rules for B.C. casinos, and settled by the same rules as the tables on this page.
How the practice run works
Where the rounds come from. Every round is dealt in advance by our pai gow engine from a shuffled deck of fifty-two cards and the joker, with a fixed seed, so every visitor plays the same rounds. Both hands are set by the house strategy, each comparison is made by the rules for B.C. casinos, and a paid bet is settled at even money less the commission. The wrong answers are named mistakes: the commission forgotten, the commission worked out without the rounding, an equal hand taken for your own, a fouled hand compared as if it were set right, and the joker taken for any card at all.
One strip, and no rounds of practice. Every square on the strip is one round of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself, with no button in between. Practising a round you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.
Your progress stays in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Three quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. Your bet is paid when both of your hands are higher than the banker’s, comes back when one of them is, and is lost when neither is; a hand exactly equal to the banker’s counts as the banker’s.
Where to go next, and further reading
19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page
Further reading
- Rules of Play for Table Games — Poker · BCLCThe B.C. rules for Pai Gow Poker: the joker, the two hands, the fouled hand, the commission and who takes a tie.
- Game rules: Pai Gow Poker · Loto-QuébecQuébec’s rules: the joker, the two hands, when a hand is a push, and how the commission is rounded.
- Playing Face Up Pai Gow Poker — House Ways · Fallsview Casino ResortA commission-free version of the game and the full list of house ways one casino prints.
How it’s worked out
Rules, numbers, pace, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every rule and price on this page is for a live pai gow poker table in a room you can walk into, with the dealer as banker unless the page says otherwise. Face Up Pai Gow Poker appears only as a different version of the game dealt at one room.
Rules. The deck, the joker, the two hands, the foul, the comparisons, equal hands, the commission and the bank rotation are the rules for B.C. casinos and the rules for Quebec casinos: rules for a province’s casinos rather than a report of what any one room does. The documents differ in places, and the differences are kept rather than smoothed over: A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest straight in the rules for B.C. casinos and the second highest in the house ways of Fallsview Casino Resort, while the line where the rules for Quebec casinos rank it is not among the ones quoted here; the commission is rounded in one province and not in the other; and asking the dealer to set your hand is printed by one room only. Which card the joker stands for in a flush or a straight, and that five aces are the highest five-card hand, are our reading, not lines of the rules.
Numbers. Every price here is our own. The price of the game is a simulation of 10,000,000 rounds with a fixed seed, both hands set by the house strategy in the rules for B.C. casinos with A-2-3-4-5 as the lowest straight, the dealer as banker and the commission worked out on what a paid bet is paid; the rounding used in Quebec is not in it. The payouts and commissions in the tables and the practice run are settled round by round by the same engine. Amounts under ten dollars are shown to the cent, and every figure is worked out from unrounded values. Our checks recompute every figure from the engine rather than reading it back from this page.
Pace. No Canadian document we could read prints how many rounds an hour a pai gow table deals. The figure here is the one our Price of an hour tool uses and names: 34 hands an hour in the Las Vegas Strip rating table. It carries no source button on this page, and your table may be faster or slower.
What is deliberately absent. How to set the seven cards yourself, and the house strategy rule by rule, are lesson 9.7: the hands on this page are set by it, but which of its rules set a hand is not named here. Three Card Poker is lesson 9.1, Pair Plus and the 6 Card Bonus lesson 9.2, Ultimate Texas Hold’em lessons 9.3 and 9.4, Let It Ride lesson 9.5, Sic Bo lesson 9.8, the money wheel lesson 9.9, and choosing among these tables by the price of an hour lesson 9.10. Side bets at pai gow tables, the price of Face Up Pai Gow Poker and the price of playing as banker are not worked out here.
Sources. Every rule and every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.
Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. Pai gow poker is played against the house. Knowing how a round is settled lets you check every payment and plan every hour; nothing on this page makes the game cheaper, and nothing here says how an evening at the table would end.
A fouled hand
A hand that is set making the low hand higher than the high hand is a fouled hand and an automatic loser.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 8.3.1 to 8.4.4
The five-card hand must rank equal to or higher than the two-card hand, otherwise the player loses his bet.
d) If the Banker sets a foul hand, the hand will be reset according to House Ways.
Fallsview Casino Resort · Playing Face Up Pai Gow Poker — House Ways · read
Equal hands
The Banker shall win all tie hands.
If the Banker and Player have identical hands, the Banker shall win the hand.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 8.3.1 to 8.4.4
However, if all of the cards outside the combination are equal in rank, the two corresponding hands are deemed identical.
Who banks
The Bank can be any Player or the Dealer.
The Dealer shall act as Banker for the first hand;
After the Dealer banks, the Bank is offered to the first Player on the Dealer's right and then rotates counter clockwise;
The Dealer shall alternate holding the Bank every other hand;
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 1.1 to 2.1.4
The same player may not be the Banker for two consecutive games.
The deck and the joker
It is a seven-card game played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards plus one Joker dealt by a Dealer.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 1.1 to 2.1.4
The Joker is a wild card and can be used only as an Ace, or to complete a straight, flush or a straight flush.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 6.1 to 6.2
Pai Gow Poker is played with a 52-card deck and one Joker.
The Joker has the same rank as an Ace, but may replace any other card to complete a straight, a flush, a straight flush or a royal flush.
FIVE ACES: Four Aces and a Joker
Two hands from seven cards
Each Player using the seven cards dealt creates a five card and a two-card hand that are higher in value than the bank.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 1.1 to 2.1.4
The Players shall rank their cards and set the front or low (2 card) hand in the front box. The front hand is always the second highest hand. The back or high hand (5 cards) is placed in the back box.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 8.3.1 to 8.4.4
Each game, the player tries to obtain a five-card hand and a two-card hand that outrank the Banker’s two corresponding hands, using his seven cards.
A fouled hand
A hand that is set making the low hand higher than the high hand is a fouled hand and an automatic loser.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 8.3.1 to 8.4.4
The five-card hand must rank equal to or higher than the two-card hand, otherwise the player loses his bet.
d) If the Banker sets a foul hand, the hand will be reset according to House Ways.
Fallsview Casino Resort · Playing Face Up Pai Gow Poker — House Ways · read
What the joker can be
It is a seven-card game played with a standard deck of 52 playing cards plus one Joker dealt by a Dealer.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 1.1 to 2.1.4
The Joker is a wild card and can be used only as an Ace, or to complete a straight, flush or a straight flush.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 6.1 to 6.2
Pai Gow Poker is played with a 52-card deck and one Joker.
The Joker has the same rank as an Ace, but may replace any other card to complete a straight, a flush, a straight flush or a royal flush.
FIVE ACES: Four Aces and a Joker
Where A-2-3-4-5 ranks
The hands are played and ranked as traditional poker hands with one exception: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5 is treated as the lowest straight or straight flush.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 6.1 to 6.2
e) The second highest straight or straight flush is Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5.
Fallsview Casino Resort · Playing Face Up Pai Gow Poker — House Ways · read
Paid, push or lost
Both the two card and five card hands must be higher in value than the Banker's for the Player to win.
If only one of the Players' hand is higher than the Banker's hand, the result is a push.
If both of the Players' hands are lower than the Banker's hand, the Player loses their wager.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 8.3.1 to 8.4.4
If both the player’s hands outrank the Banker’s corresponding hands, the player wins and his bet is paid even money.
If one of the player’s hands outranks the Banker’s corresponding hand and his other hand ranks lower or equal to the Banker’s corresponding hand, it is considered a tie and the player’s bet is a push.
In all other cases, the player’s bet loses.
Equal hands
The Banker shall win all tie hands.
If the Banker and Player have identical hands, the Banker shall win the hand.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 8.3.1 to 8.4.4
However, if all of the cards outside the combination are equal in rank, the two corresponding hands are deemed identical.
The commission
A 5% commission shall be charged for all winning wagers.
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 4.1
NOTE: If indicated at the table, the house will collect a 5% commission on winning bets, including all Player Banker’s net winnings.
If the amount of the bet is not a multiple of 10, the commission is calculated on the next higher multiple of 10.
Who banks
The Bank can be any Player or the Dealer.
The Dealer shall act as Banker for the first hand;
After the Dealer banks, the Bank is offered to the first Player on the Dealer's right and then rotates counter clockwise;
The Dealer shall alternate holding the Bank every other hand;
Section 2.0 Pai Gow Poker, 1.1 to 2.1.4
The same player may not be the Banker for two consecutive games.
Face Up Pai Gow Poker
As in standard Pai Gow, each Player and Dealer receive seven cards, but in Face Up Pai Gow Poker™ the Dealer's cards are dealt face-up.
Face Up Pai Gow Poker™ is a commission-free game. You do not pay a 5% commission when you beat the Dealer; however, when the Dealer plays Ace-High, you automatically push.
Fallsview Casino Resort · Playing Face Up Pai Gow Poker — House Ways · read
Asking the dealer to set your hand
c) If requested, the Dealer will set a Player’s hand according to the House Ways.
Fallsview Casino Resort · Playing Face Up Pai Gow Poker — House Ways · read
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