The Way to Play Online Pai Gow Poker

The game that combines the concepts of Asian pai gow and poker, like many card games, can now be played on the internet. Online pai gow poker needs to be played a bit differently from land-based pai gow poker. The most obvious difference is the physical environment and physical action involved in online pai gow poker as opposed to its land-based counterpart.

In land-based pai gow poker, you usually play against a banker with as many as six players at a table. The banker deals seven sets of cards containing seven cards each.

There's no such system of distribution in online pai gow poker. Once you have made your bet (which must fall between the table minimum and maximum), you right click the "Deal" tab. The virtual banker or dealer then places down seven cards for you and seven cards for the banker.

You need to create two hands out of the seven cards. One hand must have two cards and must be set in front of the other hand, which must have five cards.

The five-card hand is judged based on the poker hand ranking system. That is, a royal flush beats a straight flush and all other hands. Straight flush beats a four of a kind and all other hands. Four of a kind beats a full house and all other hands. The next order of hands are as follows: flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, pair, and high card.

Your two-card hand can win in two ways: with a pair or with a high card.

In order to win in online pai gow poker, both your 2-card and 5-card hands must beat both the dealers 2-card and 5-card hands.

Your 2-card hand must always have a value lesser than your 5-card hand's value. Otherwise, you lose the game to the dealer.

If you win only one hand, you don't win at all. You tie with the dealer, and you don't get anything nor lose anything.

If both your 2-card hand and 5-card hand end up having the same rank value as the banker's, this circumstance is referred to as a copy. For a copy, the banker gets to collect your bet.

In sum, online pai gow poker follows the same rules as land-based pai gow poker except in two cases: distribution of cards and placing of bets. To adapt to its virtual environment, placing of bets in online pai gow poker is done by clicking chip or bet buttons. Cards are distributed, not in seven sets of seven cards but in two sets: one for the player and one for the dealer. Then it's a one-on-one match between the banker and the player--- definitely.