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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Play Pai Gow Poker, Where East Meets West

Pai Gow is a traditional Asian game played, much like Mahjong or Dominoes; with tiles, we all know what Poker is (or we should) and Pai Gow Poker is a crossover of these two games. It's a kind of East meets West sty poker and was invented by Fred Wolf and Sam Torosian, famous casino innovators. It is played with a standard deco of 52 cards and one Joker is left in the pack.

Like most table and card games, Pai Gow Poker has become popularly played online and any casino worth its salt will offer this game. This game is a massive crowd pleaser, it has universal appeal and initially it was invented to get more people into the Commerce Casino in the 1980's where Fred Wolf was the manager.

The aim of the game is to make two poker hands from a hand of seven cards; a two card and a five card hand. The two card hand has to consist of a pair of high ranking cards and the five card hand has to have a higher value than the two card hand. The five card hand is obviously a standard poker hand and the Joker is the "bug".

Check with the online casino where you are playing to see how the Joker ranks. It can be completely wild in which case it substitutes for any other card to make a good hand. Or it can be substitutes as an Ace in the two hand pack and be used to make up a straight flush in the five card hand.

Generally there is a flat fee for playing Pai Gow Poker, with the house taking a rake (commission) from the winnings. Some casinos take up to 5% and although this seems a little expensive, bear in mind that a game of Pai Gow Poker take a long time to play in comparison to other games, so the casino is not able to collect as regularly.

posted by Clark Gamble at Play Pai Gow Poker, Where East Meets West

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