Pai Gow and Pai Gow Poker: Chinese Tiles and a Very Slow Loss

Pai Gow is played with Chinese dominoes, Pai Gow Poker with a standard deck. Both ask the same question: how do you split seven cards into two hands?

Pai Gow tiles and the ranking system

Pai Gow uses a set of 32 Chinese dominoes split into civil, military and mixed categories. Each player is dealt four tiles and splits them into two pairs, a high hand and a low hand, which are then compared with the banker's.

You win when both hands beat the banker's, lose when both lose, and push when the hands split. Because the banker wins all ties, the house edge sits around 2.5%. The exotic ranking order – Geen, Wong, Gongs and High Nine – is part of the pleasure.

Pai Gow Poker and the house way

Pai Gow Poker uses a 53-card deck with a single joker that acts as an ace or completes straights and flushes. You receive seven cards and must split them into a five-card high hand and a two-card low hand, with the high hand always ranking above the low hand.

Dealers play a fixed 'house way' that removes all judgement from their side and eliminates the possibility of error. Combined with the push on a split, the edge is only about 2.5% – and because a large share of hands push, Pai Gow Poker produces extremely long sessions on a small bankroll.

How to set your hands

Basic strategy follows a clear hierarchy. Keep pairs together unless splitting them strengthens the low hand; play the strongest low hand you can without weakening the high hand below a nine or ten high; and use the joker to complete straights and flushes in the high hand rather than pairing it in the low.

When a hand is genuinely marginal, the standard advice is to protect the low hand – a weak low hand is how most hands become losses.

Frequently asked questions