Pai Gow poker is a variation of the Chinese domino
game Pai Gow. Pai Gow first appeared around the mid-1800's,
and Pai Gow poker started gaining popularity in 1986 in Californian
card rooms. Pai Gow is played with a 53-card deck - a standard
deck of 52 cards and one Joker (the Joker may only be used as
an Ace, or to complete a Straight, Flush or Straight Flush).
Pai Gow poker is played one on one, the player against the dealer
(or banker), each competing to make the best possible hands.
After placing an initial bet, both player and dealer receive
seven cards. The object of the game is for the player to split
(or "set") the seven dealt cards into two hands -
a five-card "High" hand, and a two-card "Low"
hand. The cards must be set in such a way that the five-card
hand has a higher poker rank than the two-card hand.
For example, the player's hand is: 6,7,8,9,10,A,A. The player
sets the pair of Aces as the Low hand, and 6,7,8,9,10 (straight)
as the High hand. The dealer's hand is: 2,2,2,A,K,4,5. The dealer
sets the Ace and King as the Low hand, and 2,2,2,4,5 (three
of a kind) as the High hand. The player beats both the dealer's
High and Low hands, thus winning the round.
The hands are ranked according to standard poker rules, with
the exception that an A-2-3-4-5 straight is the second highest
straight. By the way, the best Low hand is a pair of Aces.
After the player finished arranging his/her hands, the dealer
arranges his/her hands according to a set of fixed rules (the
"House Way"). The player's two hands (High and Low)
are then compared with the dealer's two hands (High and Low)
to determine the winner. In order to win, both the player's
High and Low hands must have a higher poker rank than both
the dealer's High and Low hands (according to the Pai Gow
Poker Hand Ranks table below).
If the player's two hands beat the dealer's two hands, the
player wins an amount equal to the initial bet minus a 5%
commission.
If both of the dealer's hands beat both of the player's hands,
the dealer wins.
If the player wins only one of the two hands, the game is
a push and neither the dealer nor the player wins.
If either the five-card hands or the two-card hands rank
exactly the same, the equal hands are called "copies"
of each other. The dealer wins all copy hands. For example,
if the player beats the dealer in the High hand but copies
the dealer with the Low hand, the game is a push. In case
of a push, all bets are returned to the player.
Pai Gow Poker Hand Ranks (from highest to lowest)
The only real difference between Pai Gow poker hand ranks
and standard poker hand ranks is that a five-Aces hand (four
Aces and a Joker) beats a royal flush, and is the highest
hand in the game.
Rank Hand Description
1 Five of a Kind Four Aces and a Joker
2 Royal Flush Five consecutive denomination cards of the same
suit, starting from 10 and ending with an Ace - 10,J,Q,K,A
3 Straight Flush Five consecutive denomination cards of the
same suit
4 Four of a Kind Four cards of the same denomination
5 Full House A set of three cards of the same denomination
plus a set of two cards of the same denomination
6 Flush Five non-consecutive denomination cards of the same
suit
7 Straight Five consecutive denomination cards of different
suit
8 Three of a Kind Three cards of the same denomination
9 Two Pairs Two sets of pairs of the same card denomination
10 One Pair Two cards of the same denomination
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Gameplay
Table Limits
Table Type Minimum Bet Maximum Bet
I $2 $20
II $5 $50
III $25 $400
General Text Boxes
Message - This indicates whether 'You are the Player' or whether
'You are the Dealer'.
Opponent - This tells you the name (or nickname)
of your current opponent.
Last Round - This tells you how much you've
won or lost in the previous round.
Credit Points - This is your current Credit
Points balance. As Player, you accumulate 1 Credit Point on
every dollar you place as a bet. As Dealer, 1 Credit Point
is deducted for every 1 dollar bet against you (see example
below).
Fun Balance / Balance - This is your current
Fun / Real-Money Balance (in US dollars).
Commission - When playing as Dealer, you
pay a commission of 1.5% on the total bets placed against
you (when playing as Player you do not pay commissions), see
example below.
General Options
Back - Pressing 'Back' returns you to the Options Screen.
'?' (Help) - Pressing 'Help' opens the Help
screen relevant to the room you're currently in. In this case,
Blackjack.
'$' (Cashier) - Pressing '$' opens the Cashier
screen.
Timer - This is the circle at the bottom-right
corner of the screen. On every round, you have 45 seconds
to make your decisions when playing as Player, and 35 seconds
to make your decisions when playing as Dealer. The Timer indicates
how much time you have left before reaching the time limit.
If you haven't finished making your decisions during the specified
time limit, you will exit the table.
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Playing as Player
Online Casino Dealer Casino lets you play either as Player
or as Dealer. Playing as Dealer is optional and is not mandatory.
If you do not wish to play as Dealer, you can play the traditional
role of the Player, knowing you can rely on the fairness and
credibility of BeTheDealer Casino.
Pai Gow Text Boxes
Bet Labels - These labels appear to the left of your bet and
inform you how much money you have placed on the table.
Won / Lost Labels - These labels appear
above the cards and indicate whether you have won or lost.
Game Options
Game Chips: $1, $5, $25 and $100
With the Game Chips you make your bet on the table by creating
a "Chip Tower". You may remove chips from the Chip
Tower by clicking on the left mouse button while placing the
cursor on the Chip Tower.
Deal
Once you've placed your bets on the table press 'Deal' to
deal the cards.
Game Cards
Click on the Game Cards to select the two cards that you want
to set as the Low Hand. The cards must be set in such a way
that the two-card (Low) hand has a lower poker rank than the
five-card (High) hand.
Split
When setting the two cards above the other cards press split
and the two hands will be split.
House Way
You may ask the house to automatically set your cards by pressing
the "House Way" button.
Disconnections
Communication problems over the Internet may cause sudden
disconnections. We have designed our software to cope with
such incidents in a manner that our clients will be protected
from unjustifiable loss, while eliminating the possibility
of intentional disconnections and/or system abuse.
Should a disconnection or timeout occur after the Player
placed his/her bet and before the Player pressed the 'Deal'
button, the Player's bet will be returned to his/her Balance.
Should a disconnection or timeout occur after the Player
pressed the 'Deal' button, the round will continue as if the
Player had decided to split his/her hand according to the
House Way.
After connection is re-established the Player can enter the
"History" page and see the results of the last round
("History" is available for Money mode only).
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Playing as Dealer
Online Casino Dealer Casino offers you the unique option of
playing the role of the Dealer. This option increases your
chances of winning, since you gain some of the favorable odds
reserved for the casino. At the end of every round the casino
takes a commission of 1.5% of the total bets bet against the
Dealer.
Example
A Dealer chooses to play in Table II. This means that the
Dealer meets the minimum requirements for playing in this
table type: a minimum of 50 Credit Points and a minimum balance
of $60. The system then matches a Player to the Dealer and
after the Dealer 'Approves' the next round, the Player places
his/her bets on the table. Notice that the view of the table
has changed to that of the Dealer's. Let's say the Player
places $50 and receives 2,3,7,8,K,K,A. The Player sets A,8
as the Low hand, and 2,3,7,K,K as the High hand. The Dealer's
hand is: A,A,2,3,4,5,6. According to the House Way, the Dealer
sets the pair of Aces as the Low hand, and 2,3,4,5,6 (straight)
as the High hand. The Dealer beats both the Player's High
and Low hands, thus winning the round. The Player loses his/her
bet and since the bet against the Dealer was $50 the casino
takes a commission of 1.5%*50 = $0.75, which means the Dealer
wins 50-0.75 = $49.25 on this round. The casino's edge in
Pai Gow with these rules is approximately 2.9% (bear in mind
that this 2.9% is how the casino makes a profit on Pai Gow)
so as the Dealer you actually gain an edge of about 1.4%.
Minimum Credit Points and Balance
You can play as Dealer once you have accumulated enough Credit
Points and in addition you need to have enough money in your
Balance, according to the game's limits described in the Game
Options page.
The Minimum Balance required is a bit higher than the total
winnings of the Player in a given round, which are: (Maximum
Bet) + 1.5%(Casino commission) * (Maximum Bet)
Game Options
" Approve" Button / 'Auto-Approve' Feature
When playing as Dealer, before each round commences you must
'Approve' the next round. After you approve the round, the
Player can place his/her bets and play the round. The 'Auto-Approve'
feature lets you automatically approve the next rounds, without
having to approve every round individually.
Disconnections
Communication problems over the Internet may cause sudden
disconnections. We have designed our software to cope with
such incidents in a manner that our clients will be protected
from unjustifiable loss, while eliminating the possibility
of intentional disconnections and/or system abuse.
Should a disconnection occur after the Dealer pressed the
"Approve" button, play will continue until the Player
has finished his turn. This has no effect on the Dealer, since
the Dealer is played automatically according to the rules
of the game (also called the "House Way").
After connection is re-established the Dealer can enter the
"History" page and see the results of the last round
("History" is available for Money mode only).
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