Pai Gow poker (also called Double-hand poker) is an Americanized version of Pai Gow (in that it is played with playing cards bearing poker hand values, instead of Pai Gow’s Chinese dominoes). The games of Pai Gow poker and Super Pan-9 were created by Sam Torosian and Fred Wolf.
The game is played with a standard 52-card deck, plus a single joker. It is played on a table set for six players, plus the dealer. Each player attempts to defeat the banker (who may be the casino dealer, or one of the other players at the table).
When forming your two hands from your seven cards, the five card hand must be higher than the two-card hand. In other words, if you are dealt A-A-3-5-7-10-J and you can‘t make a flush, you must include the pair of aces it the five-card poker hand, not the two-card poker hand.
Five card hands follow the standard what-beat-what rules, with one exception in some casinos that count A-2-3-4-5 as the second-highest straight. This is the case in some places in Nevada.
The best two-card hands are pairs and then simply high cards. Straights and flushes don’t matter in the two-card hand. The worst possible 2-card hand is 2-3, while the best is a pair of aces.
Determining Who Wins
Each player compares his hands to the banker’s hands. If both the player’s hands beat the banker’s, the player wins. If one of the player’s hands beats the banker’s hands but not the other, it’s considered a push or draw and the player takes back his money. If the banker’s hands beat the player’s, the player loses. If the either of the player’s hands ties with the banker, the banker wins — this is one of the ways the house keeps the advantage.
