Free Pai Gow Poker
Practice only. No real money, ever.
Session stats
How to play
- Deal — you and the dealer each get seven cards from a 53-card deck: a standard deck plus one joker.
- Set your hands — tap two cards to move them into your two-card hand. The other five are your five-card hand. Tap a card again to move it back.
- One rule for setting — the five-card hand must rank higher than (or equal to) the two-card hand. If your two-card hand is a pair, the five-card hand needs at least an equal pair. The game won't let you submit an illegal ("fouled") setting and tells you what to fix.
- Two-card hands — only pairs and high cards count. A pair of Aces is the best possible two-card hand.
- Compare — your five-card hand plays the dealer's five-card hand; your two-card hand plays the dealer's two-card hand.
- Win both — you win even money, minus a 5% commission on the win. Win one, lose one — push, your bet comes back. Lose both — you lose.
- Ties ("copies") go to the dealer. A tied hand counts as a loss for you, so a win plus a copy is a push, and a loss plus a copy is a loss.
The joker & house rules
- Joker in the five-card hand — it can complete a straight, flush or straight flush. If it doesn't, it counts as an Ace. It is not fully wild: it can't turn two pair into a full house.
- Joker in a flush — counts as the highest card of that suit you don't already hold.
- Joker in the two-card hand — always an Ace.
- Five Aces (four Aces plus the joker) is the best hand, above a royal flush.
- A-2-3-4-5 is the second-highest straight, just below A-K-Q-J-10 (standard in Nevada and California).
- Banking — the dealer always banks. Player banking isn't offered.
The house way, step by step
The dealer sets every hand with these rules, in this order. Auto Arrange uses the same rules for you. The joker counts as an Ace when grouping pairs.
- Five Aces — split off a pair of Aces for the two-card hand, unless you also hold a pair of Kings (then Kings go low).
- Four of a kind — with a pair or trips on the side, keep the four together and put the pair low. Otherwise: 2s–6s, keep together. 7s–10s, keep together if an Ace can go low, else split into two pairs. Jacks or higher, split into two pairs.
- Two three-of-a-kinds — split the higher set and put that pair low.
- Full house — split it: three of a kind high, the pair low. Exception: a pair of 2s with an Ace and King on the side stays together, A-K low.
- Three of a kind — three Aces: pair of Aces high, one Ace plus the next card low. Others: keep the set high, unless a straight or flush lets a pair go low.
- Three pair — highest pair low.
- Two pair — split them, lower pair low. Exception: if the higher pair is 10s or lower and you hold a single Ace, keep both pairs high and put the Ace low.
- Straight or flush (with no two pair or better) — play it in the five-card hand, choosing the version that leaves the strongest two-card hand.
- One pair — pair high, the next two highest cards low.
- Nothing — highest card high, the second and third highest cards low.
Why it plays so slow
About 41% of Pai Gow hands push: you win one hand and lose the other, and nobody gets paid. That's why the game is popular with players who want a long session on a small bankroll. You decide fewer outcomes per hour than at almost any other table.
What it costs
The 5% commission on wins plus the dealer winning every copy add up to a house edge of about 2.73% per hand when you set your cards the house way. 0stakes measured that figure by running this exact game engine for 1,000,000 hands, with both sides using the house way. Expert hand-setting can shave a little off, but not much: the house way is already close to optimal.
Strategy tips
- Put your best possible two-card hand low as long as the five-card hand stays legal and strong. The two-card hand decides a lot of pushes.
- With two pair, splitting is usually right. Both pairs high leaves a weak two-card hand that rarely wins.
- With no pair, the top card stays high and the next two go low. Don't break up an Ace-high five-card hand to make a King-Queen low.
- If you're unsure, tap Auto Arrange: you'll be playing exactly the dealer's strategy.
The house way explained, with simulated examples →
Exactly what the joker can and can't do →