How to Play Pai Gow Poker Online

Where These Rules Apply

The regulations quoted on this page are Pennsylvania's. Chapter 645a of 58 Pa. Code specifies this game for the physical tables Pennsylvania licenses, and it is quoted here because it is the clearest published specification of how the game is dealt and paid. It governs dealers, cards and chips at a physical table, which is not what an online version of the game runs on: an online table is specified by its operator and by whichever regulator licenses it, and its paytable and house rules can differ from the figures below.

Two Hands From Seven Cards

Pai gow poker gives each player and the dealer seven cards and asks them to make two poker hands out of them: a five-card high hand and a two-card low hand. Both of the player's hands are then compared with both of the dealer's. Winning both wins the bet, losing both loses it, and winning one while losing or tying the other is a push. The game produces a great many pushes, which is what gives it its unhurried reputation — and also why its cost is easy to understand only once two specific rules are on the table.

The Two Rules That Build the House Edge

The first is the commission. Pennsylvania's table-game rule 58 Pa. Code § 645a.13 pays a winning pai gow poker wager at 1 to 1 and then requires the house to take a vigorish equal to 5% of the amount won, rounded up to the next 25 cents where chip denominations demand it, collected when the payout is made. A winning bet is therefore worth slightly less than the stake, unless the table is the commission-free variant described below.

The second is the copy hand. Under § 645a.11 the wager loses where either of the player's hands is identical in rank to the dealer's corresponding hand and the other hand is identical or lower. Ties within a hand go to the house, not to the player.

Commission-Free Pai Gow Poker Is Licensed Too

The 5% vigorish is Chapter 645a's rule, and it is not the only version of the game Pennsylvania licenses. 58 Pa. Code § 645c.1 permits an operator to offer 'a variation of Pai Gow Poker in which no vigorish is collected', and the section's own definitions call commission-free pai gow poker 'a variation of Pai Gow Poker in which vigorish is not collected'. What the same section puts in the commission's place is the Tiger 9 — the dealer's two-card low hand containing a 9-high. Where the dealer has one, 'all Pai Gow Poker wagers shall push and be returned to the player', and the layout has to carry an inscription telling players so. An operator running the variant may also offer a Tiger 9 wager, which wins when the dealer's low hand is 9-high and is paid at 30 to 1. The commission stated everywhere else on this page is the Chapter 645a rule; on a commission-free table it is not collected at all, so which of the two rule sets a table runs is worth checking before the chips go down.

Setting the Hands, and Fouling Them

The player's decision is the split, and the regulation constrains it: the five-card high hand must rank equal to or higher than the two-card low hand, with the regulation giving its own worked example of a pair of sevens. A hand set the other way round is a foul and the wager is collected. Players set their own hands, nobody else may touch their cards, and once the two hands are placed face down they may not be touched again. A player who asks for help must be told how the house itself is required to set its hands under the operator's filed rules — the one piece of strategy guidance a table owes a player.

Surrender and Banking

Pennsylvania allows two things many descriptions of pai gow poker omit. A player with no optional side bet may surrender after the dealer's hands are set, announcing it before their own hands are exposed; the wager is collected and the cards taken away unseen. And a player may act as the bank, with co-banking permitted, under procedures each operator files — a banking player settles against the other players rather than against the dealer.

What Is Published

Light & Wonder publishes a 97.47% return for its own online Fortune Pai Gow Poker, game ID 500245. No regulator or testing laboratory publishes a house edge for pai gow poker, and no figure is published for the side bets.

The Side Bets

A Fortune Bonus or Emperor's Treasure wager pays on the player's own seven cards reaching a straight or better, regardless of the dealer. Pennsylvania licenses four Fortune Bonus paytables at 58 Pa. Code § 645a.13(b) and an operator picks one of them in its Rules Submission, so the figures below describe Paytable A rather than the bet. Paytable A runs from 8,000 to 1 for a seven-card straight flush through 400 to 1 for five aces and 50 to 1 for a straight flush down to 3 to 1 for three-of-a-kind and 2 to 1 for a straight, which is the paying floor the bet's qualifying hand implies. Paytable D pays that same seven-card straight flush 2,500 to 1. Paytable A also attaches an Envy Bonus: a fixed cash payment to other players holding the side bet when someone at the table makes a premium hand, from $5,000 for a seven-card straight flush down to $5 for four-of-a-kind — where Paytable D pays $1,000 for that top hand. Placing an optional wager removes the surrender option, which is a trade worth knowing about before the chips go down.

The Object of the Game

Each player and the dealer receive seven cards and split them into two poker hands: a five-card high hand and a two-card low hand. The player's high hand is compared with the dealer's high hand and the player's low hand with the dealer's low hand. Winning both wins the bet, losing both loses it, and splitting them is a push.

The Deck

Pai gow poker is dealt from one 52-card deck plus a single joker. Pennsylvania permits a pack manufactured with two jokers provided only one goes into play, and permits two decks alternating in and out where an automated shuffler is used, with one deck in play per round.

Setting the Hands

This is the player's decision and the regulation constrains it in one way: the five-card high hand must rank equal to or higher than the two-card low hand. The regulation's own example is that if the two-card hand holds a pair of sevens, the five-card hand must hold at least a pair of sevens as well. A hand set the wrong way round — a foul — loses the wager outright, and so does a hand not otherwise set in accordance with the chapter. Players set their own hands, nobody but the dealer and the holder may touch them, and once the two hands are placed face down they cannot be touched again. A player who asks for help is told how the house itself is required to set its hands.

How the Round Is Settled

1. All players set their hands and place them face down.
2. The dealer's seven cards are turned over and set according to the house rules the operator has filed.
3. Each player's two hands are revealed and compared.

The wager loses if both of the player's hands rank below the dealer's. It ties and is returned if the player wins one hand and loses or ties the other. And it loses where either hand is identical in rank to the dealer's and the other is identical or lower — so a copy hand goes to the house.

The Commission

A winning pai gow poker wager is paid at 1 to 1 and the house then takes a commission equal to 5% of the amount won, which Pennsylvania's regulations call the vigorish and allow to be rounded up to the next 25 cents. It is collected at the time the payout is made. A winning bet therefore returns slightly less than even money, which matters to anyone estimating what the game costs. That is Chapter 645a's rule and it is not the only one licensed: under Pennsylvania's table-game rule 58 Pa. Code § 645c.1 an operator may run a commission-free variation in which, in the regulation's own words, 'vigorish is not collected'. On that version a Tiger 9 — the dealer's two-card low hand containing a 9-high — pushes every pai gow poker wager at the table instead, and an optional Tiger 9 wager is paid at 30 to 1.

Surrender

A player who has not placed an optional side bet may surrender after the dealer's hands are set, provided they announce it before their own hands are exposed. The wager is collected and the seven cards are taken away without being shown to the table.

Banking

Pennsylvania allows a player to act as the bank and allows the house to co-bank, under procedures each operator files. A banking player settles against the other players' hands rather than against the dealer's.

The Side Bets

Operators may offer a Fortune Bonus or an Emperor's Treasure wager on the player's seven cards reaching a straight or better. Under Paytable A — one of four the regulation licenses — the Fortune Bonus pays 8,000 to 1 for a seven-card straight flush, 2,000 to 1 for a royal flush with a royal match, 1,000 to 1 for a seven-card straight flush made with the joker, 400 to 1 for five aces, 150 to 1 for a royal flush, 50 to 1 for a straight flush, 25 to 1 for four-of-a-kind, 5 to 1 for a full house, 4 to 1 for a flush, 3 to 1 for three-of-a-kind and 2 to 1 for a straight. The same paytable carries an Envy Bonus — a fixed cash amount, $5,000 down to $5, paid to other players holding the side bet when someone makes a premium hand.

The Decision Is the Split

Pai gow poker asks one question of every hand: how to divide seven cards between a five-card hand and a two-card hand. The constraint is that the five-card hand must rank equal to or above the two-card hand, and the aim is to win both comparisons rather than one. Because winning one and losing the other is a push, a split that makes one hand very strong and the other very weak tends to produce pushes rather than wins.

A Foul Loses the Bet Outright

Pennsylvania's rules are blunt about this: a wager loses if the high hand was not set to rank equal to or higher than the low hand, or if the hands were not otherwise set correctly. There is no correction and no refund. Players may ask the dealer for help, and the regulation requires the dealer to explain how the house itself must set its hands — which is the one piece of strategy information a table is obliged to give out.

The Copy Hand Goes to the House

Where a player's hand is identical in rank to the dealer's corresponding hand, the tie does not favour the player. Under § 645a.11, a wager loses if either hand copies the dealer's and the other hand is equal or lower. That rule, together with the commission, is where the house's margin in the base game sits.

The Commission Is Part of the Price

A winning wager pays 1 to 1 and then 5% of the amount won is taken as vigorish, rounded up to the next 25 cents where the chips require it. Any estimate of what pai gow poker costs that treats a win as even money is leaving that out. Light & Wonder's published figure for its own Fortune Pai Gow Poker — a 97.47% return — is a figure that includes it.

That is the game Chapter 645a describes. Pennsylvania's table-game rule 58 Pa. Code § 645c.1 licenses a second version in which no vigorish is collected at all, so on such a table there is no commission to add into the cost. What the section puts in its place is the Tiger 9: where the dealer's two-card low hand is 9-high, every pai gow poker wager at the table pushes and is returned, and an optional Tiger 9 wager is paid at 30 to 1. Which of the two a table runs has to be read off that table rather than assumed.

The Side Bets Are Separate

The Fortune Bonus and Emperor's Treasure wagers pay on the player's own seven cards and ignore the dealer entirely. They are not covered by the main game's return figure and no regulator, testing laboratory or supplier publishes a figure for them, so the payouts are all that can be given. One structural point is worth knowing: placing an optional side bet removes the option to surrender.

What Strategy Cannot Do

Each round is dealt from a freshly shuffled deck — one deck, or two alternating in and out where an automated shuffler is used, with only one in play per round — and no player may touch another's cards. Nothing carries over between rounds, so no staking pattern changes what the game costs. Setting hands well and avoiding fouls reduces the cost; the commission and the copy-hand rule mean the game still keeps a share of every amount staked.