Now let us become versed in some different forms of poker other than hold’em, 7 card stud, five card draw and omaha high. Yes, pai gow poker. Now you might be wondering that pai gow sounds a bit Chinese; yes you are correct, this card game is a blending of the Chinese game pai gow and poker
Certainly this is not one of the highly acclaimed styles of poker but still commonly played. It can be enjoyed by up to 7 players. It’s played with one deck of 52 cards, with a joker. Interestingly, joker can only be used as an ace, or to complete a straight, a flush, a straight flush, or royal flush. The essential detail here to bear in mind is apart from the customary ranking of hands we have an additional winning hand which is "Five Aces" (5 aces including the joker). Surprisingly, 5 aces is greater than every other hand including royal flush. Each player is dealt seven cards. These cards are arranged to make two hands; a two card hand and a 5 card hand. The 5 card hand has to be stronger or be equivalent to the 2 card hand.
After arranging the 2 hands, the cards are placed on the table face down. Once on the table, you can no longer change them. The croupier will turn over their cards and arrange their hands. Each competitors hand is played against the dealer’s hands. If the player take one hand and lose the other, this is known as "push" and absolutely no money is lost or won. If dealer wins the two hands then the player looses their bet and vice versa. Now if there is a draw, the croupier wins all. Once the hand is competed, the very next player clock-wise becomes the croupier and the following hand is given out.