Free Pai Gow Poker Online

This free Pai Gow Poker game is just like playing the real thing! Pai Gow is a popular, fast-paced two-handed version of poker.

This game is part of the free online brain games collection.

To begin, click the Small, Medium, or Large button under the picture of the game. This opens the game in a pop-up window.

If you like this game, you might enjoy the other free online card games on this site, such as Rummy Multiplayer.

Instructions - Free Pai Gow Poker

All the card games on Memory-Improvement-Tips.com are for amusement and brain training only. There is no actual money involved.

HOW TO PLAY. In Pai Gow poker, you play cards against a dealer, as you would in card games like Blackjack. Unlike Blackjack, however, in Pai Gow you play two hands of cards at the same time. One of your hands has five cards, while the other hand has two cards, for a total of seven cards.

There is no draw pile or discard pile in Pai Gow Poker. The cards that are dealt are the cards you have to play.

The five-card hand is the high hand. By rule, your five-card hand must always be worth more than your two-card hand.

The five card hand sometimes called the "back" hand, due to the location where players usually lay the cards on the table. The five-card hand uses the standard poker rankings: one pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, and so on.

The two-card hand is the low hand. Its value must be lower than the five-card hand.

The two-card hand is also referred to as the "front" hand. At a physical casino, players usually lay the two-hand card in front of the five-hand cards on the table. For the two-card hand, the only poker rankings are high card and one pair.

To win a round, you must beat the dealer with both your five-card hand AND your two-card hand. If you win both hands, you win the money in the pot.

If you win one hand and the dealer wins the other, it is called a Push, or tie. In this case the money stays in the pot. If the dealer wins both hands, the dealer wins the round and the pot.

Pai Gow Game Play: Betting

Before the cards are dealt, you have to first place a bet. In this free Pai Gow poker game, you start with a bank total of $100. As you win or lose hands, the dollar amount of your total bank is automatically displayed in the lower left corner of the game.

To place a bet, first click a denomination icon in the lower left. For example, to bet $5, click the $5 casino chip.

A denomination can be clicked more than once to select multiples of that amount. For instance, click the $10 betting chip three times to bet $30.

If you don't have enough money to select a particular casino chip, that chip will be grayed out. For example, if $47.00 cash is displayed in the lower left, you won't be able to select the $50 or $100 casino chip.

Pai Gow Game Play: The Cards

After placing your bet, click the Deal button to deal the cards. Seven cards are dealt to you and seven to the dealer.

Click on your cards one-by-one to select which cards you want sorted in the five-card hand. Once you select five cards, a new unlabeled button appears to the right of your cards. Click that button to confirm your selection.

If you aren't sure which cards to play, you can click the House Way button to sort them using house rules. However, keep in mind that by choosing the House Way you won't be utilizing your brain power very much.

For this free Pai Gow Poker card game to really function as a brain training exercise, you need to examine the possible combinations available with your hand and select the best strategic five-card, two-card split.

After you either split your cards manually into two hands or click the House Way button, the dealer's hands are shown and the winner is announced. Results will either be Player Wins, Push, or Dealer Wins.

The House Way

At casinos, the dealer is usually required to play his hand using selected rules. This is known as the House Way.

In this free Pai Gow Poker game, you can choose to sort your cards using the House Way, too. Simply click the House Way button after your hand is dealt.

Examples of house way rules might be: 1) If the cards don't form a pair, then the highest card is placed in the back hand and the next two highest cards are placed in the front hand; 2) If there is one pair, then the pair is placed in the back hand with the next two highest cards in the front; 3) If there are three pair, always place the highest pair in front.

It's really not necessary to memorize the exact House Way rules in this free Pai Gow Poker online game. Simply know that you can choose to use those rules by clicking the House Way button if you are not sure how to manually arrange your cards in the best way. If you want to learn more about how the House Way works, there are various sites on the web that dive into the concept in detail.

A Little Pai Gow Poker History

Pai Gow poker is a recently developed variation of standard poker. It has only been around since 1985. The game was created by Sam Torosian, owner of the Bell Card Club in Los Angeles, who was looking for new card games to increase business for his casino.

Torosian hit a home run with his invention. Pai Gow poker has become popular around the world for its fast-paced action and unusual rules.

But Torosian himself never cashed in on the game. Having received bad legal advice, he neglected to patent it. Over the years he hasn't received any of the millions of dollars in royalties he could have collected from the many casinos worldwide where his game is played.

Card games like this free Pai Gow poker game train important brain skills such as concentration, logical reasoning, and mathematical skills. Play these games often to give your brain a boost!

Published: 04/10/2020
Last Updated: 06/11/2020