Poker comes in many variations, and one of our favorites is Pai Gow Poker, an exciting version of the ancient game of poker. Want to know the best Pai Gow Poker strategy? We’ll explain it in this article.
Play with the best Pai Gow Poker strategy
To play Pai Gow Poker, it’s important to know the rules and the casino’s advantage. The casino has rules that croupiers must follow when playing games like Pai Gow, Blackjack, and Casino Hold’em. This is called the House Way. It’s a strategy that ultimately gives the casino an advantage over players. Our experts explain it step by step and offer tips on playing with the best Pai Gow Poker strategy to increase your chances of winning at non GamStop casinos. If you’re also interested in finding non-GamStop casinos with low deposit thresholds, our guide covers that as well.
Tips for the Best Pai Gow Poker Strategy at non GamStop casinos
We’ve compiled three important tips that can help you play with the best Pai Gow Poker strategy.
Tip 1: Play banker
Let’s start with the first tip for playing with the best Pai Gow Poker strategy. If the online casino you’re playing at offers the option of playing the banker, you should always take advantage of it. Ultimately, the banker always has an advantage over the players. In theory, this advantage is about 0.5 to 1%.
Theoretically, this would hold true if players applied basic strategy perfectly. Since players more often than not fail to do so, the actual advantage (the hold) often exceeds 10%. Another advantage of playing the banker is that a tie is enough to win.
The fewer players at the table, the more often you can play the banker. This leads to another tip: play Pai Gow Poker with as few players as possible.
Tip 2: Arrange your hands yourself
Non GamStop casinos often offer the option of having the dealer rank your hands for you. For more insights, check out our casinopeaches credibility analysis to see how trustworthy these platforms really are. However, it’s better to rank your hands yourself. This is harder than it seems. We often notice that other players tend to form one strong hand, combined with a worthless one. Since you have to win two hands to win, you almost always lose this way with, for example, a royal flush in one hand and an ace and a 3 in one hand. The best way to train yourself to rank hands is to practice as often as possible.
Tip 3: Arrange your hands according to the House Way
The non GamStop casino strategy is generally the one with the highest odds of winning. In online Blackjack, the casino stands on 17 because this simply offers higher odds than standing on 15 or taking another card on 17. This is also called the House Way strategy. So how does this House Way strategy work?
House Way tactic Pai Gow
A strategically sound choice for playing Pai Gow is the House Way strategy. We’ll explain how it works.
No pair or one pair
If you have nothing, not even a pair, then put the highest card in your five-card hand and the second and third highest cards in your two-card hand. If you have a pair, use it in your five-card hand. The highest single card is used for your two-card hand.
Two or more pairs
There are three types of pairs: a low pair (lower than 6), a medium pair (between 7 and 10), and a high pair (picture cards). Two low pairs, two medium pairs, or a combination of these are distributed across the two hands. A pair containing a king or ace and another pair are played together in a five-card hand. With three pairs, the highest pairs are played in a two-card hand.
Three of a kind
In principle, you always keep three of a kind in a five-card hand. An exception is when you have three aces. If you have a three-of-a-kind of aces, the tip is to split them: a pair of aces in your five-card hand and one ace in your two-card hand. If you have two three-of-a-kind, you break open the highest three-of-a-kind and play a pair in your two-card hand.
Straights and Flushes
We’ve combined these two because they essentially follow the same rules. With a 6- or 7-card flush, you play the lowest cards of the flush in the five-card hand, and then play the highest cards in the second hand to increase the odds of winning the two-card hand.
Full House
Normally, a Full House should be split, unless it’s a pair of deuces or an Ace-King that can be played in the two-card hand. If you have two pairs and three of a kind, you should always use the highest pair for the two-card hand. If you have two threes of a kind, you should break the highest three of a kind and use the pair in the two-card hand.
Four of a kind
With a four-of-a-kind, you should split the four-of-a-kind and play a pair in each hand. Unless you also have a three-of-a-kind or a pair, in which case you can leave the four-of-a-kind intact in the five-card hand and play a pair in the other hand.
If you have five ace cards, you split them into three of a kind and a pair. There’s one exception, and that’s when you also have a pair of kings. If you also have a pair of kings, you play this pair in your two-card hand and leave the five aces intact in your five-card hand.
Pai Gow Poker strategy in a nutshell
All in all, it’s a matter of practice and memorizing the basic strategy. You also have to stick to the basic strategy. This is a matter of discipline. It’s absolutely worth it, as it significantly increases your advantage over the bank. This increases your chances of winning money online.
Just like with Blackjack, many people abandon basic strategy because they’re “guessing well” or “having a good day.” In practice, the hold is usually 10% to 15%. The house edge when applying the correct strategy is only 0.5% to 1%. This demonstrates how valuable playing with a strategy can be.