Once both hands are complete, the Low Hand and High Hand are placed face down in front of the player, with the 2-card hand on top, 5-card hand below. The rules of hand development require that the 5-card hand, called the High Hand, be stronger in rank than the 2-card hand, or the Low Hand.įor example, if the Low Hand contains a Pair of Aces, the high Hand must be at least Two Pair or higher (or another Pair of Aces, but that is unlikely, and a good Pai Gow Poker strategy would never say to split 4 Aces into both hands in this manner 3 Aces in the High Hand and Ace High in the Low Hand would be ideal). From these cards, the player must develop two hands – one with 5 cards and another with 2 cards. Pai Gow Poker Rules – Hand DevelopmentĮach player is dealt a total of 7 cards. Up to 7 players, including the dealer, can participate in a single hand of Pai Gow Poker. As with many poker games, the Wild Joker may only be used as an Ace, or to complete a Straight or Flush. Pai Gow Poker is played with a deck of 53 cards, including one Joker. Like many table games – Blackjack for instance – players compete only against the dealer, not one another. Pai Gow Poker can be found in most casinos, both online and land-based. Pai Gow Poker is a card game based on the ancient Chinese tile game of Pai Gow Tiles.