Now let’s learn some alternate styles of poker other than hold’em, 5 card stud, five card draw and Omaha. Yes, pai gow poker. Now you must be wondering that pai gow sounds a bit Chinese; well you are right, this game is a mixture of the Chinese game pai gow and our very own American poker
Clearly this isn’t one of the most acclaimed forms of poker but still broadly played. It can be enjoyed by up to 7 players. It is played with 1 deck of 52 cards, plus a joker. Interestingly, the Joker can only be used as an ace, or to finish off a straight, flush, a straight flush, or royal flush. The critical element here to always remember is aside from the typical ranking of hands we’ve an additional winning hand which is "Five Aces" (5 aces including the joker). Surprisingly, five aces beats every other hand including royal flush. Every player is given seven cards. These cards are aligned to create 2 hands; a 2 card hand and a five card hand. The 5 card hand must rank higher or be equal to the two card hand.
After arranging the two hands, the cards are positioned on the table with the faces down. Once on the table, you can no longer switch them. The croupier will flip over his cards and make their hands. Every players hand is played against the dealer’s hands. If the player wins 1 hand and loses the other, this is called a "push" and absolutely no cash is exchanged. If croupier wins both hands then the player gives up their wager the opposite is true if the player wins both hands. Now if there is a tie, the dealer wins all. Once the hand is played, the very next person clock-wise becomes the dealer and the next hand is given out.
