The Chinese have been playing Pai Gow with dominos since ancient times. Once East met West, however, Pai Gow Poker was born. Credit is given to Sam Torosian, who headed up the California Bell Club card room, for popularizing the new game and helping everyone figure out how to enjoy Pai Gow with playing cards instead of dominoes.
Rules of Pai Gow Poker
In Pai Gow Poker, you’re dealt seven cards. The basic idea is to split them into a five-card “high”
hand and a two-card “low” hand. The high hand has to rank higher than the low (i.e. you can’t put aces into the low hand and leave ten high in the high hand). In a live casino, messing this up is known as “fouling” your hand, and causes the loss of your bet. At Ignition Casino, you’re protected. You get a notification and a chance to fix your hands.
Unlike standard poker games, you also get to work with the Joker in Pai Gow Poker. It’s a semi-wild card that can be used to complete straights, flushes, straight flushes, and the almost-unbeatable royal flush. If you can’t make those hands, the Joker has the value of an ace. This means that you can use it to make five of a kind, aces (the best hand in the game), but not five of a kind, jacks.