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The game Pai Gow poker actually stems its roots from the Chinese game Pai Gow. Pai Gow in Chinese means 'Make Nine' with the original game being game being played with tiles. The original game is quite complicated to play as the ranking of the tiles, which are reminiscent of dominos, can be complex to understand however the goal is to get as many combinations that are close to the number nine, winning the game is when the player has more combinations closest to nine then the dealer. The dealer would distribute the tiles to each of the players by rolling a dice to determine which player gets which tile.
It was in the 1800's that the game of Pai Gow was brought to North America and had soon evolved into Pai Gow Poker. This poker variation saw the original use of the tiles or dominos merge with the deck of 52 cards used for poker. It was in 1986 that the game came into its own had was about to make its first appearance in the card rooms of California. As time progressed the game started to spread, it was in 1987 that Las Vegas introduced the game into there casinos and by 1988 it had made its way to Atlantic City.
The game is played on a table similar to the size of a Blackjack table, with up to six players being able to participate at one time. This is considered to be a simple game with the offer of making many strategic moves, this gives the player the opportunity to play the game at a much more conservative pace with maximised playing time for very little money or to attempt a quick win. There are two key factors which separate Pai Gow poker from the other poker games.
The first difference is that Pai Gow poker is played with 53 cards rather than the conventional 52 cards, this is because a wild card has been added which would be the 'Joker' however there are stipulations about using the wild card, the only time that it can be used is when the player wishes to complete a straight or a flush, as an Ace card only.
The second difference between the two is that any player at the table can request to be the banker, what this means is that during any one game the other players at the table will compare there cards to the banker instead of the dealer. When this takes place the house will take up to a 5% commission from any winning hands and will take over as the banker every other game.
The game works in this way, the players will all compete against either the house dealer or the banker. Each of the players will be dealt seven cards with these seven cards being divided into to separate hands, this means that the highest ranking hand must contain a total of five cards and the lowest ranking hand two. The overall object of the game is to make sure that both your hands are ranked higher than the dealers or the bankers.
One of the reasons that Pai Gow poker has caught on so well is that it is based purely on memory and has very little to do with following logical number patterns and has a far more simply rule system to follow then any of the poker games that we play today. Pai Gow poker would be a great game to play for first time poker players especially if they want to build up their confidence before trying some of the more complex poker games. Pai Gow can be found in a large number of casinos and can also be played on-line at a number of gabling websites.
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