Pai Gow Online Guide
Pai Gow is a popular casino game that puts an interesting twist on classic poker games. The game revolves around players creating two poker hands, so you should have good grasp on hand rankings. As such, playing Pai Gow online is the perfect game for poker lovers who want to test their skills but without any direct competitors. It’s also a great game to play as a first step before getting involved in regular online poker cash games.
Our recommended list of the best Pai Gow sites as of October 2024:
Contents
- 1 Pai Gow Online Guide
- 2 How To Find The Best Pai Gow Sites
- 3 The Best Online Pai Gow Bonuses
- 4 How To Meet Your Wagering Requirements
- 5 How To Play Pai Gow Poker Online
- 6 How To Win At Pai Gow: Strategies And Tips
- 7 Pai Gow Side Bets And Variants
- 8 Pai Gow: Put Your Poker Skills To Use
- 9 Frequently Asked Questions
How To Find The Best Pai Gow Sites
At Best Online Casino Sites, we’ve made it our mission to keep you informed about where you can play Pai Gai online with great bonuses and exceptional service. Our expert reviewers have scoured the web with very specific criteria in mind to ensure that you can have the best online gaming experience possible. These are the aspects we consider:
Licensing And Security
It’s important to us that our players are only wagering on Pai Gow at legitimate online casinos. That’s why we thoroughly examine every website and ensure that they are licensed in a jurisdiction like Curacao, Isle of Man or Malta. These gaming commissions work hard to ensure that players are protected by specific security protocols, and you can always rest assured that your best interests are being looked after.
Bonuses And Promotions
Every online casino offers bonuses and promotions, but not all of them are particularly generous. As such, we only recommend sites that offer lucrative welcome bonuses that are best suited to Pai Gow and table game players. Here, you’ll find online gaming sites that provide players with many different offers and opportunities to claim bonus cash.
Game Selection
Even if you’re only interested in playing Pai Gow, you should be able to try something new if you should so choose. So, our recommended casinos feature a wide range of table games that you’re sure to enjoy if you already Pai Gow. Our gaming experts keep an eye out for the sites with the best selection of Pai Gow variants, as well as similar games like Caribbean Stud and Casino Hold’em.
Safe Banking And Quick Cashouts
Banking is an important aspect when playing casino games like Pai Gow online. So, we make sure that the sites we recommend only offer the most secure deposit and withdrawal methods, so you never have to worry about where your money is going. We also keep an eye out for Pai Gow sites that offer fast withdrawals that can be processed in 24 hours or less.
The Best Online Pai Gow Bonuses
When you’re playing Pai Gow online, there are plenty of ways for you to earn bonus cash. Here are some of the most generous promotions available at online casinos that will provide you with some extra money to wager on this exciting game:
Welcome Bonus
At online casinos, you can claim a welcome bonus that will provide you with a match on the amount of your first deposit. So, if you deposit $100 at a casino with a 100% welcome bonus, you’ll be given an additional $100. Welcome bonuses sometimes also come with free chips that you can use to play table games like Pai Gow.
No Deposit Bonuses
No deposit bonuses can be pretty rare in the online casino market, but they’re out there. These bonuses don’t require you to spend any money and are paid out as small cash bonuses to your casino balance. They are generally never more than $5 or $10, but they can get you off to a great start.
Reload Bonuses
Reload bonuses are just like welcome bonuses, except they are available to existing players rather than new ones. These types of bonuses allow you to claim a match on your deposit on certain days of the week. The match amount ranges from 25% up to 100%. Reloads are usually offered on designated days of the week, so you should mark your calendar if you don’t want to miss out.
Leaderboard Promos
Leaderboard promotions are good fun if you’re planning to play lots of Pai Gow. At some online casino, you can earn points as you play games. At the end of the week (or month), the players with the most points win bonuses and cash prizes.
Giveaways
Prize draw giveaways are special events that are hosted occasionally at online casinos. Like leaderboard promotions, wagering a certain amount of money on casino games and slots will earn you entries into the draw. At the end of the promotional period, a winner is chosen, and a wide variety of prizes are up for grabs, like holidays, cash, jewelry and gadgets.
How To Meet Your Wagering Requirements
Just about every online casino bonus that you claim will come with wagering requirements, which tell you how much money you have to wager before your bonus can be withdrawn. Most online casinos express this as a multiple, stating that your wagering requirement is, for example, 40x.
What this means is that you’ll have to wager your bonus amount 40 times before it can be withdrawn. So, for example, if you claim a $10 bonus with a 40x wagering requirement, you’d have to spend $400.
There is a twist when it comes to table games like Pai Gow, however. These types of casino games online contribute a small portion to your wagering requirements, and it’s usually never more than 10% or 20%. So, if we were to continue with the example above, for every $4 a slots player has to spend to clear their bonus, a Pai Gow player would have to spend $40.
This means that it can take quite a while for table game players to clear their online casino bonuses. So, it’s important that you keep an eye out for online casinos that offer the lowest wagering requirements. The good news is that most online casinos will release your bonus little by little. So, for every $5 you clear, you should be able to withdraw it.
How To Play Pai Gow Poker Online
Online Pai Gow is a simple poker game that is played against the dealer. Like all table games, the aim is simple: beat the banker. In order to do so, you have to make two poker hands with your seven cards:
- One high hand made up of 5 cards (also called the back hand or big hand)
- One low hand made up to 2 cards (also called the front hand or small hand)
Then, there are three possible outcomes:
1. The Player Wins Both Hands, And Wins The Wager
2. The Dealer Wins Both Hands, And Loses Their Wager
3. The Player Wins One Hand And The Dealer Wins One Hand, And No Money Is Exchanged
The overall concept is incredibly simple but there are a couple of things to remember. Firstly, your big hand must always be worth more than your small hand. For example, if your two-card hand is a pair of kings, your five-card hand must have aces or higher. If you set your hand incorrectly, then your bet is either forfeited to the casino, or it is reset according to house rules. This all depends on which casino you’re playing at.
When setting your two-card hand, you’ll only have high-card hands and pairs. In the five-card hand, you can use any hand, all the way up to a royal flush. If there is a Joker in play, then it can only be used to complete a flush or a straight.
How To Win At Pai Gow: Strategies And Tips
It’s pretty simple to play Pai Gow poker online, but securing a positive outcome requires some strategic thought. There are a number of ways to increase your odds of winning by using Pai Gow strategies and tactics. It all depends on how you set your hand:
If you are dealt one pair there is only one thing to do. You should always play the pair in your five-card hand, and play your two highest cards in your two-card hand.
If you are dealt two pairs, you should split them with the higher pair going into your five-card hand and your lower pair going into your two-card hand. The exception to this rule is when you’ve been dealt a pair of 7s or higher with no single ace or a pair of Aces and any other pair.
When you’re dealt three-of-a-kind, keep them in your back hand. However, if you have three-of-a-kind Aces, you should put two in your back hand and one in your front hand.
Should you happen to be incredibly lucky and are dealt a full house, you should split. The pair should go in the front and the trips should go in the back.
Any straights, flushes, straight flushes or royal flushes should go in your back hand. However, there are some exceptions to this rule, if you’re dealt:
- A pair of jacks and a pair of 6s
- A pair of aces and any other pair
- Two pair and a single ace
Four-of-a-kind hands can also be quite complex. If you are dealt four cards of the same value in your hand, then you should play according to their rank:
- 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s should be kept together
- Split if you have 7s, 8s, 9s or 10s
- Jacks, Queens and Kings should be split unless you also have a pair of 10s or higher
- Aces should be split as well, unless you have a pair of 7s or higher
Pai Gow Side Bets And Variants
If you want a chance to win more money while playing online Pai Gow, you can play some interesting Pai Gow poker online variants that allow you to place sides. You can play an extra wager that will provide you with extra prize money under certain circumstances. The most popular Pai Gow side bets and variants are:
- Fortune Pai Gow: a side bet placed on the value of all seven of the player’s cards. Payouts worth up to 8000:1 are available.
- Jackpot Pai Gow: by placing a side bet, you make yourself eligible for winning a progressive jackpot if you land a 7-card straight flush
- Pai Gow Insurance: if you can’t make a pair or better with your cards, then you’ve been dealt what is called a “non-hand”. If you place Pai Gow insurance that would pay you a prize if this situation occurs. Otherwise you’d lose your bet.
- Lucky 8s: when you place a side bet in Lucky 8s, you’ll be able to receive a payout of 8888:1 for a natural 7-card straight flush, and a bonus payout is also available if you land quad 8s with a joker.
These side bets should be played with caution. It can be easy to whittle away your bankroll by trying to get lucky based on any of the special circumstances listed above. As such, you shouldn’t put all of your eggs in one basket and spend your entire bankroll on these variants. Every so often, indulge yourself and play some side bets but be sure to stick to the standard gameplay if you’ve got limited funds.
Pai Gow: Put Your Poker Skills To Use
Sometimes you want to play poker but you don’t want to compete against other players. In those situations, playing online Pai Gow is perfect. You have the perfect opportunity to exercise your poker skills while vying for the chance to win some impressive payouts.
There are plenty of great places to play Pai Gow poker online, and many destinations offer up some amazing promotions that allow you to claim bonus cash. At Best Online Casino Sites, we’ll help you find those locations so you can have the best online gaming experience possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
The low hand (or front hand) is the two card hand and the high hand (or back hand) is the five card hand.
Yes, depending on the legal gambling age in your jurisdiction, Pai Gow can be played by individuals who are at least 18 years old. If your state or country requires that you are 21 years of age, you must comply with this regulation.
Yes, Pai Gow players can find a bonus online. However, you need to check the wagering requirements first. Most bonuses only offer 10% of the amount staked back in wagering contributions as opposed to 100% for slot games. The reason behind this is that casinos usually try to keep the bonuses focused on slot titles.
Similar to video poker, Pai Gow remains one of the most profitable titles presently out there. The game allows you to build your bankroll according to a strategy and in increments. While you won’t be able to wager huge sums like in Texas Hold’em, the game is still a very popular pastime and a preferred option to those who seek to play at a casino with a bit of strategical thought.
Pai Gow is the least volatile game that any casino can offer. This will still depend on the version of the game, but in general, the classic version will disburse steady but small profits.
The probability of that happening is to assume that another player also has a royal flush which is about 1 in 290 billion chance.
Winning hands are paid at 19:20 so it depends how much you stake. However, there is also the house commission to account, which is usually around 5%. This means that if you win $10, the house will take a $0.50 bite out of your profits, disbursing $9.50 in net winnings to you.
Yes, many casinos have a free practice mode to help you learn the ropes.