Pai Gow - Strategic Guidelines
Pai Gow is not a game that features many complicated strategies. Common sense guides much of the play, and once you’ve played a few rounds you should have a pretty good feel for how to set your hands. Tricky situations do occasionally arise, however, and a smart player should be prepared for them.
Here is a basic guide to hand setting. Exceptions the following rules can occur, but they are infrequent.
- If you hold a no pair hand, and have no five card hand (i.e., no straight and no flush), then you should put your second and third highest cards in your two card hand and the rest of your cards in your five card hand.
- When you hold a one pair hand you must put it in your five card hand. Your first and second highest ‘side cards’ should then go into the two card hand.
- When you hold two pair you should split the two pair (with the highest pair going into your five card hand) EXCEPT under the following conditions. If you have an ace then you should set both pairs in the five card hand and the ace, along with the second highest card, in your two card hand.
- If you have three pairs you highest pair should go into your two card hand, with the lower two pairs set into your five card hand.
- If you have three of a kind you should put all three cards in your five card hand.
- If you have a straight or a flush you should set it in your five card hand, and set your two side cards in your two card hand.
- If you have a full house you should set the three of a kind in your five card hand, and the pair in your two card hand.
- If you have a flush and two pair then ignore the flush, and play the hand as two pair.
- If you have a six or seven card straight then set the smallest possible straight into your five card hand, and the other two cards in your two card hand.
Lastly, most games will feature some kind of side bet, whereby a player can make a small (usually $1) wager and receive a big payoff if they are lucky enough to be dealt a big hand (like a royal flush, or a seven card straight flush). These bets can be tempting, but the smart player will avoid them, as they generally come with a prohibitive house edge.
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