What Is the House Advantage in Pai Gow Poker?

Pai Gow Poker is a casino table game and is played with a standard 52-card deck plus one joker. The joker can be used as an ace or to complete a straight, flush or straight flush. A player is dealt seven cards and must make two hands: a five-card hand (high) and a two-card hand (low).

The dealer also makes two hands from the seven cards he is dealt. The player must beat both of the dealer’s hands to win.

The object of the game is to make the best possible hands using any combination of the seven cards. The five-card hand must be higher than the two-card hand.

For example, a player might have Ace-2-3-4-5 as the five-card hand and 6-7 as the two-card hand. The highest possible two-card hand is A-A, and the highest possible five-card hand is A-K-Q-J-10 (a “Royal Flush”).

The house advantage in Pai Gow Poker comes from the fact that the player must make two hands, while the dealer only makes one. If the player makes both hands better than the dealer, then he wins even money on his bet.

However, if the player only wins one hand or loses both hands, then he loses his bet.

PRO TIP:The house edge in Pai Gow Poker is typically around 2.7%. This means that for every $100 wagered, the house can expect to keep around $2.70. As such, it is important to understand all of the rules and strategies in order to reduce the house edge as much as possible.

The house edge in Pai Gow Poker can be calculated by looking at the probability of each possible outcome. For example, there is only one way to make a Royal Flush (Ace high), so the probability of making this hand is 1 in 650,000.

On the other hand, there are 16 ways to make a Straight Flush (any Ace high), so the probability of making this hand is 1 in 72,192.

The following table shows the probability and return for each type of hand in Pai Gow Poker. The first column shows how many ways each type of hand can be made.

The second column shows the probability of making that type of hand. The third column shows what percentage of hands will result in a win for the player, and the fourth column shows what percentage of hands will result in a loss for the player.

Type of Hand Ways to Make Probability % Win % Loss
Royal Flush 1 1 in 650,000 0.0002% 99.9998%
Straight Flush 16 1 in 72,192 0.0211% 99.9788%
Four of a Kind 156 1 in 4165 3.

765% 96.235%
Full House 156 1 in 694 22.427% 77.573%
Flush 156 1 in 508 30.854% 69146%
Straight 1081 1 in 254 4048% 59552%
Three of a Kind 2340 1 in 47 80756 19244%
Two Pair 3310 1 in 21 90476 09524%
One Pair 85850 1 in 2 427525 572475%
High Card 127746 1 in 1 6387300 3612700% .

conclude that Pai Gow Poker has a house edge of about 3%. This means that for every $100 you bet on average you will lose about $3 to the casino over time.