Pai Gow is older than other popular casino games like roulette and baccarat by several hundred years. It was first played in China and can still be found openly played in many Chinese casinos, as well as in Canada and many other countries.
The game’s leisurely pace makes it a fantastic contrast to the fast-paced action of other casino games like online slots, and it has grown highly popular in online casinos as well. The game is fantastic for bankroll protection as well as speed (you can get through about 30 hands per hour). Approximately 41% of all hands end in a push.
Gambling on Pai Gow
The format of this game is largely consistent across the several Canadian online casinos you may choose to play at, based on our recommendations, of course.
Each player receives 4 tiles from a set of 32 dominoes with varying patterns. When playing in a land-based casino, you’ll be competing against other players as well as the house, but when gambling online, you’ll only be pitted against the house.
After that, you can either set the tiles into low and high hands yourself or have the casino do it in the best possible way. When you’re just starting out, this can be a huge assistance. You may visualize how you would lay the tiles and compare that to the house’s preferred method.
After you’ve set your tiles, you and the Dealer will compare high hands, and you and the Dealer will compare low hands. If your two hands are the same rank, you win even money minus a 5% commission and the house always takes the tie. If you’re only partially successful, your hand will push.
A Game of Pai Gow Poker
Playing with tiles is unquestionably the first form of the game, but the Poker variant has recently become immensely popular in online casinos across Canada and the rest of the world.
Poker is played with a conventional deck of cards plus the Joker rather than 32 tiles. In addition, each player receives 7 cards instead of 2 tiles, allowing for as many as 7 players every round in offline play. Like dominoes, you’ll only be competing against the Dealer in online casino games.
The card game also requires setting a high hand and a low hand, with the additional cards being given to the high hand. The low hand in this Poker game has 2 cards (2 tiles), whereas the high hand has 5 cards.
Few Wild Areas
You can employ specific tiles as limited wilds to your advantage in both the Domino tile and Poker variations of Pai Gow. The value of the Gee Joon tile in tile-based games ranges from 3 to 6, depending on how the tile fits into the player’s overall strategy.
The joker functions as an Ace and can be used to complete a Straight, Flush, or Straight Flush in a standard deck of playing cards.
Card-based versions of this casino game follow the same hand rankings as traditional Poker, with the exception of the highest and second-highest hands. The highest possible hand consists of four aces and the Joker (called a “5 Aces Hand”), whereas the second-best hand is a sequence of aces, twos, threes, fours, and fives (called a “Wheel”).
The domino game’s rating system is more nuanced. In any given game, the 32 tiles can be paired off in 16 different ways. Two 2s or 12s with any 9 make a Wong, while two 2s or 12s with any 8 make a Gong.
For each other possible pair of tiles, the hand total is calculated by adding up all the dots on the tiles and discarding the tens, just like in a game of Baccarat. For instance, a hand with the numbers 5 and 7 on the tiles only has a value of 2 rather than 12.
Planning a Winning Pai Gow Game
Casino favorites like Keno and Craps rely solely on luck, but games like Pai Gow and Blackjack need smart decision-making in response to random card deals. One of the reasons Pai Gow is so popular in Canada is because of the exciting combination of chance and strategy it presents to strategic players.
Many of the wonderful online casinos we recommend for you here enable you to play these games without making a deposit, so you can get a feel for them before you commit any real money. Use them to gain a feel for the game, and then to test out any new strategies or tools you find before putting any real money on the line in a genuine game.
There are a ton of resources, like as guides and message boards, that can help you improve your game, and your personal knowledge and comprehension of the game will grow as you play. Playing without spending any money is a terrific option when you’ve already spent your daily gambling budget or when you just want to kick back and enjoy the game without worrying about money.
Get in a Game of Pai Gow Today
Quick action for quick thinkers, Pai Gow in either of its varieties is already a popular hit at Canadian online casinos, giving you a plethora of fantastic options. If you want to try it out, the best places to do so are the casinos we’ve recommended.
Deposit funds, redeem bonus codes, and play to win real money, or play for free to get a feel for the games. You’re going to have a good time either way. Have a good time!