by Rub A Khali (James Murphy)
Greetings my friends, may the winds push you where you want to go.
At the feast this weekend I will be again offering the game that I showed people last fall. Some would call it Pai-Gow poker, some would call it a waste of time (boo!), others might call it pure luck, but I call it poker 2 hands.
It is very simple, but has a deep strategy. The game is played with a standard fifty-two card deck with one additional joker for a total of fifty three cards used.
Each player plays against the house, not each other. A total of 6 hands can be played. Players may play multiple hands however, each hand is judged by itself, and if any player is waiting to play, then sitting players will not be allowed to take all the spots.
Each player can decide how much they want to play with a minimum of two gold.
Once all the players have put up what they want to bet, they receive seven random cards. The dealer also gets 7 cards. They are all face down.
Now my friends the game is played vs the house, so if you accidentally show your cards to your neighbor it’s not a big deal, but please my friends, try not to.
Now here is where the strategy and luck come into play; you need to make a normal five card hand (back) and a two card hand (front). It’s very important that your back hand must be stronger than your front hand. Now the front hand can only be a pair or a high card hand so this sounds kind of easy. For example if you put up a ten and a nine your front hand would be a ten high hand. Now a common round is when you have some kind of pair and five other non-paired cards. Now because the back hand has to be stronger then the pair has to go in the back hand and the two highest other cards would be your front hand.
Then once all players have set there hand the dealer shows there hand and the player’s hands and the dealer’s hands are compared.
Now of course you want to know how to win. It’s easy, if both your front hand (two cards) and your back hand (five cards) are both stronger then the dealer then you win. We will talk about payoffs in a second but let’s talk about not winning. There are two ways to do it; either losing or pushing. Now if both the dealers’ hands are stronger than yours you lose. But what is more common is that if only one of your hands is better, than you push. You neither win nor lose.
Now if the dealers front hand and your front hand are the same; and the dealers back hand is stronger then I am sorry my friends this is a lose, in the same situation where the front hands are the same but the players back hand is stronger is considered a push.
Now let’s talk about winning!
When you win your payoff is equal to your bet -1, up to 20. So if you bet 2 you get paid 1, if you bet 10 you get paid 9, if you bet 20 you get paid 19. After 20 the same pattern but minus 2, after 40 minus 3, etc. so if you bet 30 you would get paid 28, and if you bet 50 you would get paid 47. (for the math people this is the house 5%, the children must eat).
Now you at this point you should have a couple of questions, what about the joker, and does the dealer have rules to setting there hand. Well the second is yes, and the first is weird.
When you are lucky enough to get the joker in your hand you can use it as a card in a straight, a card in a flush, or as an ace. So you could not use it to make a pair of kings, but you could use it to make your 4 5 6 7 Joker ace Ace hand into a straight with a pair of aces up front, Very strong, good hand!
Now the house has very strict rules for how they set there hand and they look like this:
The "front" refers to the two card hand and the "back" refers to the five card hand.
- No pair: Place the highest card in the back and the next two highest cards in the front.
- One pair: Place the pair in back and the next two highest cards in the front.
- Two pair: Use the following groups to determine how to play a two pair:
- 2 through 6: Low pair
- 7 through 10: Medium pairs
- Jack through king: High pairs
- Low pair and low pair: Split unless holding a king or better, then play two pair in theback.
- Low pair and medium pair: Split unless holding a king or better, then play two pair in the back.
- Low pair and high pair: Split unless holding an ace, then play two pair in the back.
- Medium pair and medium pair: Split unless holding an ace, then play two pair in the back.
- Medium pair and high pair: Always split.
- High pair and high pair: Always split.
- Pair of aces and any other pair: Always split.
- Three pair: Always play highest pair in front.
- Three of a kind: Always play three of a kind in back unless they are aces, then play a pair of aces in back and one ace in front.
- Three of a kind twice: Always play highest pair in front.
- Straights, flushes, straight flushes, and royal flush:
- With no pair: When choosing whether to play a straight, flush, or straight flush play the category which will allow the highest two cards in front.
- With 6th or 7th card: Play the lower straight or flush in the back to place the highest cards in front.
- With one pair: Play pair in the front only if a straight, flush, or straight can be played in the back.
- With two pair: Use two pair rule.
- With three pair: Use three pair rule.
- With three of a kind: Play pair in front.
- With full house: Use full house rule.
- Full house: Always split unless the pair is twos and you have an ace and a king to play in the front.
- Full house with three of a kind and two pairs: Play the highest pair in front.
- Full house with three of a kind twice: Always play the highest pair in front.
- Four of a kind: Play according to the rank of the four of a kind: 2 through 6: Always keep together. 7 through 10: Split unless a king or better can be played in front. Jack through king: Split unless an ace can be played in front. Aces: Always split.
- Four of a kind and a pair: Play pair in front.
- Four of a kind and three of a kind: Play pair in front from the three of a kind.
- Five aces: Split aces and play three aces in back and two aces in front unless you have a pair of kings, then play five aces in back and kings in front.