Rather, you will be using the cards you are dealt to form poker hands, which you hope will beat the dealer’s own hands. While you will be trying to make good poker hands (see below), you will not be wagering on the strength of your hand – or trying to make other players fold – such as you would in a traditional poker game. In this pai gow poker tutorial you’ll find out how to play this fun, classic card game, both online and in a land-based casino, as well as pick up some useful pai gow poker strategy tips to help you beat the dealer the next time you play.īased on pai gow dominoes, one of the world’s oldest gambling games, pai gow poker is a casino game played against the dealer, in a similar vein as other card games, like blackjack or baccarat. This makes pai gow rules easier to learn and play, especially for players in the West who are used to card-based table games. The ancient Chinese game of pai gow uses a set of 32 dominoes, but pai gow poker is a form of the game that instead uses a traditional deck of 52 cards (plus one Joker).