An e-mail brought me a tale of woe from a pai-gow poker novice:
“My friend told me to make my bottom hand as strong as I can,” the player’s lament began. “But when I put a pair of Kings in the bottom hand and a pair of 9s in the top, I was told I arranged them wrong, and the dealer took my money.”
In pai-gow poker, you’re dealt seven cards, which you arrange into a five-card “high” hand and a two-card “second-high” hand. Both must beat the dealer for you to win your bet, but you get your money back if one wins. The deck consists of 53 cards, with the standard 52 joined by a Joker that can be used either as an Ace or to compete a flush or straight.
The friend’s advice was a sound enough beginning for a pai-gow newbie. There’s few other considerations, but focusing on a strong second-high hand is a good place to start.
But there is a limiting factor. Your five-card hand MUST outrank your two-card hand. If it doesn’t, you lose your bet, no matter what the dealer has.
That’s what got the player in trouble with her Kings and 9s. She was correct that the best play was to break up the two pairs, and put one pair in the high hand and one in the second-high hand. However, she needed to put the Kings in the five-card hand, and make the 9s the two-card hand. That still would have left here with a strong second-high hand, in good position to get at least a split decision that would let her keep her wager. But once she made her two-card hand the stronger, her fate was sealed.
