Table game at Fair Go

Pai Gow Poker at Fair Go

Pai Gow Poker is the slow lane of Fair Go's table games: seven cards, two hands, and a lot of pushes. That makes it one of the gentlest games on your bankroll. Here's how Pai Gow Poker works, how the joker plays, how to set your hands and why the commission matters.

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Pai Gow Poker at a glance

Check in-game

Deck: 52 cards plus one joker
Your two hands: Five-card high hand, two-card low hand
To win: Beat the dealer with both hands
Win one, lose one: Push (stake returned)
House edge: About 2.5% to 2.7%, with 5% commission

These are the usual Pai Gow Poker rules and standard maths for playing against the dealer. Fair Go's joker rules, commission and house way are in the game's help.

Source: Fair Go casino games page. Checked 7 October 2026.

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How Pai Gow Poker works

Bet. You and the dealer each get seven cards.
Set two hands. Split your seven cards into a five-card high hand and a two-card low hand. The high hand must outrank the low hand. If it doesn't, the hand is "fouled", which usually means you lose.
The dealer sets theirs using fixed rules called the house way.
Compare. Your high hand plays the dealer's high hand, and your low hand plays the dealer's low hand. Win both and you're paid even money, minus a 5% commission. Lose both and you lose the bet. Win one and lose one and it's a push.
Ties go to the dealer. If a hand exactly matches the dealer's (called a copy), the dealer wins that hand.

The joker and the hand rankings

Five-card hands rank exactly as in standard poker, from royal flush down to high card. Two-card hands are simpler: a pair is the best possible, with aces highest, and otherwise the higher cards win.

The joker is a partly wild card, often called the bug. In the five-card hand it can complete a straight, a flush, a straight flush or a royal flush. Otherwise it counts as an ace. In the two-card hand it always counts as an ace. With the joker in play, the best possible hand is five aces, which ranks above a royal flush in the standard game.

One quirk to check in the help screen: some versions rank A-2-3-4-5 as the second-highest straight rather than the lowest. It rarely matters, but it's good to know before it happens.

How to set your Pai Gow Poker hands

Most online versions let you set the hand yourself or press a button to use the house way. If you set it yourself, these principles cover most hands:

No pair: keep the highest card in the high hand and put the next two highest in the low hand.
One pair: the pair goes in the high hand, and the two highest remaining cards go in the low hand.
Two pair: usually split them, with the higher pair in the high hand and the lower pair in the low hand. A common exception is two small pairs with an ace spare: keep both pairs in the high hand and put the ace in the low hand.
Three pair: the highest pair goes in the low hand.
Three of a kind: keep it together in the high hand, except three aces, where you play a pair of aces high and an ace low.
Straights and flushes: keep them in the high hand, and if you can still make the straight or flush while putting a better two-card hand at the bottom, do that.

When you're unsure, the house way is a safe default. It's designed to play well, and the difference between it and perfect strategy is small.

House way, commission and all those pushes

Roughly four hands in ten end in a push, because it's common to win one hand and lose the other. That's what makes Pai Gow Poker so easy on a bankroll: your money lasts, and swings are small compared with almost any other casino game.

The house earns its edge in two ways: the dealer wins copies, and the casino keeps 5% of every winning bet. Together they give a house edge of about 2.5% to 2.7% of each bet when you play against the dealer, depending on how well you set your hands. Because so many hands push, the cost per hour is low even though the edge per decided hand is higher than baccarat or blackjack.

Some land-based games let players act as the banker, which lowers the edge. Software versions usually don't offer that, and Fair Go doesn't say whether its game does.

Pushes also slow the pace of a bonus. Whether a pushed hand counts towards Fair Go's 30x wagering, and how much table games count at all, isn't in our facts register, so check the terms. Bets are capped at $10 while you wager.

More poker-based tables at Fair Go

For one quick decision a hand, try Tri Card Poker. Caribbean Stud Poker has bigger payouts and bigger swings, and baccarat shares Pai Gow's commission system.

Pai Gow Poker FAQ

What is Pai Gow Poker?

A poker-based table game where you split seven cards into a five-card hand and a two-card hand and try to beat the dealer with both. Fair Go lists Pai Gow Poker on its casino games page (checked 7 October 2026).

What happens if my low hand beats my high hand?

That's a fouled hand, and in most versions it loses. The help screen explains Fair Go's rule, and the house way button avoids the problem altogether.

Who wins a tie in Pai Gow Poker?

The dealer. When one of your hands exactly matches the dealer's, called a copy, the dealer wins that hand.

What is the house way?

The fixed set of rules the dealer uses to split seven cards into two hands. Most online versions let you apply it to your own hand with one button.

Why are there so many pushes in Pai Gow Poker?

Because winning one hand and losing the other is common. Around four hands in ten end in a push, which keeps the game slow and your balance steady.

Facts checked 8 October 2026 · page updated 9 October 2026