Especially for Beginners: Pai Gow Poker Tips

One of the best tips every novice player will ever get when dealing with pai gow poker (or any other card game out in casinos) is to learn the fundamentals. It's really important to really the basics properly hammered out especially when you're out to lower the house edge and win some cash. Beginners do get crushed by the odds simply by not understanding the basics.

Other than getting a handle on the basics of this type of poker and learning the basic strategies, we've got a few tips to help you out as you're learning to play this game. These are practical tips to begin with and then you can move off to develop your own game plan after moving forward.

Our first tip for the new players is that, whenever it is possible, to always bank when an opportunity to do so comes around. In this variant of poker, remember that when we get copied hands the bank wins. The odds in this situation move up to one to two percent in favor of our banker. In fact, this is a tactic employed by experienced players to shift the odds to their favor. You should be benefiting from doing this in the game as well.

The drawback that players face with this strategy is the necessity of a bankroll. Every banker should have the capacity to cover every bet made on the table.

Next tip is not to forget your Two-Card Hand. Remember that your two-card hand is just as good as the other hand when it comes to winning in this poker variant. It seems like a natural phenomenon for new players to focus only on the five-card hand and neglect the two-card hand, so don't get caught in this habit.

Players should find a balance where the combination of both hands works well to get good odds. Just remember that your front hand can't be stronger than the one behind.

Here's a little precaution when it comes to playing a full house in Pai Gow Poker. We recommend that players should avoid playing it as an upper hand. Doing so would leave you with a forward hand as nothing more than a simple high card. Given this case, you will most certainly push.

Finally a tip when you get three pairs. When you do get three pairs in Pai Gow Poker you should use the highest pair as your two-card hand. Since even if you use your lower two-pairs in your five-card hand, you'd still have a good chance of winning.

These are our tips when playing this unique poker variant. Expect to pick up other nuggets of poker wisdom as you move along.