Pai Gow Poker Dictionary (poker)
A banking game based on the Asian tile game pai gow, in which
players arrange groups of tiles into two hands, which then compete
severally each against the two hands played by the banker. In
the card version, each player makes a wager, and then receives
seven cards, which he arranges into two hands, one consisting
of five cards and one of two, with the stipulation that the
five-card hand must rank higher than the two-card hand. These
hands, after being set (arranged), are then placed in front
of the player, and then compete, one at a time, as in a blackjack
game, against the banker hand (which can be held by a player
or the house). If both player hands beat the dealer hand, the
player wins; if both banker hands beat the player hand, the
dealer wins; otherwise it is a push. If either hand is exactly
the same, that counts as a win for the banker, which gives the
banker hand a slight edge. The banker hand competes against
player hands in an order determined by the shaking of a number
of dice. (This gives the game its alternative name of shake-shake.)
This order is important, because if the banker loses his stake
prematurely, not all player hands may get to compete. The house
makes its money by always extracting a certain fee from every
player bet, prior to the actual playing of the hands (and often
takes that fee whether or not the hand is even played). Apart
from the rankings of the hands being the same as in poker, pai
gow poker is not really poker. Also called double hand or double-hand
poker.
