Another hand ranking is Straight Flush where five cards of the same suit occur in order. If the cards have an ace card which is high in the order of ace, king, queen, jack and 10 it is called Royal Flush, otherwise a low hand with ace is also possible when one has cards like 5,4,3,2 and ace (1). If someone has a Four of a Kind, he has four cards of same value in his hand and if more than one player has such a combination, then he who has higher rank wins. If the poker game is being played with wildcards, it is probable that two persons can have same ranked Four of a Kind combination and to break the tie, he who has the high card as his fifth card will win. For a player to have a Full House hand, he must have cards in the arrangement of a Three of a Kind and a Pair. In case there is a tie, then first the rank of the Three of a Kind is determined and then the Pair. For example, someone with king, king, king, 10 and 10 will win over queen, queen, queen, ace and ace, which in turn is the winning combination over queen, queen, queen, jack and jack.

Generally the game of poker is played with a standard 52 card deck with four suits of card – spades, club, heart and diamond – and each suit having 13 cards. However, it may be remembered that in some variations of poker game, multiple decks are used or extra cards like the joker are introduced. The value of the cards in poker is what is called rank, with cards 2 to 10 having face value and the face cards of jack, king and queen are designated values 11, 12 and 13 respectively. The rank of ace in poker is either the highest 13 or the lowest 1, although usually the ace cards are given the higher rank value. Playing a game of poker, the players hold 5 cards in the hand and the person with the highest hand value wins the game. Another important aspect of a poker game is the use of wildcards which can be used to change the suit or rank as the player holding the wild card in his hand may wish. Though in some games, wild cards are designated according to the rules of that game, mostly the jack or joker is used as a wildcard in poker.

The arrangement of cards according to their rank in a game of poker determines the hand ranking and in the descending order it looks like – Five of a Kind, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, Pair and High Card.

When a poker player decides to call a bet, he must raise his bet to match the amount of money that is being betted at that moment or else he would be owing money. For example, if a player has betted $10 initially and the current bet is going on $20, then he has to call his bet at $20 or he owes $10. Otherwise, one may also opt for the raise option. However, to use this option, the player must first make a call so as to get a chance to raise the overall bet size and increase the pot amount. So, if the player’s initial bet was $10 and since then the bet is going at $20, then to raise, he must first match the ongoing amount by calling $20 and then raise it to a higher amount, say $50. Since his original bet was short of the ongoing bet by $10 and he has raised the amount by an extra $30, the player is contributing $40 to the pot. For the fold option in poker, a player gives up his current hand. This eliminates his chance to win anything, but he is also exempt from putting more money in the pot if he exercises this choice.

Arrangement of hands in a game of Pai gow poker can either be preset if the house or casino dealer is acting the banker or it can be determined by the player who assumes he banker’s role. In case, someone wants to exercise the option of co-banking, then he loses his freedom to set the hand and must follow the casino’s rules.

Gamblers are required to pay a fixed charge, ranging from 5 cents to $1 to play a single hand in the casinos is California, regardless of him winning or losing the hand. However, there are some casinos that deduct a rake from the winner’s payout amounting to 5% as commission. The reason why such a steep rake is assigned to the game of Pai gow poker is that unlike other casino gambling games, this game can go on for a long time for a single hand to be completed as there may be several pushes in the play, thereby limiting the house’s rake collection as compared to other games.

The extra joker that is used in the game of Pai gow poker can either assume the value of an ace or be used as a bug if a player needs to complete his 5-card hand to form a straight or a flush. If found in the 2-card hand, then the joker invariably has the value of an ace card except in some casinos where it is an out and out wildcard.

To win a game of Pai gow poker is simple. A player must beat the banker’s corresponding 2-card and the 5-card hands. If the player has either a 2-card or a 5-card better hand than the banker, then the player can push the game. If now both the hands of the banker are higher than the player’s hands, the player will lose the entire bet.