8/2/2022»»Tuesday

Pai Gow Poker Envy Bonus Payouts

8/2/2022

Pai Gow Poker basics

5 cards and 2 cards

The rules of Pai Gow Poker are relatively simple: each player receives seven cards and splits them into two separate hands - a hand of five cards, called 'the back', and a hand of two cards, called 'the front'.

NB The five card hand must always rank higher than the two.

Free pai gow poker allows you to play around with different bet sizes and tactics at your own pace. Know the Pai Gow Poker Rules. Knowing the rules of the game is half the battle. Applying them strategically is the other half. Pai gow poker hand rankings should be second nature to you. This brings us to the topic of winning with envy bonuses. First, when you sit to play Pai Gow, you’ll want to find a crowded table. This is an important Pai Fow tip because it increases the odds you’ll hit an envy bonus. Second, the payouts for them aren’t huge, so don’t bet more than the minimum. Envy Bonus—An additional fixed sum payout made to a player who placed a Qualifying Wager when another player at the Pai Gow Poker table is the holder of an Envy Bonus Qualifying Hand. Envy Bonus Qualifying Hand —A player’s Pai Gow Poker hand with a rank of a four-of-a-kind or better formed from the seven cards dealt to a player. A payout that is made if a player wagers at least $5 on the Fortune Bonus bet and at least one player has a four of a kind or higher, all players with Envy buttons win.

The Fortune Bonus bet wins if your best possible fi ve-card hand is three-of-a-kind or better. If you wager at least $5 on the Fortune Bonus, the dealer will place an “envy” button next to your bet. This qualifi es you for an envy bonus payout. See paytable for odds. ENVY BONUS The dealer will pay all envy bonuses at the end of the round.

Win both hands

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If both hands beat the dealer's hands, the player wins even money or 1:1 for their bet (though the bank takes a 5% commission from your winnings). If both hands lose, the dealer takes the bet. If you win only one of the two hands, the round finishes in a tie and your bet is returned to you.
Winning both hands in Pai Gow Poker is not as easy as it may seem. Quite often, you'll have to compromise one hand in order not to lose, rather than to win (this is explained fully in our page on Pai Gow Poker Strategy). As a result, you should consider the game as an evens chance bet, suited to lower-risk players who enjoy turning a steady profit without risking too much.
Compared to, for example, Baccarat , Roulette, or the insanely exciting Sic Bo, it can be a little slow for high rolling, high-risk gamblers, who often prefer the following variation:

Bonus / Fortune Pai Gow Poker

Bonus Pai Gow Poker (sometimes called Fortune Pai Gow) is played in exactly the same way as normal Pai Gow Poker, except that you're given a bonus payout of up to 8000 times your bet if you place a bonus bet and your seven cards hand contains a winning combination - regardless of how you set the front and back. The winning combinations and bonus payouts are given in our Pai Gow Poker Odds table.
The reasons that Bonus / Fortune Pai Gow is more suited to higher-risk players are:
a) you're betting twice as much per game (the bet and the bonus bet) and
b) in the event of a tie, the bonus bet is not returned to you.
But if, for example, your seven cards contained four of a kind, you would receive a bonus payment of 25 times your bonus bet, regardless of your winnings in the 'normal' play.
The odds against getting these hands are larger than the payouts, giving a consequently higher house edge, but the possible payouts suit those who enjoy taking more of a risk.

Pai Gow Poker terms explained

The back - 5 card hand

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The Five card hand is ranked according to standard poker rules. If you're not sure about these standard rankings, or just need a reference point, click on our Poker Hand Rankings page.

The front - 2 card hand

The two card hand has to rank lower than the five card hand. Again, standard poker rules apply: a pair of Aces is the highest pair, a pair of 2s the lowest. If the hand is not a pair, it is ranked as a high, named after the highest card i.e. J9 is a jack high. If two 'high' hands have the same highest card, the next highest card is used to determine the winner e.g. if both players have Ace high, one player with AQ and the other with A9, the player with AQ wins.

Joker Card

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The joker can be used to complete a flush, straight or straight flush, or can act as a single Ace.

Pai Gow Poker Envy Bonus Payouts

House Way

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The House Way is the set of rules that a traditional casino would instruct its dealers to use when setting their hands. In land based casinos, knowledge of this would form the basis of a winning strategy (see our Pai Gow Strategy page). Some online casinos offer a 'house way' button. By pressing this, your cards will automatically be set for you using the same rules the dealer/casino uses. Obviously, this negates the edge you may achieve by setting hands manually.