Chinese Dominoes
Pai Gow is a game of Chinese dominoes. It originated in Ancient China and is played in most Asian countries. Translated into English, Pai Gow means 'to make nine.' It is played with 32 dominoes, also called tiles, 11 of which are identical pairs.
Chinese Dominoes are used in several tile-based games, namely, Tien Gow, Pai Gow, Gwat Pai, Che Deng, Tiu U, and Kap Tai Shap. References to Chinese dominotiles can be traced to writings from the Song Dynasty(AD 1120). Chinese dominoes should not be confused with mahjong tiles,which use a different tileset.
Each tile pattern in the Chinese domino set is made up of the outcome of a throw of two six-sided dice. There are therefore 21 unique patterns. A tile set consists of 32 tiles in two 'suits' or groups called 'military' and 'civilian'. There are no markings on the tiles to distinguish these suits; a player must simply remember which tiles belong to which group.
Pai Gow Tiles Ranking
The object of pai gow is to make two hands out of four dominos that can beat each of two dealer hands (again, similar to the goal in pai gow poker, with which many players are more familiar). Each player it dealt four dominos out of a set of 32; the dealer is also given four dominos. Pai Gow Poker is a playing-card variation of the traditional Pai Gow Chinese gambling game (which is played using dominoes). Players create two poker hands—a five-card hand and a two-card hand—out of the seven cards each is dealt—with the ultimate goal of defeating the dealer’s two corresponding hands.
The tile set contains two each of eleven civilian suit tiles (6-6, 1-1, 4-4, 1-3, 5-5, 3-3, 2-2, 5-6, 4-6, 1-6, 1-5) and oneeach of ten military suit tiles (3-6, 4-5; 2-6, 3-5; 2-5, 3-4; 2-4; 1-4, 2-3; 1-2). Each civilian tile also has a Chinese name(and common rough translation to English): The 6-6 is tin (heaven), 1-1 is dei (earth), 4-4 isyan (man), 1-3 is ngo (goose or harmony), 5-5 is mui (plum flower), 3-3is cheung (long), 2-2 is ban (board), 5-6 is fu (hatchet), 4-6 is ping(partition), 1-6 is tsat (long leg seven), and 1-5 is luk (big head six).
The civilian tiles are ranked according to the Chinese cultural significance of the tile names, and must be memorized. Forexample, heaven ranks higher than earth; earth ranks higher than man etc. Remembering the suits and rankings of the tiles iseasier if one understands the Chinese names of the tiles and the symbolism behind them. The military tiles are named and rankedaccording to the total points on the tiles. For example, the 'nines' (3-6 and 4-5) rank higher than the 'eights' (2-6 and3-5).
The military tiles (since there is only one each) are also considered to be five mixed 'pairs' (for example, the 3-6 and 4-5tiles 'match' because they have same total points and both in the military suit). Among the military tiles, individual tiles ofthe same pair (such as 1-4 and 2-3) rank equally. The 2-4 and 1-2 are an odd pair. They are the only tiles in the whole set thatdon't match other tiles in the normal sense. This pair when played together is considered a suit on its own, called the Gee Joon(Supreme). It is the highest ranking pair in the game of Pai Gow, though the tiles rank low individually (intheir normal order). When a tile of this pair is played individually in the game of Tien Gow, each takes its regular rankingamong other military suit tiles according to the total points. The rankings of the individual tiles are similar in most games.However, the ranking of combination tiles is slightly different in Pai Gow and Tien Gow.
Using the same coloring scheme of the traditional Chinese dice, every half-domino with 1 or 4 spots has those spots coloredred (for example, the 4-5 domino has four red spots and five white spots). The only exception is the pair of 6-6 tiles. Half ofthe spots on the 6-6 domino are colored red to make them stand out as the top ranking tiles.
Article text based on the Wikipedia, licensed under the GFDL.
Other Sources of Chinese Domino Rules
Pai Gow is a slow-paced casino game played with Chinese dominoes. Learning how to play Pai Gow online or offline is not the easiest task but the game is worth candles. Here you have all Pai Gow rules explained as they are.
If you are looking for new gambling challenges, try out Pai Gow. This well-known casino game isn’t too difficult to play offline, online, or live. Check out the Pai Gow game rules and goals before playing it for real money.
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Pai Gow Dominoes How To Play
What is Pai Gow?
Pai Gow is a relatively new gambling game launched in the 1980s by one of the American casino owners. Although it is also known as an ancient Chinese dominoes game, it is Pai Gow from the mid-1980s that entered the list of the most popular casino games.
Also known as Pai Gow Poker, the game has become one of the gamblers’ favorites and found its place both in land-based and online casinos. Basically, it is a poker variation – that’s why the second name of Pai Gow is double-hand poker. It follows similar rules but is slightly different from classic poker games.
If you have never played this game, here you have all the Pai Gow rules explained. Pai Gow rules, objectives, and gaming processes are available at many online poker guides for beginners. We gathered them all together to make the learning process easier.
Pai Gow rules explained: object and process
Pai Gow is a card game played with 52 cards and a joker. The player or several players compete against a dealer in Pai Gow. There can be up to 6 players playing at the same time.
To win Pai Gow, you have to collect two poker hands: one’s a classic 5-card hand, while the other consists of two cards. If both hands beat the dealer’s hands, you win. If no hand beats the dealer’s hands, you lose. The third possible outcome means one of your hands beats one of the dealer’s hands. In this case, it is a push.
What is good about Pai Gow is that one round can last for hours. Basically, the whole game is built on pushes without changing stakes but still moving money around.
Where to play?
Pai Gow games are available at many online gambling sites nowadays. King Billy, Intertops, VBet, Betsafe, and other big online casinos offer Pai Gow games in many variations.
In addition, you can play the game live at some casino sites. While you play against a computer in its online version, the live Pai Gow game has a real dealer playing against you in real-time. It is a great opportunity to play with real people these days, so don’t hesitate to check the latest online poker bonuses and use them in your first Pai Gow game!
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