Pai Gow Poker for the iPhone and iPod Touch lets you play Pai Gow Poker without risking any of your hard earned money beyond the purchase price of the app.
You may have seen this game in a casino but were too intimidated to play or were worried you would lose your money because you did not know how to play. Well worry no more, now you can learn to play without risking real money betting.
Pai Gow Poker is based on the Chinese Domino game called Pai Gow. Pai Gow Poker is played with a 53 card deck of standard playing cards, 52 cards plus 1 joker. The object of the game is to make two poker hands after being dealt 7 cards. One hand should contain 5 cards and the other hand should contain 2 cards. You are trying to make the highest ranking 2 hands that you can with the provision that the 5 card hand must rank higher than the 2 card hand. You are playing against a dealer who also makes 2 hands, both of your hands must rank higher than the dealers hands for you to win. If both of the dealers hands are higher then you will lose. If neither you or the dealers hands both rank higher than the other then it is a tie or "push" and you do not win or lose. One little gotcha is that if your hand and the dealers hand is of the same poker rank then the dealer wins that hand, remember, the dealer has to win both hands to be declared the overall winner.
One more little detail, if you win both hands the dealer will pay off your bet at even money, however a 5% commission will be deducted from your winnings. This commission is one of the main ways that the casino tilts the odds in their favor.
Warning after playing with this application you may want to try the real thing on your next trip to Las Vegas.