Pai Gow Poker Hand Optimizer

Each player and the dealer receive 7 cards from a standard 52-card deck plus one Joker (53 total). You must split your cards into a 5-card "high hand" and a 2-card "low hand." Your high hand must rank higher than your low hand. You win if both your hands beat the dealer's corresponding hands. If you win one and lose one, it's a push (tie). If the dealer wins both, you lose your bet. Ties (copies) go to the dealer/banker.

The "House Way" is the predetermined strategy that dealers use to set their hands. It follows a fixed set of rules based on the hand type. For example: with two pair, if both pairs are low (6s or below), split them; with a high pair and low pair, keep together unless you have an ace for the low hand. The House Way is a solid baseline strategy that minimizes mistakes, and many experienced players follow it closely. Our optimizer shows the House Way for comparison.

The key insight in Pai Gow strategy is balancing your two hands. Putting all your strength into the high hand is rarely optimal, you want both hands to have a reasonable chance of winning. With two pair, splitting them is often correct. With a full house, put the trips in the high hand and the pair in the low hand. With straights or flushes, consider whether you have side pairs that could strengthen your low hand. The optimal setting maximizes your probability of winning both hands simultaneously.

Pai Gow Poker charges a 5% commission on all winning bets. This means if you bet $100 and win, you collect $95 in profit (not $100). The commission plus the copies-go-to-banker rule puts the house edge around 2.84% playing the house way without banking (Wizard of Odds). Optimal hand-setting trims that to roughly 2.7%, and banking whenever the table allows cuts it further. The high frequency of pushes (~41% of hands) means your bankroll lasts longer than most casino games, making Pai Gow excellent for entertainment value.