Pai Gow Poker Rules

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Now let us become versed in some alternate forms of poker other than hold’em, 5 card stud, five card draw and omaha hi-low. Yes, pai gow poker. Now you must be wondering that double-hand sounds a bit Chinese; well you are correct, this casino game is a mixture of the Chinese game pai gow and our own American poker
Clearly this is not one of the highly popular forms of poker but still commonly played. It can be played by up to 7 players. It’s played with 1 deck of cards, plus a joker. Interestingly, the Joker can only be used as an ace, or to complete a straight, flush, straight flush, or royal flush. The important thing here to remember is aside from the customary ranking of hands we have one more winning hand that is "Five Aces" (4 Aces and the Joker). Surprisingly, five aces beats all other hand including royal flush. Each player is given 7 cards. These cards are aligned to make two hands; a 2 card hand and a 5 card hand. The 5 card hand must be better or be equal to the two card hand.
After setting up the 2 hands, the cards are positioned on the poker table with the faces down. Once on the table, you can’t touch them. The croupier will flip over his cards and arrange his hands. Every competitors hand is compared to the dealer’s hands. Should the player take 1 hand and lose the other, this is called a "push" and no money is lost or won. If croupier wins both hands then the player looses their wager the opposite is true if the player wins both hands. Now if the hand is a draw, the croupier wins everything. After the hand is played, the next person clock-wise becomes the dealer and the next hand is given out.