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The history of the game known as “Pai Gow” (which
means to make 9) lies firmly in China where it has historically
been one of the most popular games to play. Pai Gow Poker originated
from the game of Pai Gow which was traditionally played using
domino like tiles. Using these tiles, the dealer would split
them into four groups and roll a dice to determine which group
of tiles went to each player. This version of the game was extremely
complex and the tiles would be split into two groups, the army
units which were represented by numbers and the civilian units
which were represented by pictures.
As with any game, over the years its popularity increased
and therefore, the variations of the game also changed. This
version of events is not particularly well documented and
there seems to be a lot of detail that has not been categorised.
However, the change from the traditional game of “Pai
Gow” to “Pai Gow Poker” was documented and
it’s well known that the change was created by Fred
Wolf sometime in the 1980’s.
Pai Gow Poker or double handed poker as it is often referred
to was first introduced by Wolf. Wolf was the owner of the
Commerce Casino and believing the game to be of interest,
first showcased the game in his Californian Casino where it
became very successful. The traditional Pai Gow game had a
transformation from being played with dominoes to being played
with cards thus changing the name to include poker. However,
the game is still played with the original method of dominoes
in China.
As the game increased in popularity, it spread from Las Vegas
casinos to Atlantic City thus giving it more exposure. People
began to grasp the rules of the game and understood it to
be an exciting game to play as it is unique in the system
that it adopts to make the game work. As the rules of the
game are quite simple to understand, it gives the player many
options when it comes to the strategy of the game. Therefore,
the game can be played at a slow or fast pace with good betting
odds. This has led to players demanding more casinos taking
up the game.
Online casinos have further enhanced the game as a fixture
in their gaming rooms. This gives players the chance to play
from the comfort of their own environments rather than having
to travel to destinations to specifically play the game. Pai
Gow poker is played using standard 53 card deck which includes
the joker. Players are dealt 7 cards which can be split into
two hands consisting of a five and two card hand and the object
of the game is to beat the dealer.
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