pai gow poker

In English Pai Gow is translated as “make nine”. Tracing its roots to ancient Chinese gaming, Pai Gow is believed to be a thousands of years old game.

In ancient Chinese, the translation of p’ai is a term designated both for dominoes and cards. It is because there is no main difference between dominoes and cards in China. During the early Chinese dynasties, dominoes are precisely used as cards. Dominoes are packed and treated exactly the same way as cards.

Prior to the birth of Pai Gow, there were already two old Chinese gambling games: yu-p’u and yeh-tza. They may have been the reason for the development of Pai Gow as there are many similarities between their rules. Many players consider those two games as card games but many consider that the game of yu-p’u to be similar to a modern poker dice. Only the game of yeh-tza might be considered as a card game since it’s name literally translated means leaves.

That recreational, entertaining, and “easy-to-play” game gains big popularity through the centuries which ushered into the development of the modern American Pai Gow Poker.

It only entered Vegas casinos in 1987, but was an instant success due to its established popularity in California and the areas surrounding it. An year later (in 1988) the game debuted in the Atlantic City casinos. And nowadays Pai Gow Poker is included in the games list of various casinos worldwide as a source of amusement and great fun.