Asia Poker Rules

Asia Poker is a house-banked game. Each player plays only against the dealer, not against the other players. The object is to set three hands that beat the dealer's corresponding hands on at least two of the three.

The game is played with a 53-card deck: a standard 52-card deck plus one joker. It is closely related to Pai Gow Poker and to the thirteen-card game known in English as Chinese Poker.

The joker is treated as an ace, except that it may stand for any card needed to complete a straight, a flush, a straight flush or a royal flush.

Cards rank from ace (high) down to two. The ace may also be used as the low card of a four-card straight (A-2-3-4).

Each player places a wager in the betting area before the deal. Minimum and maximum bets are posted at the table.

The dealer deals seven cards face down to each player and seven cards to the dealer's own hand.

Some casinos offer an optional bonus wager, placed before the deal and settled on the player's seven cards regardless of the dealer's hand. Its pay table is set by the casino (see 7.3).

Each player divides their seven cards into three hands:

3.1(a) The high hand: four cards.

3.1(b) The medium hand: two cards.

3.1(c) The low hand: one card.

The high hand shall rank at least as high as the medium hand, and the medium hand shall rank at least as high as the low hand. A hand set in the wrong order is fouled, and a fouled hand loses.

The medium hand can only be a pair or two unpaired cards. Straights and flushes do not count in the two-card hand. The low hand is a single card, and the highest possible low hand is an ace.

Once the players have set their hands, the dealer reveals the dealer's seven cards and sets them according to the casino's fixed house way. The dealer has no discretion.

Straights and flushes count only in the four-card high hand. A four-card straight or flush beats three of a kind.

Hands of the same rank are compared by their highest cards, as in standard poker hand rankings. Suits have no rank.

The casino's rules state how an ace-low straight (A-2-3-4) ranks against other straights. Players should check the posted rules.

Each of the player's three hands is compared with the dealer's hand of the same size: high against high, medium against medium, low against low.

If the player wins at least two of the three comparisons, the player wins even money on the wager. Otherwise the player loses the wager.

Copies. When a player's hand and the dealer's matching hand are identical in rank (a copy), the dealer wins that comparison. Because every comparison has a winner, the main bet never pushes.

No commission is charged on winning bets. The house edge comes from the dealer winning copies.

A player whose hand is fouled loses the wager, whatever the dealer holds.

A player may choose any setting that keeps the three hands in the required order (3.2). Players are usually free to set their own hands; the house way binds only the dealer.

A setting that puts a stronger hand below a weaker one is fouled even if the player did not intend it. Players should check their order before placing their cards.

The main wager pays as follows:

Pay tables vary by casino and jurisdiction. The main bet is normally even money in all versions.

Where a bonus wager is offered, it pays on the strength of the player's seven cards according to one of several published tables. On the tables described by the Wizard of Odds, the top award is 5,000 to 1, for four eights together with any three of a kind, and the smallest paying hand is a straight at 2 to 1.