I like revisiting tips and strategies in Pai Gow, one of my favorite versions of poker on line to play lately. In this article, I’d like to quickly draw attention to what’s called “The House Way.” What this term means is how the dealer is required to set his hand as determined by each specific casino’s rules.

Now, it’s probably more important for you to figure out the best strategies for setting your own hand (which I’ve discussed before) before you start worrying about how the dealer is required to set his hand, but in the big picture of the game, knowing the House Way is extremely important, and absolutely can affect your decision-making on how to set your own hand in certain difficult situations. Also, if you know the House Way, you can monitor the dealer as a watchdog of sorts, and ensure he is playing hand properly. Don’t trust the casino as the final authority, they’re out to take your money, so if you’re not looking out for the rules, nobody else will if the dealer makes a mistake.

Of course, if the dealer’s mistake results in your victory, I’d probably keep your mouth shut.

Here’s how dealer’s are required to set their cards in most U.S. casinos. Let’s start with a couple low-end, basic hands.

For one pair, the Party Poker dealer must five-card (remember that term?) the pair and two-card the next two remaining high cards. For high card, you five-card the highest card, and two-pair the second and third lowest cards. If dealer has two pair, he must five-card one pair (usually the highest) and two-card the other pair. There is an exception to this, however. If neither of the dealer pairs are at least of jack value and you’re showing an ace, the dealer will five-card the entire two-pair. And lastly, for three of a kind, the entire set would be put in the five-card hand, unless it’s Aces, in which case one of the Aces would be split off to make the top card in the two-card hand.

Remember, pai gow can be (and in many places usually is) played with multiple decks, and sometimes with jokers, so be aware of all the rules before sitting down. Multiple decks can lead to five of a kind hands, and the strategy sets that go along with those rare, but possible scenarios.