Pai gow is played with a set of 32 dominos, three dice and a dice shaker.  The color of the domino dots is irrelevant.  Each player may accept or decline to be the banker, play is in an anti clockwise direction in accordance with the rules.  If you are the banker you try to beat everyone else, if someone else is the banker you try to beat them.   The house dealer also has the chance to be a player, when he is playing he follows the casino house rules.  If you opt to be the banker and the risk, to you, to cover all the bets seems high you may elect to co-bank  with the house, however, if you decide to do so you must follow the casinos house rules too.

Dominos

           6 + 6  (2 off)       5 + 5  (2 off)       4 + 4  (2 off)       3 + 1 (2 off)       2 + 1
           6 + 5  (2 off)       5 + 1  (2 off)       4 + 3                   3 + 2
           6 + 4  (2 off)       5 + 4                   4 + 2
           6 + 1  (2 off)       5 + 3                   4 + 1
           6 + 2                   5 + 2
           6 + 3

           2 + 2  (2 off)       1 + 1  (2 off)        6  (2 off)

To start all players place their bets.  The dominos are shuffled and then placed in 8 piles (4 dominos to a pile). The dice are rolled to determine which player will receive the first pile of dominos. Once the dice have been rolled no change to your bet can be made. The remaining piles are then given to each player anti clockwise from the first recipient.  Upon receipt of the dominos the pile is rearranged into two sets of  two, by the player, (Because scoring is based on the ranking of each set of dominos now is the time to put them into the best combination available to you). The highest pair you have formed is laid face down horizontally and the lower, face down, vertically.  The banker waits until all players have laid their dominos down before examining his own hand.

Once the banker has laid his dominos down,  everyone's dominos are turned face up and compared with the bakers.  If both of your pairs beat the banker you win even money less the house commission (Usually 5%).  If neither of your pairs win you lose your bet.  If one pair wins and one pair loses your bet is deemed a push.  After all bets are settled the banker pays a 5% commission to the net win, if applicable.

Ranking

 A supreme pair (also known as Gee Joon) is the highest pair, it consists of the two wild dominos, called gee.  The gee usually count as either 3 or 6 points when used individually i.e. 2 + 1 or  2 + 4.  Other pairs include :

            Gee Joon    Heaven    Earth     Man    Goose    Flower    Board    Hatchet    Pattern
                 6            6 + 6      1 + 1      4 + 4     3 + 1     5 + 5     2 + 2      5 + 6       4 + 6
                 6            6 + 6      1 + 1      4 + 4     3 + 1     5 + 5     2 + 2      5 + 6       4 + 6

                                            Long    Long Leg 7    Big Head 6
                                               6         1 + 6              1 + 5
                                                           6         1 + 6              1 + 5

            Non Matched Pairs     4 + 5     2 + 6     3 + 4     2 + 3
                                             3 + 6     3 + 5     2 + 5     1 + 4

Next best are Wongs. These are combinations of either the 2 or 12 point dominos plus any 9 point domino i.e. with a combined total of either 21 or 11 :

                                King of  Heaven                    King of  Earth
                                6 + 6  Or  6 + 6                    1 + 1  Or  1 + 1
                                4 + 5        3 + 6                    4 + 5        3 + 6

Last of all are the Gongs. These are combinations of either the 2 or 12 point dominos plus any 9 point domino i.e. with a combined total of either 20 or 10 :

                            Treasure of  Heaven                        Treasure of  Earth
                        6 + 6  Or  6 + 6  Or  6 + 6        `        1 + 1  Or  1 + 1  Or  1 + 1
                        4 + 4        3 + 5        2 + 6                 4 + 4        3 + 5        2 + 6

It is also possible that you may be unable to form any of the above combinations, in which case the total number of spots will be counted (per pair) and the second digit of the count will be used as your score.  To determine who wins if two players scores (created in this manner) are identical, the winner will be the player with the highest individual domino included in the composition of the pair. The two highest ranked individual dominos being the 6 + 6 or 1+1.  If the highest ranked individual dominos are combined with a 7 they are known as a high nine.