Pai Gow Poker Side Bets Explained
3 minutes
Last Updated: April 16, 2024
You can explore various Pai Gow side bets when playing this casino game. However, while some can be a great addition to your Pai Gow experience, not all are worth your attention. On this page, we’ll overview Pai Gow side bets to cover everything you should know about them before wagering on any of them:
Fortune Pai Gow
The Fortune Pai Gow side bet is arguably the most popular side bet in this card game. This side bet also offers a unique hand payout for “Royal Flush with Royal Match”, which is a standard five-card royal flush and a King and Queen of the same suit. Here’s a complete summary of the hands and payouts in the Fortune Pai Gow side bet:
| 7-Card Hand | Payout |
| Seven-Card Straight Flush | 8,000 to 1 |
| Royal Flush with Royal Match | 2,000 to 1 |
| Seven-Card Straight Flush With Joker | 1,000 to 1 |
| Five Aces | 400 to 1 |
| Royal Flush | 150 to 1 |
| Straight Flush | 50 to 1 |
| Four-of-a-Kind | 25 to 1 |
| Full House | 5 to 1 |
| Flush | 4 to 1 |
| Three-of-a-Kind | 3 to 1 |
| Straight | 2 to 1 |
The house edge for the Fortune Pai Gow side bet is just under 8%.
Pai Gow Insurance
A Pai Gow hand is a seven-card hand that doesn’t even contain at least one pair. This is most often a guaranteed losing hand, which is where Pai Gow insurance comes into play. A Pai Gow insurance bet is a great way to get a payout when you have a poor hand. With this side bet, you can win these payouts depending on your cards:
| Pai Gow Hand | Payout |
| 9-High Pai Gow | 100 to 1 |
| 10-High Pai Gow | 25 to 1 |
| Jack-High Pai Gow | 15 to 1 |
| Queen-High Pai Gow | 7 to 1 |
| King-High Pai Gow | 5 to 1 |
| Ace-High Pai Gow | 3 to 1 |
The house edge on the Pai Gow insurance bet is about 7.35% on average.
Jokolor Side Bet
The Jokolor side bet wagers that all of your cards will be of the same color and/or include a Joker. Keep in mind that this bet pays for matching red/black color hands, meaning that your hand doesn’t actually have to be made of cards from a matching suit. It’s a simple and easy-to-follow bet that offers solid payouts but few ways to win. Here are the payouts for the Jokolor side bet:
| Hand | Payout |
| Six Cards of the Same Color and Joker | 30 to 1 |
| Seven Cards of the Same Color Without Joker | 10 to 1 |
| Any and With Joker | 5 to 1 |
The house edge on the Jokolor bet is about 3.90%.
Pai Gow’d
The Pai Gow’d side bet works exactly like Pai Gow insurance, only it pays when a dealer has a bad hand instead of the player. The payouts are very similar to those of the Pai Gow insurance side bet, albeit more rewarding for some hands. Here are the payouts for the Pai Gow’d side bet:
| Dealer’s Hand | Payout |
| 9-High Pai Gow | 100 to 1 |
| 10-High Pai Gow | 50 to 1 |
| Jack-High Pai Gow | 10 to 1 |
| Queen-High Pai Gow | 7 to 1 |
| King-High Pai Gow | 5 to 1 |
| Ace-High Pai Gow | 3 to 1 |
The house edge for the Pai Gow’d side bet is approximately 6.44%.
Lucky 8’s
Lucky 8’s is the most rewarding side bet you can place in Pai Gow poker, offering a mind-boggling payout for the best-paying hand. It includes all seven of your cards and provides these payouts:
| 7-Card Hand | Payout |
| Seven-Card Straight Flush | 8,888 to 1 |
| Seven-Card Straight Flush With Joker | 1,000 to 1 |
| Four 8’s and Joker | 888 to 1 |
| Five Aces | 400 to 1 |
| Four 8’s | 400 to 1 |
| Royal Flush | 150 to 1 |
| Straight Flush | 50 to 1 |
| Four-of-a-Kind | 25 to 1 |
| Full House | 4 to 1 |
| Flush | 2 to 1 |
| Three-of-a-Kind | 1 to 1 |
While the Lucky 8’s side bet undoubtedly promises unbelievable payouts, it also comes with an alarmingly high house edge. More specifically, the house edge, on average, for this Pai Gow side bet is a whopping 45.15%.
Emperor’s Challenge
While not quite as rewarding as the Lucky 8’s side bet, the Emperor’s Challenge is still one of the best-paying side bets in Pai Gow side bets you can make. Like the previous side bet, this one also offers several payouts for a few seven-card hands. Here’s a rundown of the payouts you can get with the Emperor’s Challenge side bet for the winning combinations:
| 7-Card Hand | Payout |
| Seven-Card Straight Flush | 5,000 to 1 |
| Seven-Card Straight Flush With Joker | 1,000 to 1 |
| Five Aces | 500 to 1 |
| Royal Flush | 150 to 1 |
| Straight Flush | 50 to 1 |
| Four-of-a-Kind | 25 to 1 |
| Full House | 5 to 1 |
| Flush | 4 to 1 |
| Three-of-a-Kind | 3 to 1 |
| Straight | 2 to 1 |
| 9-High Pai Gow | 40 to 1 |
| 10-High Pai Gow | 5 to 1 |
| Jack-High Pai Gow | 2 to 1 |
The Emperor’s Challenge side bet is significantly more favorable than the Lucky 8’s bet in terms of the house edge, as this side bet has a house edge of around 4.17%.
