Domino Poker is Pai Gow poker or Chinese poker. Domino Poker has many variations, but for the purpose on eliminating confusion, we will focus on the basics. The game is also known as 99 domino poker. It is to be played with a partial-six domino set. Two to four players decide on an amount to be betted and decide what the minimum and maximum amounts are to add to the pot.
Only twenty tiles are used to play the game, the double-one and all the blank-suited tiles are removed from the domino set. Then to begin the game, the dominos shuffled and then arranged face down. The merchant player then gives five tiles to each player. Only the player is allowed to look at his tiles. The player can choose to check, fold, call, bet and raise as their turn comes around.
- A check is done on the first round of the game and the player doesn’t have to add money to the pot.
- A fold allows the player to exit the game without showing his hand and he forfeits the pot.
- A call requires the player to add enough money to the pot to equal the highest bet.
- The bet is simply adding money to the pot within the perimeters set before the game started.
- The raise is when a bet has been made and the player making the raise wishes to increase the bet. Other players who wish to bet must match the raise.
When a call is made, every player must reveal his hand of tiles. The player with the highest ranked tiles is the winner and can take the pot. The rank of the tiles is as follows:
- Royal Hand is the Ultimate, no one can beat this.
- Straight Sixes is the second highest hand.
- Four-of-a-King is the third highest hand.
- Straight Fives is the fourth highest hand.
- A Full House is the sixth highest hand.
- Straight Fours is the seventh highest hand.
- Three-of-a-Kind and a Triple are the eight highest hands.
- A Flush is the ninth highest hand.
- A Single Pair is the tenth highest hand.
- The heaviest tile comes in at eleventh place. This is win no other hand wins, then the highest double wins. If there are no doubles, then the player with the greatest number of pips wins.
The biggest benefit to winning goes to those who don’t know how to play traditional poker. The reason this is so lies in the fact that the tiles do not have the same value as a poker hand does. So, the less you know about poker the better off you are, because you won’t get confused.
The object of any game including Domino Poker99 is to have fun. Learning the game, the hands and style of play may take some time, but you can enjoy the process if you keep your bets small.
