What is the history of Pai Gow Poker Games?
Pai Gow Poker history can be either a couple decades long or a couple millennia long depending on how you look at it. The below Casino Bonus guide to Pai Gow Poker history will start with the earliest forms of this classic game.
WHERE TO PLAY ONLINE PAI GOW POKER
Pai Gow Poker History: Oriental Roots
The term Pai Gow is a clear sign that this unique game variation is quite different than its more traditional poker brethren. The name reflects the influence that an ancient game, played with Pai Gow tiles and that was popular during the time of China’s Han dynasty, had on today’s Pai Gow Poker games.
Pai Gow Poker History: Western Expansion & Pai Gow Tiles
Pai Gow – the tile game – arrived in the America’s in the 19th century when Chinese immigrants came to the U.S. in search of work on the railroads. Pai Gow was a big hit among Americans who appreciated its subtle techniques and strategies.
Pai Gow Poker History: Evolution
However, many poker players found Pai Gow tiles cumbersome and difficult to keep on hand. The game gradually morphed into a form of poker, wherein traditional playing cards and standardized hand ranking replaced the heavy Pai Gow tiles.
In its new form, the game rapidly spread out of immigrant areas and into mainstream American gambling culture. Most card-playing Americans were already familiar with basic poker rules and poker ranking of hands. They found it easy to combine these existing rules with the newly established Pai Gow Poker rules.
Soon, Pai Gow Poker games were popping up in casinos across the nation. Everyone seemed interested in this latest craze and in learning how old card game rules could be change to fit new purposes.
Pai Gow Poker History: The Eighties
Despite all the game’s hype, it was only in the 1980’s that the game went legit. This is when the rules were formulated and entered into official registries. Casinos could no longer adapt the game’s rules to suit their individual purposes. A California casino standardized the rules in the early 1980’s and they have since been set in stone.
In fact, it was crucial that Pai Gow Poker rules be standardized at this time. California legislators were beginning to draw a distinct line between games of luck and games of skill. Games of luck were prohibited from many casino floors. Standardizing the game’s rules enabled casino owners to show that Pai Gow Poker was a game of skill that should be allowed in California casinos.
Pai Gow Poker History: Past, Present….Future
Now, hundreds of years after its advent, this game’s popularity continues to grow. Poker players now have far more opportunities to play their favorite game than were even conceivable in the past. Online Pai Gow Poker, which allows gamblers to apply all of the normal poker ranking and rules in a brand new environment, has changed the game forever.
Who would have thought that the classic game of the Han dynasty would travel so far and evolve so much? What does the future hold for Pai Gow Poker? Who knows. But we’re betting the game’s current form remains popular for a long time to come.