Patent ID: 7487970

Claim:
A method for playing a hand of Pai-Gow poker comprising: placing a designated player/dealer bet on a designated player/dealer hand beating a particular player position on a playing table in a position proximate said particular player position, wherein said particular player position is one of 6 player positions, and said designated player/dealer hand is the hand that all other players compare their hands to in order to determine the outcome of bets; separating a deck of playing cards into 7 hands wherein each hand includes 7 cards; determining a one of said 6 player positions and a designated player/dealer position to receive a first one of said seven hands; dispensing said 7 hands to said 6 player positions and said designated player/dealer position according to rules of a Pai-Gow game responsive to a determination; allowing a player at each of said 6 player positions having bets on said playing table to set an upper hand of two cards and a lower hand of five cards in accordance to rules of Pai-Gow poker; allowing a designated player/dealer to set an upper hand of two cards and a lower hand of five cards of a designated player/dealer hand at said designated player/dealer position in accordance with rules of Pai-Gow poker; determining whether said upper hand and said lower hand of said particular player position beats said upper hand and said lower hand of said designated player/dealer hand; and paying said designated player/dealer bet from a designated player/dealer bet fund if said particular player position has an upper hand that loses to said upper hand of said designated player/dealer hand and has a lower hand that loses to said lower hand of said designated player/dealer hand.