Harrah’s Las Vegas installed a new game on April 17, 2025. The casino now offers 5 Card Pai Gow from Casino Gaming Development.
5 Card Pai Gow is in the back pit in front of the high-limit table room. The minimum bet was $10 during our visit.
Harrah’s Las Vegas is the first casino anywhere to deal 5 Card Pai Gow. It is based on the traditional version of the game with a few differences.
5 Card Pai Gow uses a standard 52-card deck, meaning it does not have a joker. Players may not bank. The dealer banks every hand. 5 Card Pai Gow does not have commission. Instead, the dealer pushes all player hands when the front low hand is 10-high or lower. The game is dealt face-up. Players see the dealer’s hand before setting their own.
The dealer has a simple house way. The second-highest card out of the five is placed in the front. This means the house will break pairs and other hands to make the strongest two-card low hand possible.
The three-card hand must be higher than the two-card hand. If the dealer opens, players set their hands, following the same rule.
Just as in traditional pai gow, pushes are common, in addition to when the dealer fails to qualify due to the front low hand being 10 or lower. If the player wins one hand and loses the other, that is a push. When the player wins both hands, the bet is paid even money. If the dealer wins both hands, the player’s bet loses.
5 Card Pai Gow side bets
Three side bets are available at 5 Card Pai Gow. These are all optional. Multiply the number by the size of the wager.
Dealer Low Hand
This bet pays when the dealer fails to qualify due to the low hand being 10 or lower.
- Five high: 100
- Six high: 25
- Seven high: 10
- Eight high: 3
- Nine high: 2
- Ten high: 1
Dealer & Player Pai Gow
This bet wins if the player or dealer has a hand below a pair with no straights, flushes, or straight flushes.
- Eight high: 100
- Nine high: 50
- Ten high: 15
- Jack high: 5
- Queen high: 3
- King high: 2
- Ace high: 1
5 Card Poker Hand
This bet wins based on the strength of the player’s five cards.
- Royal flush: 500
- Straight flush: 200
- Four of a kind: 50
- Full house: 40
- Flush: 30
- Straight: 20
- Three of a kind: 10
- Two pair: 2
- Pair of 10s or better: 1
5 Card Pai Gow is the second Casino Gaming Development Las Vegas table game
Casino Gaming Development now has two table games in the Las Vegas market. 3 Shot Poker launched at Flamingo and Harrah’s in November 2023. The 5 Card Pai Gow table replaced 3 Shot Poker at Harrah’s. 3 Shot Poker is still available at Flamingo. It has a $5 minimum bet.
Casino Gaming Development was founded by table game dealers based in Black Hawk, Colorado. The group thought the existing table games on the market were stale, and players wanted something new. They invented several new games with installations across the country, including ones in California, Colorado, Michigan, and Nevada.
Vegas Advantage first met Casino Gaming Development’s group at G2E in 2023, a month before 3 Shot Poker launched at Flamingo and Harrah’s. We have stayed in touch since and visited with them during our 2024 Colorado casino visit, 2024 G2E, and at the launch of 5 Card Pai Gow at Harrah’s this week. We expect their games to expand across the country in the future.
Image credits: Casino Gaming Development
