Bonus Pai Gow Poker is a fascinating hybrid of the ancient Chinese domino-tile game of Pai Gow and the all-American card game of poker. The game was invented by Sam Torosian and Fred Wolf in California in the 1980s.

The essence of the game involves dividing your seven cards into two poker hands and playing them against the dealer's corresponding two hands. At the same time, the bonus bet is based on your undivided seven-card hand. It might sound confusing, but it's actually pretty easy to learn and play.

Online Bonus Pai Gow Poker is played with a full deck of cards including a Joker, which gives a total of 53 cards. Before you start, you must place a bet by selecting your chip size and then clicking on the "Bet" circle; each click increases your bet by one chip.

Once you are ready to play, just click the Deal button. You and the dealer each receive seven cards; yours are face-up, the dealer's are face-down. Now you must split your seven cards into two hands: a "Highest" hand of five cards and a "2nd Highest" hand of two cards. You can do this by clicking on the two cards that you want to place into your 2nd Highest hand, or you can have the computer do it for you by clicking the House Way button.

After you have split your hand, you click the Play button and the dealer's cards are turned over. If your Highest hand beats the dealer's Highest hand, and your 2nd Highest hand beats the dealer's 2nd Highest hand, you win the game. If only one of your hands beats the dealer's corresponding hand, the game is a tie.

Of course, the cards you are dealt is a matter of chance. But how you split your hand is a matter of Pai Gow Poker strategy. It is this mix of luck and strategy that makes Pai Gow Poker such an intriguing game.

In addition to your regular bet, you can place a bonus bet to try to win bigger payouts. The outcome of the bonus bet is determined by looking at all your seven cards as a single poker hand. On the bonus bet, you are not competing with the dealer; it is simply a matter of whether or not your hand is good enough to win. You need a straight or better to win the bonus bet. A straight pays out at odds of 2-to-1. The odds get even better for the higher poker hands like three of a kind, flush, full house, all the way up to a seven-card straight flush, paying out at 8,000-to-1.