Pok Deng is a live dealer casino card game released by SA Gaming in 2022. The game borrows heavily from baccarat and is played by comparing 2-card hands, with the highest ones digit wins even money.
Pok Deng has an RTP of 98.35% with a minimum bet of $1 and a $500 maximum wager. The game is available on both desktop and mobile and is completely unique in online casinos.
Even though the game itself is centuries-old, SA Gaming was the first to implement it into a live dealer format. As such, we highly suggest that you read our guide on how to play Pok Deng below.
Game Specifications | |
---|---|
Game name | Live Pok Deng |
Game provider | SA Gaming |
Game type | Specialty Games |
Streaming from | Colombia |
RTP | 98.35% |
Bet range | €1 - €500 |
Max win | 11:1 |
Side bets | Yes |
Supported platforms | |
Supported OS | |
Languages |
Arabic
English
Hindi
Indonesian
Japanese
Korean
+5
All supported languages
|
Pok Deng is a gambling card game originating in Thailand. It’s also sometimes called Pok Kao or Pok Paet Pok Kao, both of which refer to the numbers eight and nine, which are crucial to winning. Not much is known about the history of Pok Deng, but it’s been around for a while. Played in both the casinos and streets of Bangkok, it’s an exciting chance-based game for those that like to have a lot of options.
Strangely enough, Pok Deng has never been adapted to be played online before. SA Gaming are the first to do it, which is not surprising considering the company’s focus on the Asian market. Although this new release will probably find the most success in live casinos in Asia, it’s also a great opportunity for the rest of the world to try something new.
Pok Deng reminds us of Baccarat in some ways. Namely, the objective of the game is to compare 2-card hands and cards are valued in a similar way. It’s still a speciality game, though, currently unique in the live casino business.
Pok Deng is played with eight standard decks of 52 cards. Each new shoe is shuffled and a few cards are burned, which is standard practice in most card-based games.
The goal of the game is for a Player’s hand to have a higher value than the Banker’s hand. Five Player hands are in play in every round, and you can bet on any number of them. Place the chips on one or more of the hands to bet before a round starts. Note that you have to have double your stake available in your account to place a bet – we’ll explain why later.
Hand values are calculated the same way as in baccarat. It helps to know how to play baccarat, but we’ll explain quickly.
Importantly, only the last digit of any point total counts as the hand value. For example, if a hand is showing 7 and 5 for a total of 12, the hand value counts as 2.
According to Pok Deng rules, the closer your hand is to a total of 9, the better.
If you place a bet and the corresponding hand has a higher hand value than the banker, you win even money.
If the Banker’s hand is higher than the Player hand(s) you bet on, you lose your stake.
If the Player and Banker hands have the same value, the game results in a tie. Your full stake is returned to you.
Because of how Pok Deng works, there are other rules you need to keep in mind.
This might sound a bit confusing right now, but it all makes sense as soon as you play Pok Deng.
Note that this applies to the main bet alone. The Pairs bet is completely separate, and we’ll explain how it works below.
Some special hands are stronger than their standard point total. If you win with one of these, you win 2:1. You also lose twice your stake if the Banker hand wins using one such combination.
We’ll list them below in order from strongest to weakest. All special combinations in Pok Deng are stronger than 7 but weaker than 8. Moreover, some special combinations are stronger than others. That’s why their values are described as decimal points between 7 and 8.
Here are all Pok Deng special combinations, listed from strongest to weakest.
Hand Value | Combination | Description |
7.5 | Ace-King Flush | Ace and King of the same suit |
7.4 | Special Pairs | Pair of 5, 6, 10, or Ace |
7.3 | Face-card Combo | Two face cards of any suit. For example, J+K, Q+K, or K+K |
7.2 | Single Face-card with no points | When your hand has a total value of 0 but contains one face card (J, Q, or K) |
7.1 | Flush with no points | Any two cards of the same suit with a total value of 0 |
We described most of how Pok Deng works in our guide above. That includes how the payments work.
However, we’ll put all that info into a clear, readable table for you. The table includes the special cases where you lose double your stake.
Result | Payout/Loss | ||
---|---|---|---|
Pok Deng Paytable | |||
Player Hand Wins | Win 1:1 | ||
Player Wins with Pair/Flush/Special Combination | Win 2:1 | ||
Banker Hand Wins | Lose 1:1 | ||
Banker Wins with Pair/Flush/Special Combination | Lose 2:1 | ||
Player Pair Bet Wins | Win 11:1 | ||
Player Pair Bet Loses | Lose 1:1 |
Pok Deng RTP is 98.35% according to official SA Gaming data. That’s a pretty good rate by most standards – it beats out roulette and most other casino games except for blackjack and baccarat.
Now, there’s no official info for the RTP for the Pair bets in Pok Deng Live. However, it’s functionally the same as a Player Pair in baccarat with a payout of 11:1. That puts the RTP somewhere under 86%, so we don’t recommend playing it.
Make sure to choose the game that suits your taste and budget. Read the above Pok Deng guide carefully to avoid mishaps.
Let’s go over some of the features of SA Gaming Pok Deng that we didn’t already cover.
First of all, there is a sort of side bet called Player Pair. As expected, this bet wins 11:1 if the corresponding hand draws two cards of the same rank. Note that all five Player hands have a separate Pair bet, which works much like in baccarat.
Moreover, you can find the results of the previous 20 rounds or so on the bottom left. The roadmap lists Banker hands at the top and all five Player hands under it.
Various sound, video, and interface settings can be found at the very bottom of the screen.