Pai Gow Moments

There are a lot of options available to the buyer of pai gow tiles.  On the Internet alone, you can find so many different choices to suit your preferences.  Perhaps you are thinking, tiles are tiles, what is the difference?  It is basically the look of the whole set, the material, and even the weight.  Let us look at some pai gow tile sets that are on sale online.

At Kardwell.com, they offer supplies for most any gambling endeavor.  They have a whole line of pai gow supplies which you can view on their page: http://www.kardwell.com/pai-gow.html.  Anyhow, they have some pai gow tiles sets, the first of which is housed in a brown vinyl case.  The case itself has a handle which allows you to carry your tiles from one place to another easily.  The tiles themselves are of casino quality and have a high gloss black pearl finish.  The dots on the tiles are red and white.  For this set, you have an added bonus of three dice and a pai gow button.

Their second set that they have is in a nicer case – a wooden box that is stained a deep brown.  There are Chinese characters on the slide out top of the box.  The tiles are essentially the same as the ones available in the vinyl case.  Personally, though, I favor the wooden box.

In any case, there are other sites out there which sell pai gow tiles.  Though many of them are black pearl – which I personally prefer – you might be able to find something else if your inclination leans towards something different.

Though there are some casinos both online and offline that offer pai gow tiles on their roster, there are still some people who want to play this game at home with friends.  Much like poker home games, pai gow “home games” can be a lot of fun and make an afternoon or an evening extra interesting.  So how do you go about setting up a pai gow game at home?  Of course first you need supplies before you can start inviting people.

Just like poker, you would need buttons to play pai gow.  You can get dealer buttons, action buttons, and banker buttons.  They are normally rectangular in shape and are often found in a pearl white finish.  You would also need pai gow dice.  You can find them in sets of three, with a wide variety of colors.  To complement these, you would need to get pai gow cups.  Common finishes would be silver and gold.

In order to play pai gow you would need a table to set things up.  It is really just like any other card game.  Depending on your preferences and your budget, you have a variety of options when it comes to the table.  If you have spare cash you might want to have someone make a table for you.  Yet it is possible to use any flat surface as well.  You just need to buy the layout for the surface.  It’s like a table top with the layout for the players.

Last but not the least, you need the tiles.  We’ll look at tiles in more detail in the next post.

Who hasn’t heard of the name Trump?  Probably a statistically insignificant percentage of Americans.  Yet did you know that the Trump Plaza Atlantic City Hotel and Casino is one of the several places in the continental US where you can play the “exotic” game of pai gow tiles?

Since you are reading this blog, I am assuming that you are interested in pai gow tiles and you have a basic working knowledge of the game so we are not going to dwell on the rules and features of the game itself.  Instead, what can you find at the Trump Plaza?

Aside from the usual array of slot machines and table games, this casino offers some games they dub exotic, pai gow being one of them.  As a matter of fact, they also offer the other type of pai gow which is quite popular today, pai gow poker.  If you are new to the games, they offer extensive information regarding the rules of the games on the web site.  You only have to browse the different pages to get a basic grasp of the games.

The Trump Plaza prides itself in having new machines on their casino floor.  They aim to give the best gambling experience to their customers.  On top of that, they boast excellent customer service, which they claim is unparalleled.  Of course, that remains to be seen by you yourself.  So if you are in the area, I suggest that you go pay this casino a visit.  While you are at it, why not give their pai gow tiles tables a try?  Online pai gow tiles is very similar to playing for real, with slight differences of course.  Yet I am sure that you will enjoy the atmosphere that the casino has when playing “for real.”

On the outset, it may seem to a beginner that pai gow is merely like a game of dominoes.  Or maybe once one begins to grasp the basic rules, you would think of poker or similar card games.  In reality, though, pai gow is a unique game on its own.  Here are some tips to get you started.

Once you get your tiles, the first thing that you should look for is a pair.  In pai gow, pairs have the highest ranking.  It should be no problem spotting them as you should just look for tiles with the same markings.  If you do not have pairs among your 4 tiles, the next thing that you should look for is a Teen or a Day tile with a 7, an 8, or a 9.  One winning possibility with these tiles would be one Teen or Day tile with a 7 – this would form a High 9.  An 8 with a Teen or a Day would form a Gong.  A Teen or Day tile with a 9 would form a Wong.

Of course, not all hands that you get will yield a pair of any of the combinations above.  When this happens, just bear in mind that the dots on the tiles represent the numerical value of the tile.  In pai gow, when the dots are more than 10, the numerical value is the number when the 1 is dropped.  With no High 9s, Wongs, Gongs, or Pairs, the number which is closest to 9 wins.

The Denenberg Strategy is a technique that you can use to improve your game.  This was developed Steven Deneberg and is available at Paigow.com.  To learn the strategy, you need to sign up to become a member this web site.

This strategy is very easy to learn as it is quite similar to the basic strategy.  Its edge is that it tells you how to maximize the value of your high hands.  It also tells you when you can maximize the value of your low hands and when to split pairs, and more.  If you have no problems understanding the basic strategy – which I assume you already know – then you will not have any problems with the Denenberg Strategy.

Based on tests, it has been showed that the Denenberg Strategy decreases your losses when playing pai gow.  For example, with the traditional strategy, you are expected to lose about $1.49 for every $100 that you wager.  With the Denenberg Strategy, the house advantage is cut by half, increasing your expected return by 0.68%.

One good thing about the Denenberg Strategy is that you do not have to know the whole thing before playing it at the table.  That means you can learn it in stages and then apply what you know.  This will still be beneficial to you and you can just apply the different stages of the strategy as you learn them.  As you continue to learn the strategy, you can practice what you know.  Paigow.com also offers a practice area wherein you can hone your skills until you know the Denenberg Strategy by heart.