Pai Gow Moments

Although Pai Gow is generally about creating pairs, grouping two tiles with each other is not that easy to do. Remember that in Pai Gow, having tiles with identical markings does not necessarily constitute a strong hand.

To excel or win in Pai Gow, many players use “strategies”: some of which are new – developed only in recent years an example of which is the Denenberg Strategy, the others are more traditional. Most Pai Gow players and casinos offering this game prefer to use the “traditional strategy” or variations of this. Strategy playing in Pai Gow involves knowing how to create pairs and which pairs you, at all times, should strive to create. It is important to note, however, that before a Pai Gow player decides to focus on perfecting his strategy, he must first be very well acquainted with the pairings or divisions and the names of these.

Basically, there are two general PaiGow strategies (though with numerous variations, these players learn through experience and trial and error) and these depend on the tile that you have been dealt with. In the eventuality that you are given four tiles and you are unable to create any pair with them, then look for what are termed as “Only Acceptable” divisions. If you cannot see any pairings that fall under the Only Acceptable division then look for what are called “Best High Division” and “Best Low Division”.

If you have been lucky enough to receive tiles where you can create pairs, remember that you should never split pairs of tiles that have 4, 5, 6, 10 or 11 spots on the tile face. If you have a pair of 7 split these if you have a Teen and the value of your low hand after the split is 7 or higher. Split an 8 pair if the value of your low hand is 7 or higher. Split a pair of 9s if the total value of your low hand is equal to or higher than 9, and finally, split a Teen or Day set if after the split, your low hand will either have a value of at least six, or if you have tiles that has 9 or 11 spots.

Determining how and when to split your tiles is indeed quite tricky. Therefore, it is really recommended that a Pai Gow player fully understand the pairings and the names that go with each pair first, before he even attempts to master strategies: be it modern or traditional ones.

This entry was posted on Monday, January 15th, 2007 at 7:47 am and is filed under Strategy, Guide, Basics, Pai Gow. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.