Pai Gow Moments

As I promised in the last post, I will pick up exactly where I left off in the House Way description of Dicedealer.com:

Make the low hand as high as possible. This includes playing the high domino in the low hand when given the choice. Exceptions:
 
If the low hand does not have a value of at least long 3 (a total of 3 with the long domino or higher) and a 7 or higher is possible in the high hand then make the high hand as high as possible. This includes playing the high domino in the high hand when given the choice.

If the two hands total 8-9 or more then play the high domino in the high hand.
2, 5, 6, 12: play 7, high 8.
High 8, low 8, high 4, any 7: play 2, high 5.
High 10, low 10, high 6, any 7: play 6, high 7.
High 10, low 10, high 6, low 8: play 6, high 8.
High 10, low 10, high 6, any 9: play 6, high 9.
High 10, high 8, 11, low 7: play 7, high 9.
High 4, low 4, gee (mixed 6), 5: play high 7, 9.
2 or 12, any 6, 5, gee: play 7, 9.
High 6, low 6, 11, gee: play 7, high 9.
High 8, low 8, any 7, 9: play high 5, 7.

At first glance, these combinations may seem to be too many and too complicated for one to understand and remember.  Through practice and use, it is not impossible.

In the past few posts we have been looking at strategical points as presented by Fortune Palace.  Here is the last installment, which talks about the House Way and the Bonus Bet as offered in their casinos.  Enjoy!

The House Way

The House Way is the set of instructions each casino gives its dealers on how to set their seven card hands. Most online casinos offer a House Way button so that you can automatically take advantage of this set of rules.

What’s important here is understanding that the House Way isn’t set to win all the time, but to keep losses down so that the casino wins in the long term. In other words, the House Way is a safety option, probably best suited to new players and low-risk punters.

Another important point is that some House Way buttons (ie at Golden Palace) automatically play the hand once it’s set. Others (Spin Palace, Ruby Fortune) set the hand but give you the option of whether to play it that way or not. This may not seem much but it affects your overall strategy.

The Bonus bet

If you bet on the bonus, then you’ll win up to 8000 times your stake if your seven cards contain a bonus hand (Straight or above). The payouts are big, but don’t come anywhere near the odds against, so the house edge is substantial.

This won’t suit low and medium risk punters. However, if you’re a high-roller, and prepared to take the risk, the Bonus bet adds enormously to the fun and excitement of Pai Gow Poker.

It’s the way we play!

Here is the second installment of Fortune Palace’s Optimal Pai Gow strategy.  With this post, hopefully you will be able to complete and apply this optimal strategy for winning at pai gow poker.

2 pair:
Always split, unless:
1. Two pairs of 6s or below - don’t split.
2. The hand contains an ace - play the ace behind.

3 pair:
Always play the highest pair in front.

3 of a kind:
1. If three Aces, play a pair of Aces behind and Ace high in front.
2. Otherwise, play the three of a kind behind and the remaining high cards in front.

Straight, flush, straight flush:
Set the back as whichever hand gives the better front.

Full house:
Set the three of a kind behind and the pair in front.

2 sets of 3-of-a-kind:
Split the higher set into a pair and a single  - play the pair in front and play the smaller 3-of-a-kind behind. For example, with K,K,K,10,10,10,5 you should play K,K and 10,10,10,K,5.

Four of a kind:
1. If 2 to 6, play it behind.
2. If 7 to 10, split into pairs, unless a pair or an ace and a face card can be played in front.
3. If J to K, split into pairs, unless the hand also contains a pair of 10s or higher.
4. If Aces, split into pairs, unless a pair of 4s or higher can be played in front.

Royal flush:
1. Play behind.
2. If Royal flush with two pair, split as per two pair rule.
3. Split, if an A, K or a pair can be played in front and a straight or flush behind.

Five Aces:
1. Split, unless a pair of Ks can be played in front.

In the last post we had a quick look at pai gow poker, its background and some basics. If you are someone who likes playing poker and are into variations and new things, then you would most definitely get into pai gow poker.

To make it easier to understand, pai gow poker is simply a variation of 7 card stud. To add a twist, it also has elements of pai gow tiles. Perhaps one of the main differences of pai gow poker from conventional poker is that it makes use of 53 cards instead of the usual 52. The additional card is the joker. Having the joker makes it possible to get 5 of a kind. What are the implications of this hand? In conventional poker, the highest hand would be a royal flush (5 sequential cards in the same suit, ten to Ace). In pai gow poker, though, since we have the 5 of a kind, this beats the royal flush. Ask any poker player who has tried pai gow poker and he will tell you that the 5 of a kind hand ups the excitement another level.

With some poker variations, you know that not all the cards in the hand are used to determine who the winner will be. In pai gow poker, all 7 cards are utilized. The dealer deals 7 cards to all the players face down. Once this is done, the cards are split into two hand – the high hand (5 cards) and the low hand (2 cards). Once a player has split his cards he is not allowed to touch them.

Pai Gow is an old Chinese gambling game. It is mainly played with the use of dominos. It should not be confused with its derivative, Pai Gow Poker, which is played with cards. Here are some commonly used terms in Pai Gow.

Banker – the designated person who does not place a bet but all players bet against him. Each participant’s high and low hands are compared against the banker’s high and low hands. The banker collects and benefits from all the bets that he wins, but he is also responsible for playing off the bets to all participants who beat the banker’s high and low hands. Each person around the table can take his turn at being the banker at some point. It is important to note that the banker is not the same as the dealer.

Day – the tile with a double one

Dealer – the person who shuffles and stacks the tiles. Much like the dealer in poker and other card games.

Dice – there are three dice used in Pai Gow. They are not rolled but shaken in a cup. They introduce and additional element of chance as well as avoid cheating.

Gee Joon – the 1-2 or 2-4 tiles. Also known as wildcards.

Gong – a pair that consists of a Day or Teen and an eight. This is worth ten.

Hand – a group of tiles. A hand is composed of two tiles each.

High hand – the hand which has a higher value.

Identical pair – a pair of tiles which are identical in appearance. There are 11 identical pairs in Pai Gow.

Low hand – the hand which has a lower value.

Pair – two tiles grouped together (According to the rules of Pai Gow). Pairs are not necessarily of the same value. There are sixteen pairs in Pai Gow.

Teen – the tile with a double six

Tie – a situation wherein you and the banker have the same exact hands. In the event that a tie happens, the winnings go to the banker.

Tiles – the main material with which you play Pai Gow. They are rectangular in shape, about 1 inch wide and 2 inches tall. They are usually black with white and red dots on one side. The other side is uniformly black so that a tile can be overturned without the other players seeing the number of dots on it.

Wong - a pair that consists of a Day or Teen and a nine. This is worth eleven.

Most activities known to man are learned. That is, we do not know exactly how to do something at the first try. What happens is that we go through a learning process that varies depending on the person and the activity. This is where the concept of the learning curve comes in. The learning curve effect states that “the more times a task has been performed, the less time will be required on each subsequent iteration. It was discovered by the nineteenth-century German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus.”

You may be thinking, this is all well and good – it sounds really scientific and all – but how does it relate to Pai Gow? After all, I just want to have fun. Well, there is the issue of actually learning to play the game. Just as with other games (cards, tiles, or whatever), I am sure that if you know how to play Pai Gow, that was not always the case. If you do not know how to play it yet, well you still have to go through the process of learning the game.

So again, back to the question – where does the learning curve effect come into the picture? When you ask the question “How easy or hard is it to learn Pai Gow? it is essentially asking about the learning curve of Pai Gow. So how easy and how fast is it to learn Pai Gow?

There is not straightforward answer to this question. First of all, Pai Gow can be a little bit more complicated than the usual card game. Not everyone is familiar with the tiles and dominoes used in Pai Gow. So the first step in learning the game is to familiarize one’s self with the tiles and the different patterns first. Then one must learn the different combinations. Depending on how fast an individual can pick up these concepts, the process might take quite some time. That is why in learning Pai Gow, you would need to spend a considerable amount of time practicing the basic concepts first.

Once you have grasped the concepts of the tiles fully, then it will be easy street for you. Of course, understanding and memorizing the values and possible combinations is one thing. Actually using them correctly in a game would be another thing. As such, it would be safe to say that Pai Gow’s learning curve would be a little less steep than other card games. It takes patience and some time but it’s all worth it.