Room to play, more to win! DOUBLE HAND POKER AKA PAI GOW POKER. PAI GOW TILES.and many more. Zone 8 Sports Bar & Grill Now Open. Pai Gow Tiles: The Traditional Chinese Game. Pai Gow Tiles (or just Pai Gow) is the traditional, original version of Pai Gow Poker. Although the aim of the game is rather similar where the player must form 2 ranking “hands”, the rules and terms are completely different and can be very foreign to those unfamiliar with Chinese culture.

1. How To Deal Pai Gow Tiles
2. Pai Gow Tiles
3. Where To Play Pai Gow Tiles In Vegas

1. The key element of pai gow strategy is to present the optimal front and rear hands based on the tiles dealt to the player. There are three ways to arrange four tiles into two hands when no two of them form a pair. However, if there is at least one pair among the tiles, there are.
2. How to Play Pai Gow Tiles A hand of pai gow begins with all 32 tiles being shuffled. Each player makes a bet, and receives four tiles; the dealer also takes four tiles for their own hands. The players now look at their tiles, and arrange them into two separate hands of two tiles each.

Pai Gow Tiles is the predecessor of Pai Gow Poker. It has its roots in Ancient China and is arguably one of the oldest games that is currently played in casinos. On this site, we focus primarily on Pai Gow Poker. The game uses standard playing cards and poker hand rankings; most gamblers enjoy the familiarity.

That said, a lot of people prefer to play Pai Gow Tiles. The game moves more slowly than Pai Gow Poker, which makes it easier to preserve your bankroll. And because the game uses dominoes rather than playing cards, it offers a unique flavor to the gambling experience.

On this page, we’ll give you a comprehensive tutorial for playing Pai Gow Tiles. Think of this as a mini workshop. We’ll explain the rules and hand rankings (using dominoes), so you’ll have everything you need in order to get started playing immediately.

Rules Of Pai Gow Tiles

The game is played with 32 dominoes, each with two sets of dots. For the remainder of this page, we’ll refer to the sets in a “top:bottom” format. So, a 3:4 means 3 dots on top and 4 dots on the bottom. Some dominoes, such as the 3:6 and 2:5, appear only once. Others, such the 6:6 and 1:5 appear twice. Even though some dots are red while others are white, the color is irrelevant.

• The goal of Pai Gow Tiles is identical to the goal for Pai Gow Poker: to beat the dealer (or technically, the banker when the dealer isn’t banking).
• At the beginning of a hand, the banker will mix the 32 dominoes and arrange them in 8 stacks of 4.
• The players (up to 7 besides the banker) will choose their bets.
• Then, dice are rolled to determine the distribution of the 8 stacks of tiles – each player receives 1 stack.
• Your job is to arrange your 4 tiles into two hands. Each hand will contain 2 tiles. Each tile (or domino) has a value based on its two sets of dots.
• If both of your hands beat the banker’s hands, you’ll win and your bet is paid even money.
• If both of your hands lose against the banker’s hands, you’ll lose your bet.
• If you win one hand while the other hand loses, you’ll push and your bet is returned to you.
• If you win both hands, the banker will collect 5% of your winnings as a commission. This is one of the reasons it’s an advantage to act as the banker.

Hand Rankings In Pai Gow Tiles

Hand rankings and scoring in Pai Gow Tiles will seem complicated to novices. Remember these two rules of thumb:

• Hand values are calculated by adding the dots on the dominoes and dropping the tens place. For example, a hand comprised of 3:4 and 4:5 would be scored as “6”. Here’s the math: 3:4 equals 7 and 4:5 equals 9. 7 plus 9 equals 16. Drop the tens place digit and you’re left with 6.

A nine is the best hand possible (with a few exceptions detailed below).

That’s the easy part. Now, let’s cover Days, Teens, Gongs, and Wongs.

• A 1:1 tile is called a Day.
• A 6:6 tile is called a Teen.
• If you pair up either of them with an eight (i.e. 2:6, 3:5, 4:4, etc.), the resulting value is 10, not zero. The hand is called a Gong and outranks a nine.
• If you pair up either with a nine (i.e. 3:6, 4:5, etc.), the resulting value is eleven, not one. The hand is called a Wong. It too, outranks a nine.

There’s more to learn…

A 1:2 tile and a 2:4 tile are both known as Gee Joon tiles. They can represent a value of 3 or 6, depending upon which yields the best score. For example, suppose that you have a 1:2 tile paired with a 4:5 tile. Normally, with the 1:2 tile representing 3, the hand would be scored as 2 (3 plus 9 equals 12, drop the tens place digit). However, because the 1:2 is a Gee Joon, it can represent 6, giving the hand a score of 5 (6 plus 9 equals 15, drop the tens place).

Let’s move on to pairs.

Among the 32 Pai Gow Tiles, there are 16 possible pairs (for example, a hand comprised of a 2:3 tile and a 1:4 tile). A pair always beats a non-pair hand, regardless of the dots. The ranking of pairs is as follows, starting from the highest score to the lowest score:

• #1 – 1:2 and 2:4
• #2 – 6:6 and 6:6
• #3 – 1:1 and 1:1
• #4 – 4:4 and 4:4
• #5 – 1:3 and 1:3
• #6 – 5:5 and 5:5
• #7 – 2:2 and 2:2 (vertical)
• #8 – 2:2 and 2:2 (horizontal)
• #9 – 5:6 and 5:6
• #10 – 4:6 and 4:6
• #11 – 1:6 and 1:6
• #12 – 1:5 and 1:5
• #13 – 4:5 and 3:6
• #14 – 2:6 and 3:5
• #15 – 3:4 and 2:5
• #16 – 2:5 and 1:4

Unfortunately, there is no easy system for memorizing the above ranking order.

Playing Pai Gow Tiles To Win

The strategy for Pai Gow Tiles involves splitting your 4 tiles into two hands that maximize your chances of winning both hands. It’s more complex than it sounds. Given the time, we could provide beginner, intermediate, and advanced strategies. We may do so in the future. In the meantime, there are very few online casinos at which to play Pai Gow Tiles. Most offer Pai Gow Poker because it is far more popular with gamblers.

We recommend that you visit Bodog Casino to play Pai Gow Poker. They’ll give you an instant 10% sign-up match on your first deposit. Rather than placing your bonus into a pending account until you earn it out, Bodog drops it into your active account, so you can start using it immediately. Visit Bodog Casino today to start enjoying Pai Gow Poker.

Pai Gow Poker is a popular card game featured in casinos across the world. It is particularly popular among the Asian population due to the fact that it’s based on a Chinese domino game known as Pai Gow Tiles in the United States.

Like most other card games, Pai Gow Poker utilizes a traditional 52-card deck with one exception. There is one single joker left in the deck. The joker, however is not a standard wild card. It may only be used to complete a royal flush, straight flush, straight, or flush. If the card cannot be used in one of these hands, it is simply counted as an ace. Read on to learn how to play using proper strategy as well as payouts and other important information before playing at a casino.

Pai Gow Articles

How to Play Pai Gow Poker

When you sit down to play Pai Gow, the hand starts with a mandatory bet. This requires you to place your chips in the ante box. Some games have additional side bets which are optional. This will depend on the rules at each individual table/casino.

Once all bets are placed, the next step is to determine which player will receive the first set of cards. Traditional tables will use three dice while more modern ones use a random number generator that chooses a number between one and seven. To give you a frame of reference if you are unfamiliar; the banker’s spot is considered seat one. The numbers then go in order, counterclockwise around the table.

Once all of this has been determined, the game begins. It starts off by the dealer handing seven cards (in a row) off to the first player who was chosen by the dice or number generator from the top of the deck. One unique facet of Pai Gow when compared to other poker games is that the cards are dealt to all seats, even if they are unoccupied.

Playing Your Hand

Once all bets are placed, and each player has been dealt their cards, they then pick them up. The cards are separated by the player into one five card hand and one two card hand. The main rule being that the five card hand must be higher than the two card hand. This means that a pair cannot be placed in the two card hand unless there is a pair of that value or higher in the back hand or any hand that beats a pair.

Once all players have set their hands, the banker exposes his cards. There is a unique house way for every scenario. This is used when the casino is banker and varies from one house to another. These rules are made available upon request at any casino, so if you play often it may be worth checking before sitting down at a table if it suits you.

Pai Gow Rules

In Pai Gow Poker, the rules are determined by the house and referred to as the House Way. The House Way changes from casino to casino (offline) and from software to software (online), but here are the most typical rules.

– While the additional Joker is counted as an Ace, you can also count it as any card when you are filling out a Flush, Straight Flush, Straight, or Royal Flush. The card is often called a bug.

– The best five-card hand you can possibly have in Pai Gow Poker is a set of five aces.

– In addition to the five-card hand, there is also a two-card hand. The former is often called the Bottom, Back, Behind, or the Big (or High) hand. The latter is called the Front, In Front, On Top, the Minor hand, the Small hand, or the Low hand.

– In Pai Gow Poker, the dealer deals seven cards to himself and seven cards to each player after making the bets. From the seven cards, each player makes two hands: one with five cards, the other with two cards.

– The five-card hand must be higher than the two-card hand. This rule must be taken seriously as fouling your hand (the phrase used when your two-card hand is higher than your five-card hand) makes you lose your bet.

– Often times (but depending on the House Way), the rule is to arrange a pair or two high cards as your two-card hand.

– The standard poker hand ranking rules apply to the five-card hand. There is one exception, however, in a number of casinos. A wheel (the A-2-3-4-5 straight) is deemed as the second-highest straight ranking.

– The best possible two-card hand is a pair of aces while the worst is 2-3. Flushes and Straights are not applicable in the two-card hand because the Joker is always an Ace.

– Each player is betting both hands against the banker, who can be the dealer or any one of the players (similar to Baccarat).

– To determine who wins, each player compares his hands to the banker’s according to the House Way.

a) You win if both hands are higher than the banker’s and get paid even money (sometimes with a commission).
b) You lose if neither hands is higher than the banker’s.
c) The game is a draw or push if only one hand is higher than the banker’s.
d) However, the banker wins in the event that the banker’s hands and the player’s hands are the same. This is a plus for the casino when the banker is the dealer. If the banker is one of the players, this rule does not hold but the house deducts a certain percentage from the winning hands. The percentage is usually 4-5%; however, some casinos do not deduct it. Do note that most – if not all – online casinos round off each value to the nearest $0.25, so you should always wager in the rise of $5.

– There is also a bonus bet, in which you bet on three or more of a kind as the “premium hand”. It is independent of your main bet and pays as high as the numbers of a kind you have.

– In addition, Microgaming’s Pai Gow Poker features a side bet, which has a house edge of 5.79%.

Strategies

Published in April 1990, Optimal Strategy for Pai Gow Poker by Sanford Wong is one book to read if you are truly interested in this game. Even though I have not read it myself, the book has been praised for years to offer the best strategies, point out the conditions in which you can beat the game, and how to minimize losses and maximize wins. Below are some strategies and advises that would deliver a better Pai Gow Poker experience (but using them could be tricky if a player is the banker).

Optimal Strategy

The first and most basic strategy is to split your hands in a strategic way, which is also termed “splitting hands”. It has been verified to lower the house edge from 2.9% to 2.5%. This works because you only need one hand to be higher than the banker’s to avoid losing. So, you need to arrange your two-card hand to be the highest possible hand and still lower than the five-card hand. These are also included in the House Way and vary at times.

General: A common method is to arrange the second (and third) highest ranked cards in the two-card hand while the highest card is in the five-card hand.

A Pair: Another one is to arrange a pair in the five-card hand and the two other highest cards in the two-card hand.

Two Pairs: If you have two pairs, the rules here are quite extensive but we will try to cover them.

a) Always split a pair of Aces, two high pairs, and one high pair and one medium pair between the hands.
b) If you do not have an Ace, always split two medium pairs and one high pair and one low pair.
c) If you do not have an Ace or a King, always split one medium pair and one low pair and two low pairs.

Three-of-a-Kinds: If you happen to have a three-of-a-kind, arrange in the five-card hand except it is of Aces. In this case, arrange two Aces in the five-card hand while the remaining Ace and one high card are in the other hand.

Four-of-a-Kinds: If you have four cards of the same rank (four-of-a-kinds or quads), split them into two pairs with the higher going in the two-card hand only if the quad is JJJJ or better. If the quad is a 7777 or TTTT, do not split only if you have an Ace. If the quad is of 6s or below, do not split. If the quad is of Aces, split equally.

Straights and Flushes: As they are not allowed in the two-card hand, always play them in the five-card hand. But if you also have two extra pairs, split them according to the two-pair rules some paragraphs above.

Others: If you come across five Aces and two Kings (which is extremely rare), play three Aces and the Kings in the five-card hand. If you have five Aces without a pair of Kings, always play them in the five-card hand. If you have a Full Hand (three cards of one rank and two of another), play the two cards of the same rank in your two-card hand. In the event that you have another pair (which could either mean four cards with the same rank and the other three with the same rank or three cards with the same rank, two with the same, and another two with the same), play the higher pair in the two-card hand.

Exception: If you are able to make a very high five-card hand (such as a straight), this strategy is best ignored since the five-card hand is almost guaranteed to beat the banker’s.

How To Deal Pai Gow Tiles

Hand Probabilities

There are even more rules or tips on splitting hands but these are the most common ones. Furthermore, let’s look at the probability of having the 154,143,080 possible card combinations with classification.

a) Five Aces: 0.00000732
b) Straight and Royal Flush: 0.00136862
c) Four-of-a-Kind: 0.00199472
d) Full House: 0.02717299
e) Flush: 0.04004129
f) Straight: 0.07289250
g) Three-of-a-Kind: 0.04846585
h) Two Pairs: 0.23065464
i) One Pair: 0.41663862
j) All Other Possibilities: 0.16076246

Betting Systems

No matter what your stand on betting systems is, you cannot deny their everlasting popularity, especially amongst novice players. Most experts do not endorse them but whether they are beneficial or not is a story for another day. And yes, you can apply betting systems to Pai Gow Poker, which would arguably help you spread your wagers and keep your bankroll in check.

Say No to the Bonus Bet

This is actually an expert tip – it is highly recommended to never bet the bonus because it has the highest house edge and is guaranteed to result in an eventual loss.

Player’s Can Play as the Banker

Pai Gow Poker is an unusual game in that players may be banker on occasion. This is optional. The rules on banking a Pai Gow Poker hand are different from one casino to another. Most casinos will allow a player to bank once every other hand when playing heads up. At a table with multiple players, the dealer option will rotate each hand among the dealer and all occupied seats. A player banker will still have to pay a 5% commission on their net winnings. Any winning player also pays 5% to the house when facing a hand banked by another player.

Pai Gow Tiles

Fortune Pai Gow Progressive Jackpot

Where To Play Pai Gow Tiles In Vegas

Most Pai Gow Poker tables offer multiple jackpots. The most common is the Fortune Pai Gow Poker Progressive. This jackpot is sometimes linked among multiple casinos in a market. The bet for the progressive is just $1. All hands qualify with or without the joker.

Payouts

– Seven-card straight flush: Jackpot
– Five aces: 10% of jackpot
– Royal flush: $500
– Straight flush: $100
– Four of a kind: $75
– Full house: $4