From: jacobs@cs.utah.edu (Steven R Jacobs)
Subject: Re: Pai Gow
In-reply-to: cheese@wam.umd.edu's message of 29 Jul 92 15:42:05 GMT
Organization: University of Utah CS Dept
Distribution: usa
Date: 29 Jul 92 11:15:40

In article <1992Jul29.154205.21502@wam.umd.edu> cheese@wam.umd.edu (Fletch F. Fletch) writes:
>
> My parents went to AC this past weekend and are now fascinated with the game
> Pai Gow.  They are interested in any information I can obtain for them.  If
> anybody has any information handy, would you please either post or e-mail to
> me.

From the FAQ:

Q:M4  How is Pai Gow Poker played?
A:M4  (John F. Reeves)

  Pai-gow poker is a banking poker game played in Las Vegas and some of the
  California card clubs.  The object of pai-gow poker is to make two poker 
  hands that beat the banker's hands.  The player is dealt 7 cards that he 
  makes into a five card hand (high hand) and a two card  hand (low hand).  
  The hands are played and ranked as traditional poker hands (with one 
  exception: A2345 is the second highest straight), and the 5 card hand 
  must be higher than the 2 card hand.  If both hands are better than the 
  banker's hand, you win, if both lose, you lose, otherwise it's a push.  
  The banker wins absolute ties (i.e. K Q vs K Q). 

  The game is played with a 52 cards plus one joker.  The joker can be used
  as an Ace or to complete a flush or straight.  The table layout has 7 
  spots one in front of the dealer and 6 for players, like this:

             Dealer
               7 
         1	    6
           2      5
             3  4 

  Each player spot has spaces for a bet, low hand, high hand and sometimes 
  the house commission.  The dealer deals 7 7-card hands in front of the 
  chip tray.  The banker can be a player, but is usually the house.  The 
  banker designates which hands go to which player by shaking a dice cup 
  with three dice; the banker's position is either 1, 8 or 15 and the hands 
  are passed out counterclockwise.  So, if the dealer is the bank and the 
  dice total to 6, player 5 gets the first hand, player 6 gets the second, 
  the dealer gets the third and so on.  The dice mumbo-jumbo appears to be 
  ritual stuff --- you don't need to worry about anything until you get 
  your hand.

  The player puts the two card hand face down in the box closest to the 
  dealer, and the five card hand face down in back.  Once everybody has set 
  their hand, the dealer turns over and sets the bank's hand.  The the 
  dealer goes counterclockwise around the table comparing the banks hand to 
  the players, and taking, paying, or knocking.  There is a 5% commission 
  on winning bets that you can either put out next to your winning bet, or 
  the dealer will subtract from your payoff.  The lowest minimum bet is $5, 
  seen at the Imperial Place and Four Queens.

  In pai-gow poker, the only strategic decisions are how much to bet and 
  how to set your hand.  The simple basic strategy for setting your hand is 
  to make the highest 2-card hand that is less than your five card hand.  
  If you can't figure out what to do, you can show your hand to the dealer 
  and they will tell you how the house would set it.  Since pairs generally
  win the 2-card hands, and two-pair wins the 5-card hands, the only 
  difficult decisions are when to split two pairs.  The house rules at the 
  Four Queens were not to split low pairs (<= 6) and not to split pairs <= 
  10 if there was a Ace high two card hand.   So the house would set

     A 10 10 6 6 5 3 =>  A 5 / 10 10 6 6 3
     K Q 10 10 6 6 3 =>  6 6 / 10 10 K Q 3

  A ``Pai-gow'' is a hand with no pairs, such as Q J / K 7 8 6 2.  

  Things get a little weird if a player wants to be the bank.  To quote 
  from the IP house rules: ``The House Dealer or the player may be the 
  ``BANKER.''  The Bank wagers against all players.  The bank will alternate 
  between the house and the player (the House Dealer will at least take the 
  bank every other hand).  The BANKER will be signified by a white plastic 
  marker.  A Bank Player must either cover half or all wagers against 
  him/her.  The House will co-bank at 50/50 only at the Bank Player's 
  request.  The hand will be set according to house way and the table limit 
  will apply if the House acts as a co-banker.  In order to bank, a player
  must have played the previous hand against the House.  The House will 
  wager a sum equal to that player's wager against the house the previous 
  hand.  The player may request that a smaller amount be wagered.  A Banker 
  must be bank at the same spot of the hand he previously played against the 
  house.''  Got that??

  In the CA card clubs, all wagering is between players, so the option
  to be the bank rotates among the active players.  The rule differences 
  from the IP rules are that the Joker is wild, and the house commission
  is a flat $1 per hand ($10 minimum bet).  

  Pai-gow poker is an easy game to play, and since each hand takes a while
  to play (dealer has to shuffle for each game) and most hands push, you
  can play on $20 at a $5 table for quite a while. 
--
Steve Jacobs  ({bellcore,hplabs,uunet}!utah-cs!jacobs, jacobs@cs.utah.edu)
"Never try to teach a pig to sing.  It wastes your time and annoys the pig."
Newsgroups: rec.gambling