BACKGROUND
Pai gow poker was originally invented in 1985 by Sam Torosian – owner of the Bell Card Club in Southern California – as an adaptation of both Chinese poker (known as Pusoy amongst Filipinos) and the split pot game of pai gow. Pai gow poker uses a standard 52-card deck plus a joker – instead of the set of 32 Chinese dominoes used in regular pai gow – while the player gest 7 cards to make a five-card high and a two-card low hand, rather than 13 cards to make two five-card hands and a three-card hand as in Chinese poker.
As a house-banked casino game, pai gow poker in raw format has a number of deficiencies:
A number of innovations have been introduced to eliminate the commission and spice up the game.
Commission-Free Variations
In EZ Pai Gow Poker, the dealer pushes with a queen high pai gow, a rule which allows the game to be played commission-free – if the player bets $10 and wins, the player wins $10 instead of $9.50. Similarly, in Fortune Commission Free Pai Gow Poker, the dealer pushes if the dealer plays a 9-high in the low hand, which allows the remainder of the game to be played commission-free.
But aside from a few tweaks to make pai gow commission-free, virtually no attempt has been made thus far to raise the action of the underlying game of pai gow poker itself.
Pai Gow: Main Game Variations
As a house-banked casino game, pai gow poker in raw format has a number of deficiencies:
- The 5% commission. The game charges a 5% commission when the player wins. So if the player bets $10 and loses, the player loses $10; but if the player wins, the player only wins $9.50. As such, the player is generally paid with a mix of $5 and $1 chips, and either quarters or 50¢ pieces. So not only is the player winning less on wins, but the player is also often receiving a mix of chips and coins, which is annoying to both the player and dealer (even more so to the dealer when the player intentionally bets oddball amounts in order to make the dealer do math on the commission).
- Pai gow poker is fundamentally flat and boring. The player Antes one unit. The player wins one unit about 30% of the time, loses one unit about 30% of the time, and pushes about 40% of the time. This is a game where very little happens.
- Slow game speed, contributing to higher house advantage and higher minimum stakes. Pai gow poker is inherently a slow game, and only made slower with built in in-efficiencies. The dealer generally starts by either rolling a set of dice or using a computer to determine which player is dealt first. The dealer then deals a complete hand of seven cards to the dealer plus all six player positions – even when there is only one player at the table. Then the players have to set their hands, after which the dealer sets the dealer hand. As a consequence, the casino is processing very few wagers compared to other games; and to compensate, the game has a higher house advantage (~2.5% on the base unit, which comes out to ~2.5% per unit wagered given a flat bet of one unit per hand) than virtually any other card game in the casino. Meanwhile, the minimum stakes are often higher as well: In many casinos that offer $5-minimum bets for blackjack for craps, it’s common for the minimum wager on pai gow to be $10; in casinos with $10-minimum wagers, the minimum wager on pai gow is often $15 or $25.
A number of innovations have been introduced to eliminate the commission and spice up the game.
Commission-Free Variations
In EZ Pai Gow Poker, the dealer pushes with a queen high pai gow, a rule which allows the game to be played commission-free – if the player bets $10 and wins, the player wins $10 instead of $9.50. Similarly, in Fortune Commission Free Pai Gow Poker, the dealer pushes if the dealer plays a 9-high in the low hand, which allows the remainder of the game to be played commission-free.
But aside from a few tweaks to make pai gow commission-free, virtually no attempt has been made thus far to raise the action of the underlying game of pai gow poker itself.
Pai Gow: Main Game Variations
Game
|
House Advantage
(Base Unit) |
Avg. Bet Per Hand
|
Adj. House Advantage
|
Win Frequency
|
Pai Gow Poker
Fortune Commission Free Pai Gow Poker EZ Pai Gow Poker Source: Wizard of Odds |
2.51%
2.51% 2.47% |
1.00 Units
1.00 Units 1.00 Units |
2.51%
2.51% 2.47% |
29.2%
27.4% 27.5% |
Sidebets
In a game where the player pushes 40% of the time and wins or loses one unit the rest, it’s become standard practice for pai gow games to include a number of sidebets and progressive jackpots to make the game more interesting. EZ Pai Gow Poker and Fortune Commission Free Pai Gow Poker both include a range of sidebets, while other standalone sidebets such as Emperor’s Challenge have also been introduced. "Envy" bonuses allowing the player to win when other players at the table make strong hands are common in such games.
Meanwhile, the underlying flat and boring nature of pai gow has encouraged virtually all sidebet designers to produce sidebets with steep paytables and low hit frequencies.
Pai Gow: Sidebets
In a game where the player pushes 40% of the time and wins or loses one unit the rest, it’s become standard practice for pai gow games to include a number of sidebets and progressive jackpots to make the game more interesting. EZ Pai Gow Poker and Fortune Commission Free Pai Gow Poker both include a range of sidebets, while other standalone sidebets such as Emperor’s Challenge have also been introduced. "Envy" bonuses allowing the player to win when other players at the table make strong hands are common in such games.
Meanwhile, the underlying flat and boring nature of pai gow has encouraged virtually all sidebet designers to produce sidebets with steep paytables and low hit frequencies.
Pai Gow: Sidebets
|
Sidebet
|
Min Payout
|
Top Payout
|
Win Frequency
|
EZ Pai Gow Dynasty Bonus
EZ Pai Gow Protection EZ Pai Gow Red/Black EZ Pai Gow Queen's Dragon Tiger 9 Pai Gow Insurance Jackpot Pai Gow Emperor's Challenge Lucky 8's Pai Gow'd Jokolor Source: Wizard of Odds |
2 to 1
3 to 1 1 to 1 50 to 1 30 to 1 3 to 1 2 to 1 2 to 1 1 to 1 3 to 1 5 to 1 |
2,000 to 1
120 to 1 5 to 1 50 to 1 30 to 1 100 to 1 20,000 to 1 5,000 to 1 8,888 to 1 100 to 1 30 to 1 |
19.2%
16.1% 47.8% 1.8% 2.5% 16.1% 19.2% 20.0% 12.0% 16.1% 14.1% |
|
This sets the stage for Super Pai Gow™, which in two moves turns pai gow poker into an action game, more than doubling the action of regular pai how while also turning pushes into wins. As a result of the latter, Super Pai Gow™ doubles the main game win frequency to 57%. Meanwhile, by also paying for two pair depending not he paytable being used, the main side bet win frequency using those paytables increases to 42.3% -- more than double that of its comparable sidebets.