Pai Gow Poker House Advantage

FACE Up Pai Gow Poker is pai gow poker variant played with a 53-card deck, consisting of a standard 52 card deck and one joker. This joker acts as a bug, may either complete a straight, flush, straight flush, or act as an Ace. It plays like conventional pai gow poker except in which all the dealer cards are exposed first. This Pai Gow Poker variation has no commission, which makes it yet another popular choice for players. The casino compensates for this with one main rule change. Anytime the dealers’ hand is a queen high pai gow, all players will push. This increases the house advantage because a queen high pai gow hand is typically a losing hand for the dealer.

Pai Gow Poker House Advantage Rewards

Pai Gow Poker

Pai Gow Poker is a game of chance, with an element of skill. The odds of winning depend on the random distribution of cards and how well they’re arranged.

House edge

The house edge is a statistical advantage that the casino has over players. It’s what makes it possible for casinos to operate and still pay out the large jackpots that make gambling so exciting.

How house edge works

Pai Gow Poker has a standard house edge of 2.84%. There is however a way to lower that edge to around 1.42%. This is done by playing as the “Banker”.

Playing as the Banker

Poker

Before each round of Pai Gow Poker begins, the dealer will ask, usually counter-clockwise around the table, if any seated players would like to act as the Banker. Players are under no obligation but may choose to take on the role since the Banker wins on any tie.

Pai Gow Poker House Advantage Login

Is there a way to improve the odds?

The odds of receiving any one card over another are equal. While there’s no way to make the cards fall in a player’s favour, knowing how to arrange them into the best poker hands ensures the greatest chances of a win or tie.

5% commission on payouts

On top of the odds and house edge, Pai Gow Poker winnings trigger a 5% house commission, across the board. After a win, the dealer will deduct this from any payout a player receives.

Pai Gow Poker House Advantage

E.g. $100 in winnings, less 5% commission = $95 total payout

Ready to play?

Pai Gow Poker is no different from the Chinese domino game pai gow. The game is also known for its slow rate of play and many pushes, resulting in a low-risk game. While it’s a game of skill, most hands are obvious on how to play, and it is not hard to learn proper strategy for the rest of them.

Every player plays against the dealer’s hand, causing the table to often win and lose together, resulting in a most fun and social game.

If you want to play a slow table game with minimal volatility and no skills required, Face Up Pai Gow Poker is the perfect casino game for you. The house edge in this game is 1.81%, better than the higher 2.72% house edge in Pai Gow Poker.

Pai Gow Poker House Edge

Pai Gow Poker House Advantage

House Advantage In Pai Gow Poker

The house advantage in the game of Pai Gow Poker depends not much on your skill setting hands. However, more on how much of the action you bank. The following tables will show the probability of every possible outcome and the expected value in four ways — whether you are using the house way or the optimal strategy and whether banking or the dealer is banking.

Pai Gow Poker House Advantage Plan

House way Strategy — Dealer Banker

EVENTPAYSCOMBINATIONSPROBABILITYRETURN
Win0.952,402,491,783,820,7560.2911950.276635
Push03,341,087,256,920,5240.4049580.000000
Loss-12,506,879,990,473,1200.303847-0.303847
total8,250,459,031,214,3901.000000-0.027212

House Way Strategy — Player Banker

EVENTPAYSCOMBINATIONSPROBABILITYRETURN
Win0.952,506,879,990,473,1200.3038470.288655
Push03,341,087,256,920,5240.4049580.000000
Loss-12,402,491,783,820,7560.291195-0.291195
Total8,250,459,031,214,390-1.0000000.002540

Pai Gow Poker House Odds

The Pai Gow Poker House Edge varies depending on both the player strategy and also the House Way rules applied by the casino. The House Way rules do not vary that much which allows for the application of an optimal gambler strategy. This strategy usually allows for a House Edge of between 2.5-2.6%.

Pai Gow Poker House Advantage Plans

It should also be noted that many casino gambling software’s allow an option for the gambler to deal with their hand the House Way. In general, this returns a House Edge higher than the optimum at around 2.7%.

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