Pai Gow History
Pai Gow is a centuries-old game that originated in ancient China. It was a bit complex and played with tiles that closely resemble dominoes (in fact, many times they were called dominoes, even though they are not). The tiles were split into four groups by a dealer, who then rolled dice to determine which player got which set of tiles. The game was then played from there according to the rules.
Variations of the popular game started appearing in China in the 1800s. Not a whole lot is known about who exactly invented the variations or when each one came into existence. What we do know, though is that the game known as Pai Gow Poker has its roots in the original Pai Gow tile game, but is not exactly the same. It is a fusion of both Pai Gow and traditional Poker, thus the name.
Pai Gow Poker first started appearing Stateside in California around 1986. Within a year, some casinos were picking it up and offering a table or two in their casinos that offered Pai Gow Poker. However, it took several years after that for Atlantic City and other jurisdictional casinos to really catch on and start offering Pai Gow Poker as a regular feature. Most recently, online casinos have started offering this unique Poker variation, and the demand seems to be growing as casual gamblers who would rather not be bothered with traveling to gamble have turned to the internet to get their betting fix.
Pai Gow Strategy
Here are a few tips or tricks that will help you map out your strategy to either maximize your play time and/or your winnings when playing Pai Gow Poker:
The house advantage in Pai Gow Poker is 2.5%. However, when a player decides to be the dealer, the odds are pretty much even. Therefore, it is advisable for a player to be the dealer as much as possible.
Look for tables that do not have that many players at them. This way, you have a good chance of being the dealer more often.
Always play the 'house way'. This means that you will play all your hands the way the house dealer must play, regardless of whether you are the dealer or not. This gives you two advantages- it forces you to play in the most effective way strategically in order to win, and it also gets you used to playing how you will most likely have to play if you are the dealer on a particular hand. Here is a handy chart of the house way. Be aware, though that there could be slight variations from casino to casino, though they are usually negligible and make little if any difference in the eventual outcome