Casino Player October 2022

PAI GOWPOKER ADVANCED STRATEGIES FOR SETTING HANDS

By Basil Nestor

Editor’s note:We’ve received a lot of letters recently requesting more information on how to play Pai Gow Poker so we dug into our archives and found this informative article by gaming expert, Basil Nestor, with strategies to help you win more with a stronger front hand. O ne of the most unusual things about pai gow poker is that it doesn’t have one official optimal strategy. Nope. Not even for casinos.The game has so many variables that casi nos use abbreviated near-optimal strategies when they make rules for how dealers play hands.There are hundreds of these strategies.Each casino’s version is unique and is called (by tradition) the “house way.” For example, if you’re at Foxwoods in Connecticut and the dealer has 6 ♠ 6 ♣ 2 ♥ 2 ◆ Q ♠ J ♥ 10 ♠ ,she would set the hands as 6 ♠ 6 ♣ Q ♠

J ♥ 10 ♠ in the back, and 2 ♥ 2 ◆ in front.That’s the house way at Foxwoods. But at Boulder Station in LasVegas, the house way would be 6 ♠ 6 ♣ 2 ♥ 2 ◆ 10 ♠ in the back and Q ♠ J ♥ up front. Of course, there are broad areas of agreement. If the dealer has three pairs and a singleton, then you can be sure the highest pair will go up front. Nevertheless, these variations make it essentially impossible for a player to learn a true optimal strategy for pai gow poker. Even an ab breviated strategy can be lengthy.The “easy” strategy that I developed for my book Playboy Complete Guide to Casino Gambling has 21 cat egories. So the key to playing a near-optimal game is more than just learning a list of rules. It’s mostly about understanding the thinking be hind the choices,and also knowing the house way that is played against you.Then you can be flexible and apply a strategy to each hand rather than blindly follow a system.We’ll cover some examples, but first, let’s start with a brief review.

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