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A Beginners Guide to the Chinese Game Pai Gow Tiles

Pai Gow Tiles

Pai Gow is a very popular casino game that goes back many years. It is played with domino tiles and can be a lot of fun for just about everyone. The modern version of this game is actually quite easy to learn.

Basics of Pai Gow

Your goal when playing Pai Gow is to make two hands from the four domino tiles you receive. These hands need to be greater than the dealer’s. Each player receives a total of four dominos at the beginning of each game, and the dealer gets four as well. These dominos are placed face down on the table, but you can look at yours.

You will need to arrange the dominos you have been given into two separate hands, each of which consists of two dominos. You are going to have a high hand and a low hand. It is important that you have a firm grasp on the scoring of this game so you know what you can make with each hand.

Scoring

When it comes to scoring in Pai Gow, you will be able to add up all of the dots on the two dominos you have. The lowest hand you can get in this game is 0, and the highest is 9. The gee joon tiles count as three or six points each.

There are a total of 32 dominos in the game, and they can be divided into 16 separate pairs. It will be necessary to remember the rankings of all the different pairs you know when you have the very best hands.

You use the four tiles you have been given to create two hands. The higher-value hand is your “high hand” and the lower-value hand is the “low hand”. Once you have done this, the tiles are turned over. The dealer then arranges their tiles according to the house rules. Your hands are then compared to the dealer’s.

If both of your hands are better than the dealer’s, you will get an even payout on the bet you have made. If the dealer’s cards are better, you will lose your bet.

Strategy

There are three possible hands that you will be able to put together from the four dominos you are given. The hardest part of this game is determining which strategy to use. You can create an extremely strong hand or a weak one.

There are is also the option of creating two hands that are decently strong. If you have two weak hands, there is not a lot you can do to win against the dealer. The difficult part comes when you have two solid hands.

You will need to keep a few important things in mind when playing Pai Gow tiles, such as to never split a pair of 4s, 10s or 11s. You should also make a point of playing a Low 8 Gong whenever you have one. Creating a strategy that works can be complicated and takes time, but it is worth the effort in the end.