For the most part, gambling in a casino can be broken down into two groups: Machines and Table games. Yes, there’s also sports books, keno, etc, but for the sake of conversation, lets talk tables and machines. A lot of the conversation I’ve heard about why people won’t play table games revolves around the speed of losing. Table games can take your money in a hurry, but machine play can be slower. However, neither is very predictable. That is, unless you play Pai Gow Poker.
Pai Gow Poker is the ultimate “I just want to hang out for a while” game. It has a low house edge; Wizard of Odds has it around 1.5% and the player and house tie 41% of the time (bet is a push). On top of that, the player wins 29% of the time, meaning that 70% of the time you either win or tie. The only way the casino makes money on this game is that when you win the casino charges a commission.
A VegasTripping article out there once surmised that because you hang out so long at a Pai Gow Poker table, if you were comped expensive enough liquor, you could turn the house edge into your favor. I am not a statistician and can’t say whether this is true, but I like the idea. I won’t go through all the rules for Pai Gow Poker here. It’s kind of complicated, but feel free to click here for those. Pai Gow Poker requires an understanding of poker hands and then a little understanding of how to split seven cards into a good two hand poker hand and a good five card hand.
At any rate, if you already know typical poker rules, Pai Gow Poker won’t be too hard to pick up. If you are just looking to hang out, have some drinks, and let your money ride for a while, Pai Gow Poker could be the game for you.
(ED: Pai Gow is awesome! You can show the dealer your cards and they will help if you’re dumb and/or drunk.)
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>Table games can take your money in a hurry, but machine play can be slower.
Huh? Pressing a little red button takes time?
>if comped expensive enough liquor, you could turn the house edge into your favor
Johnie Walker works for the casino.
You start playing a few green chips at Pai Gow Poker, you get a few “free” beverages served to you by an attractive young lady half in and half out of her skimpy uniform and suddenly you go from green chips to black chips.