Pai Gow Tiles - Advanced Splitting Strategy

This post describes some advanced pair-splitting strategies for Pai Gow Tiles when you are able to glimpse tiles in other players' hands.

All of the advice below applies when the dealer is banking. The combinations listed are in addition to the combinations you should normally split with, if any.

A "3" refers to either of the two Gee Joon tiles. A "6" refers to a high 6 or low 6 tile, but not one of the Gee Joon tiles.

Unless specified, "2 Teen/Day" tiles means either (1) Teen and Day, (2) the Teen pair, or (3) the Day pair.

Tile(s) Seen	Combinations to Split With
1 Teen	2 and 2 2 and 1 2 and H0
1 Day	2 and 2 H2 and 1 2 and H0
2 Teen/Day	2 and 2 2 and 1 2 and 0
3 Teen/Day	2 and 1 2 and 0 1 and 0 0 and 0
4 Teen/Day	9 and 1 1 and 0 0 and 0

Tile(s) Seen	Combinations to Split With
1 Five	L8 and 3
2 Fives	H8 and 6 L8 and 3	7 and 7
1 Teen/Day	L8 and 5 L8 and 3	7 and 7 7 and L6 7 and 3
2 Teen/Day	8 and L7 8 and 6 8 and 5 H8 and 4 8 and 3	7 and 7 7 and 6 7 and 5 7 and 3	6 and 6
3 Teen/Day	8 and 7 8 and 6 8 and 5 8 and 4 8 and 3	7 and 7 7 and 6 7 and 5 7 and 4 7 and 3	6 and 6 6 and 5
4 Teen/Day	8 and 8 8 and 7 8 and 6 8 and 5 8 and 4 8 and 3	7 and 7 7 and 6 7 and 5 7 and 4 7 and 3	6 and 6 6 and 5 6 and 4

Tile(s) Seen	Combinations to Split With
Teen and Day	H4 and 2 2 and 2 2 and 1 L2 and 0
2 Teen or 2 Day	2 and 1 2 and 0
3 Teen/Day	4 and 2 4 and 0 2 and 1 2 and 0
4 Teen/Day	8 and H4 6 and H4 4 and 4 4 and 3 4 and 1 4 and 0 1 and H0

Split H0s with the following combinations when all four Teen/Day tiles are observed:

• 9 and L6
• 9 and 5
• L8 and 3
• 7 and L6
• 7 and 3

Split L0s with the following combinations when all four Teen/Day tiles are observed:

• 9 and 5
• L8 and 3
• L7 and 3

With H7s, split with 9 and 11 if at least two Teen/Day tiles are observed.
With L7s, split with 9 and 11 if at least one Teen/Day tile is observed.

With H6s, split with H2 and 0 if one Teen tile is seen. Split with any 2 and 0 if two or more Teen/Day tiles are seen.
With L6s, split with 2 and 0 if one or more Teen/Day tiles are seen. Split with 0 and 0 if all four Teen/Day tiles are seen.

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One of the most bizarre-looking results is that you should split a pair of fives with H4 and L4 when all four Teen and Day tiles are known to not be in the dealer's hand. You are trading 8/Pair for 9/9, which seems crazy at first. But if you look at the hand ranks within this range...

1. Pair of 5s
2. Wong with H2
3. Wong with L2
4. Gong with H2
5. Gong with L2
6. 9 with H2
7. 9 with L2
8. 9 with H8
9. 9 with H4
10. 9 with H0
11. 9 with H6
12. 9 with L4
13. 9 with 1
14. 9 with L0
15. 9 with L6
16. 8 with H2
17. 8 with L2
18. 8 with H8
19. 8 with H4

...you'll note that anything with H2 or L2 is now impossible for the dealer to have, leaving the following possible hands in this range:

1. Pair of 5s (old high hand)
2. 9 with H8
3. 9 with H4 (new high hand)
4. 9 with H0
5. 9 with H6
6. 9 with L4 (new low hand)
7. 9 with 1
8. 9 with L0
9. 9 with L6
10. 8 with H8
11. 8 with H4 (old low hand)

So by splitting the pair of 5s with H4 and L4, you are decreasing the high hand by 2 ranks but increasing the low hand by 5 ranks, effectively adding 3 "power points" to your overall hand. So, in the extremely unlikely event that you see your neighboring player has all four Teen/Day tiles, and you have a pair of 5s with H4 and L4, split them to make 9/9 and play dumb when the dealer opens your tiles!

Splitting 5s with 8 and H4 creates a net gain of 1 "power point" if the 8 is a L8, and 7 "power points" if the 8 is a H8.
Splitting 5s with 4 and 3 has no net gain (or loss) regardless of whether the 4 is a H4 or L4; it merely balances the hand better.

Super JB! It is clear that at a full tiles table the tiles out are verbally bandied about in Chinese quite frequently. Have you figured out a new EV if you always know 8 tiles (your two neighbors) because that is usually pretty easy.....

Many players trade information on the location of the teen and day tiles
as well the gee joon or if they have a pair of eights or nines.
This is usually to make marginal decisions like playing high nine or gong, gong or wong, for a player with another teen/day.
This is a great chart for some additional information affected by the teen/day distribution.
I have seen players split the 11 tiles, and it can be tempting at times.
I am not surprised to see how many opportunities arise on this chart.