first experience of EZ PGP

Last week I was visiting Las Vegas. Literally I only visited a tiny part of Vegas.
I stayed at the Wynn, and played at Wynn/Encore and Venetian/Palazzo, never went to anyway else during my entire stay.
For the first time in my life I saw one and only one EZ Pai Gow Poker at Venetian.
The minimum was $25 and the table was empty, so I decided to give it a try.

My buy in was $300. The female dealer asked me if I need red chips for bonus bets I said no, so she give me 12 greens.
I asked the dealer what's the main difference between this EZ PGP and the regular PGP, the dealer told me there're two differences:
1) No commission fee on winning hands, and that's a good thing for the players.
2) If the dealer hand is a Q-high pai gow, then it's a push regardless of what the player's hand is.
(Ironically, I didn't see any of those 2 rules ever being used, see below) .

Because I was the only player and I set my hands pretty fast ( I am not the kind of superstitious gambler who slowly peeks
their hands one card at a time), and in less than 15 minutes I played about 10 hands.
Most of time I played just one green, and a couple of hands 2 greens.
For those ~10 hands I played, I didn't win a single hand! The best hand I had was 2 pairs, and dealer's hand was 3 big pairs.
When I had a small pair, the dealer always had two big pairs. I also got 2 or 3 pai gow hands, dealer got none.
My 12 greens were gone in less than 15 minutes.

As it turned out, the dealer never ever paid me, not a single time! So the No-commissioning part was never in use.
And the dealer never got a Q-high pai gow, not even any pai gow hand. So I didn't see that rule in use either.

Well, so much for my EZ PGP.
After I left the table, I played at some nearby tables for a few hours and I never saw anyone else played at that table.

But I have no ill feeling about the EZ PGP game itself. I think the changes with respect to regular PGP are very good, very positive.
Just for the record, that day I was down over $2000. It was just a bad day for me. I lost 200-300 at every single table I played
and never ever ahead in any of those sessions. It was just straight down at every table.

What other games did you play that day?

Anyhoo, after reading your first two sentences, I just had to post that you were not in Las Vegas. :-)

Sounds like some bad variance......and it followed you all day, that sucks!!

Were there other Pai Gow Poker tables at the Venetian that did have players? Or was it just a slow day for PGP at the Venetian?

Quote: 1BB

What other games did you play that day?

Regular Pai Pow Poker, Baccarat, BJ, all 50-50 games. But I just lost pretty much every single hand. Damn!

Quote: Paradigm

Sounds like some bad variance......and it followed you all day, that sucks!!

Were there other Pai Gow Poker tables at the Venetian that did have players? Or was it just a slow day for PGP at the Venetian?

The other (regular) Pai Gow Poker tables, which I also played, had lots of players, at least half full.

Been there...

Sorry to hear it happened to you.

I've played EZ Pai Gow many times, and often lost a bunch in a row.
Hot dealer = cold table, every time.
Other times I cleaned up. Variance always shows up to a gambling party.

Quote: Paigowdan

I've played EZ Pai Gow many times, and often lost a bunch in a row.
Hot dealer = cold table, every time.
Other times I cleaned up. Variance always shows up to a gambling party.

I am shocked - SHOCKED - to hear that this is a game you've played! Don't you work for a competing vendor? :-P

Quote: rdw4potus

I am shocked - SHOCKED - to hear that this is a game you've played! Don't you work for a competing vendor? :-P

Yes I do. I play 'em all!
I even play Crazy 4 Poker from SHFL....

Quote: Paigowdan

Yes I do. I play 'em all!
I even play Crazy 4 Poker from SHFL....

ooooh, I do not care for that game. 4 card poker is better, but neither is good. There's no strategy or thought required, and they cost more to play than 3 card which is also thoughtless and boring.

How are things going with EZ PGP? Can DEQ keep you up to date, or is there a conflict with notifying a competitor of that info?

Quote: rdw4potus

ooooh, I do not care for that game. 4 card poker is better, but neither is good. There's no strategy or thought required, and they cost more to play than 3 card which is also thoughtless and boring.

Sometimes I do like a "wine-drinking" fun game to play. Craps and UTH are my serious, more hard-core games to play.

Quote: rdw4potus

How are things going with EZ PGP? Can DEQ keep you up to date, or is there a conflict with notifying a competitor of that info?

Some information is quite public. DEQ announced the resignation of Earle G. Hall, their former CEO.
DEQ has been focusing on their hardware products (like G3, etc.), and I felt they were neglecting, or paying too little attention to, their table games infrastructure and sales; let me say that this is my experience and opinion. I am also reasonably certain that some positive attention and action will be forthcoming from DEQ on many fronts now.

Quote: Paigowdan

Hot dealer = cold table, every time.

That's a good point!