Karma is...

I had an interesting experience last night while playing Pai Gow Poker at the Horseshoe Southern Indiana. I was surrounded on either side by novice players, one of which was playing two hands. At HSI, the player may set both of his hands (not necessarily in the house way) but they must be set in order from highest to lowest bet amount. The dealer volunteered me to help them set their hands "to speed things up." I was allowed to set my hand after seeing all 21 cards belonging to those players. It still only took me 90 minutes to lose $300 playing $20/hand...

Also, and maybe I'm just missing something here, but they treated 3 of a kind as though it was higher than a straight "because it pays more on the bonus." Aren't normal poker rankings used at all PGP tables, except for the wheel occasionally being the 2nd highest straight?

Quote: rdw4potus

Also, and maybe I'm just missing something here, but they treated 3 of a kind as though it was higher than a straight "because it pays more on the bonus." Aren't normal poker rankings used at all PGP tables, except for the wheel occasionally being the 2nd highest straight?

Yeah, they were doing it wrong.

Quote: teddys

Yeah, they were doing it wrong.

They also set a234567 as a2345/67 "because the house just wants a tie, so I set the highest straight." (they play with the wheel high) Both on this straight and on the 3 of a kind thing, the floor supervisor was right there and agreeing with the dealer.

That's interesting (and strange) that they treat 3 of a kind as a better 5-card hand than a straight.

It's more difficult to have three of a kind out of a 7-card hand than it is to have a straight, and this is what the bonus is concerned with. But for the 5-card hand, a straight should still beat 3 of a kind.

I don't believe this would affect your strategy -- in hands containing 3 of a kind and a Straight, the best play is obviously to play the straight in the 5-card hand and the pair in the 2-card hand. But I would be interested in seeing how it affects the math, although I don't have the time to analyze that. If I were to guess on that, I don't think it would affect it very much.

I had a dealer and floor supervisor at Ameristar St. Louis tell me that 3 of a kind beat a straight. I told them that they had to find someone else who knew that they were wrong.

They eventually did, and I got my $10. But it's still frustrating. You'd think that the dealers and supervisors would be trained on the game before being allowed to deal it.

I'd complain to the Gaming Board.

There is supposed to be a cheat sheet for dealer's use showing the house way. It's not something that they'll let you take, but they certainly should have it handy to reference and show you.

I'm glad its not just me. I had a dealer at Harrah's in Vegas try to tell me that her three of a kind was better than my friend's straight. Again, she pointed to the bonus payout table as proof. I was adamant that she was wrong and demanded to see the pit boss if she persisted, and she acquiesced without calling the pit boss. I was astounded.

Quote: PapaChubby

I'm glad its not just me. I had a dealer at Harrah's in Vegas try to tell me that her three of a kind was better than my friend's straight. Again, she pointed to the bonus payout table as proof. I was adamant that she was wrong and demanded to see the pit boss if she persisted, and she acquiesced without calling the pit boss. I was astounded.

It probably doesn't help that nowadays a lot of dealers are breaking in with Three Card Poker, not PGP.