Pai Gow Tiles - Commission Free game

How difficult would it be to set up a Pai Gow tiles game with no commission? Removing commission would reduce the house edge, but could this be offset by a mechanism similar to that found in no commission Pai Gow Poker, or no commission Baccarat? Which hands would be used for this, i.e. how would the house edge be affected if a dealers hand with a wong was deemed as a push if the player has a higher hand? All thoughts and opinions welcome, but I do hope JB or Wizard may share some of their knowledge.

Commission-free tiles, with present rules, would be a zero HE game if the player and dealer alternated banking and the player set his/her hands in the House Way. Beyond that, it'd be a +EV game for players of any additional skill.

I'm not sure why you'd want to change the rules; the game's already terribly complicated, many players have cultural attachments to it, dealers have to be trained for hours to understand the current rules and house way/strategy, and the game has been around for centuries. (Pai gow poker, by contrast, dates to 1985.)

You're asking a question that people here (including the Wizard) often get paid to answer. To answer your question, one could use the data available on WoO to figure out all the cases in which Dealer Wong or Pair loses all Player Wong or Pairs, and switch around those probabilities. You're probably not getting to the current house edge(s) in the house way vs. house way match-up. Obviously then optimal or advanced strategies have to be re-drawn, and I don't think you're going to have many volunteers to do that. (I could be wrong.)

That said, welcome to the forum.

The dealer has an inbuilt advantage of winning all ties and all 0-0 scores. The main problem is they have to use a house way that is sub-optimal, so need some commission. The other factor is that if a dealer plays one way (e.g. making best low with 4/5) then it can be better for the player to play opposite (to play 0/9). I haven't done the maths but can't imagine much of a house edge would be left even if the dealer played "perfectly" and players can always set their hand to "house way". Also I've seen players discuss how many Teen and Days have gone - which some casinos seem to allow.

As players can take the bank, any idea such as used in Pai Gow poker wouldn't easily work.

Quote: AlFa

How difficult would it be to set up a Pai Gow tiles game with no commission? Removing commission would reduce the house edge, but could this be offset by a mechanism similar to that found in no commission Pai Gow Poker, or no commission Baccarat? Which hands would be used for this, i.e. how would the house edge be affected if a dealers hand with a wong was deemed as a push if the player has a higher hand? All thoughts and opinions welcome, but I do hope JB or Wizard may share some of their knowledge.

This has been done by Stanley Ko; I believe it is played in Australia. It bars one specific dealer's weak hand to recoup income to replace the commission, by not paying out on a rare hand that is a probable loser.

First, let me say thanks to all of who replied so far, your comments are appreciated.
The question came up during a recent debate, with a colleague arguing that it should be reasonably easy to set up a no-commission version of Pai Gow tiles game similar to no-commission Baccarat.
I've argued to the contrary, given the nature of Baccarat (pre-determined rules on drawing cards) versus Pai Gow tiles (player banking, player having the freedom to set their hand any way they like, etc.). In addition, Pai Gow has way more complexity than Baccarat. Still, the question remained.
To answer the question why would you abolish the commission, I think some of the benefits would be a somewhat faster game if the payout was a simple even money job.
I've tried looking up Stanly Ko, but all I've managed to find is Pai Gow poker, and a Pai Gow tiles side bet (Bonanza Pai Gow) which is apparently used in Australia.