What do you think of this Pai Gow house way?

These are the house way rules for two pair and four of a kind that is used at a local casino. It is fairly simple, but to me appears extremely conservative:

Four of a kind - never split 2s through 9s, split 10s or higher unless you can play another pair or any ace in the low hand.

Two pair - Always split 10s or higher; always keep 6s or less together; any other two pair combination split, unless you can play any ace in the low hand.

Has anyone see these rules anywhere? Is the house losing any edge from being this conservative? For example, if you were to have KK99A23, you would play the A3 in the low hand and keep the two pair together. That seems to be fairly weak to me. Any opinions?

I agree it's very weak. It's also very simple. Maybe they feel like the simplicity will overcome the weakness by allowing more hands per hour? More lopsided hands = more pushes, and more pushes = less time taken figuring out commission on payouts?

Yes, its two pair handling very weak but its SIMPLE - a key word. I assume this is not their full house way (no mention of handling full houses, straights, flushes, three of a kind, etc.)

Casino houses have to run games with speed and consistency (without their dealers making any variations on a house way), so simple house ways are "good enough" if dealers and handle it easily, and it seems to work in terms of table hold.

There is far too much variance in house ways between casinos, and ther selections seem to be willy-nilly, not based on mathematical selections.

Quote: LSUTiger518

These are the house way rules for two pair and four of a kind that is used at a local casino. It is fairly simple, but to me appears extremely conservative:

Four of a kind - never split 2s through 9s, split 10s or higher unless you can play another pair or any ace in the low hand.

Two pair - Always split 10s or higher; always keep 6s or less together; any other two pair combination split, unless you can play any ace in the low hand.

Has anyone see these rules anywhere? Is the house losing any edge from being this conservative? For example, if you were to have KK99A23, you would play the A3 in the low hand and keep the two pair together. That seems to be fairly weak to me. Any opinions?

This is a crap house way, but it doesn't lessen the house edge very much, EXCEPT if the player knows it and adjusts accordingly. For instance, against this house way I would play 4422J96 by splitting the two pair.

My guess is that your local casino is an Injun enterprise where the barely-trained dealers would be befuddled by running a hot dog stand, let alone dealing a casino game, and the casino adopted the simplest house way as a stopgap measure--maybe the dealers were getting AA33224, hitting, busting, and paying everybody.

Quote: LSUTiger518

Has anyone see these rules anywhere? Is the house losing any edge from being this conservative? For example, if you were to have KK99A23, you would play the A3 in the low hand and keep the two pair together. That seems to be fairly weak to me. Any opinions?

Harrah's and Horseshoe in Council Bluffs use a very similar two pair rule, except that it's 5s or less together (even if it means putting up a 78 in the low hand). I agree that it's a very weak house way, and it kind of drives me nuts when I play there, but I do adjust accordingly.

Quote: mkl654321

This is a crap house way, but it doesn't lessen the house edge very much, EXCEPT if the player knows it and adjusts accordingly. For instance, against this house way I would play 4422J96 by splitting the two pair.

My guess is that your local casino is an Injun enterprise where the barely-trained dealers would be befuddled by running a hot dog stand, let alone dealing a casino game, and the casino adopted the simplest house way as a stopgap measure--maybe the dealers were getting AA33224, hitting, busting, and paying everybody.

Actually, it is a nice resort-type casino with what I believe are experienced dealers. Most I have seen are pretty good. I am thinking the rationale is closer to what Paigowdan said, for speed and efficiency reasons.

So, by knowing their house way and adjusting to it, how much can I expect to gain in terms of house edge? Something that can actually make a difference?