Secret House Ways
Whenever I go to a casino, they can tell me the house rules they have for craps if I inquire. If I ask for information about blackjack, they'll give me the exact rules. In fact, usually they have a pamphlet detailing the rules for any game.
However, the second I ask for the Pai Gow Poker House Way or Pai Gow Tiles House Way, they have nothing to give me. To be fair, I remember that Casino @ Dania Beach gave me the house way when I asked (I lost it, oops), but no other casino seems to have it when I ask.
Personally I think this is really unfair. Imagine playing blackjack, and to your surprise, the dealer says the House Way is to not hit a four-card soft 17. I wish there was a way to compel casinos to reveal their House Way? Is there?
I do not have any malicious intentions - actually I just want to include as many Pai Gow Poker/Tiles House Ways as possible on my website once I release those games (aiming for February or March 2026).
Additionally, I wanted to ask if there are other games where different casinos have their own House Ways?
Thanks very much for reading and have a happy new year!
I invented a new Pai Gow poker game, which uses only 6 cards for everybody. Both the low hand and the high are composed of three cards each.
Quote: avianrandyWell isn't most paigow these days face up.so why does it matter….. <snip>link to original post
avianrandy,
Honestly, so the player KNOWS that the dealer is not making misplays (intentionally or not) that are in the house's favor. It would be like playing a BJ game where the dealer does not show the players her hole card and hit cards and simply tells the players whether she beat them or not.
I have played Pai Gow Poker against many dealers who do not in fact know their own house way completely: they might set 98% of their hands correctly, but those other 2%, not so much.
I will give due credit to the Horseshoe in Tunica for displaying their PGP House Way on an engraved sign right on their PGP tables the last time I played there, many years ago.
Dog Hand
Quote: avianrandyWell isn't most paigow these days face up.so why does it matter….. have you checked wizard of odds for pai gow tiles house way? I think I would start there
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Well, it helps you know the house edge before you start playing.
Also Pai Gow Tiles is not face up
Quote: acesideCasino house ways have been input into a computer on the Pai Gow Poker table, while the shuffler can recognize all of the cards that exit the shuffler; therefore, they really do not need to keep a paper copy of the house way. In other words, when the shuffler spits out these seven cards for the dealer, it can easily arrange into a low hand and a high hand itself.
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I have never seen this in real life, though I believe it exists somewhere
Quote: AutomaticMonkeySounds like it might be more of a language problem than a secrecy problem. All the Pai Gow dealers know the house way and they demonstrate it with every hand they deal, so it can't be a secret. But if you want them to describe it to you, the answer might be "ancient Chinese secret," they can't do it coherently in English. So maybe look for an American dealer (they exist) and sit and play and talk with him for a while.
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Most Pai Gow Poker dealers are not Chinese and anyways it’s better to get it in writing in case the dealer misses something.
As for the game, it must be 6 cards a hand and it must be separated into 3+3, because this is the only way to represent the doctrine of the mean.
Quote: harrisQuote: acesideCasino house ways have been input into a computer on the Pai Gow Poker table, while the shuffler can recognize all of the cards that exit the shuffler; therefore, they really do not need to keep a paper copy of the house way. In other words, when the shuffler spits out these seven cards for the dealer, it can easily arrange into a low hand and a high hand itself.
link to original post
I have never seen this in real life, though I believe it exists somewhere
link to original post
harris,
I saw this at Treasure Bay in Biloxi a few months ago:
This product is from Shufflemaster. Their PGP table uses SHFL's "i-deal" card shuffler, which reads all the cards as they are dealt. This picture shows the "i-verify" screen, which indicates the house-way Low hand: in the case shown, for Player 5, the house-way Low hand is Ks, 10d.
Hope this helps!
Dog Hand
Quote: harrisDear everyone,
Whenever I go to a casino, they can tell me the house rules they have for craps if I inquire. If I ask for information about blackjack, they'll give me the exact rules. In fact, usually they have a pamphlet detailing the rules for any game.
However, the second I ask for the Pai Gow Poker House Way or Pai Gow Tiles House Way, they have nothing to give me. To be fair, I remember that Casino @ Dania Beach gave me the house way when I asked (I lost it, oops), but no other casino seems to have it when I ask.
Personally I think this is really unfair. Imagine playing blackjack, and to your surprise, the dealer says the House Way is to not hit a four-card soft 17. I wish there was a way to compel casinos to reveal their House Way? Is there?
I do not have any malicious intentions - actually I just want to include as many Pai Gow Poker/Tiles House Ways as possible on my website once I release those games (aiming for February or March 2026).
Additionally, I wanted to ask if there are other games where different casinos have their own House Ways?
Thanks very much for reading and have a happy new year!
link to original post
idk why i think this... but i think my state has a law, which i either have made up myself or is real... and i always quote it when asking for game rules.
What im saying is, wherever you are gambling at, it MAY be required that they have this information READILY available when you ask, and its a law. ANd if they dont idk tbh
To answer your question, I agree with you. The rules of the game should be clear and available to all players.
Quote: acesideIn the casino I often play, the house way is stored in a tablet computer on the PGP table, so the dealer pushes on the screen to show how the two cards in the low hand is selected.
As for the game, it must be 6 cards a hand and it must be separated into 3+3, because this is the only way to represent the doctrine of the mean.
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That's cool that they have that technology, which could allow for much more complex house ways.
Why does your ideal gambling game need to reflect Confucian values? He wasn't a particularly pro-gambling figure.
Quote: heatmap
idk why i think this... but i think my state has a law, which i either have made up myself or is real... and i always quote it when asking for game rules.
What im saying is, wherever you are gambling at, it MAY be required that they have this information READILY available when you ask, and its a law. ANd if they dont idk tbh
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Virtually everywhere will give you the rules of the game if you ask, unless they are out of pamphlets at that point in time, but I guess most don't consider the House Way to be part of the "rules". I understand to an extent - the House Way is not interesting to 98% of people.
Have you ever gotten the House Way by citing this law which may or may not exist?
Quote: SOOPOOThere was a game, maybe extinct now?, called Asia Poker. 7 cards split into 3 hands; 4/2/1 cards each. The game is WAY more complicated than you think, as was the ‘House Ways’. There was a folder, a dozen or so pages long, with each page laminated, that defined the house way. It was not infrequent that the dealer mis set his hand, and depending if it helped you (silence) or hurt you (pit boss please) the game was definitely +EV for me. It’s quite a while ago, but at a $25 bet I was making between $100-$200 an hour at Paris. Even the break dealer was +EV for the player, but not as much.
To answer your question, I agree with you. The rules of the game should be clear and available to all players.
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You're right, I forgot about Asia Poker even though it is listed as one of the few games under construction on my website. The House Ways are so incredibly complicated that I will probably attempt it after literally every other game is done. I saw it being played at Harrah's in Atlantic City, though they did not have a House Way when I asked (nor the rules).
One of the bigger gambling youtubers recently played tiles and the second dealer that switches out explains the house way super simply, probably the best explanation for what to look for I've ever seen when looking at tiles-strategy info(sorry wiz!), so watch teh vid and see if it helps.
Quote: acesideQuote this dealer “It’s a dying game unfortunately, due to the difficulties of dealing this game and protecting this game.” Just like blackjack.
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Most of the newer dealers I've seen seem like they might have an IQ somewhere between that of a turnip and of a zucchini. I mean, can't handle even the most basic skills of dealing the game. And some of the ones who can deal take shots. It's almost like they're looking for ways to make games fail so they have reason to shut them down.
