Pai Gow Tiles Strategy
February 19th, 2011 at 5:24:27 PM
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I have read through a number of strategys that the wizard has put together along with J.B.'s stategys. I am struggling to come up with a few consistent rules that I can follow that will be correct the majority of the time. There are a lot of hands that are obvious and I can handle those pretty well. What I seem to be getting caught up on is not playing a balanced hand but playing a hand such as 0/8. Is there a target low hand that I should always strive for and if not achieved always play the highest top hand possible? Any other rules that I can follow consistently would always be a big help.
February 19th, 2011 at 5:31:24 PM
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Sure. A good rule of thumb is never to play a low hand that isn't three-chong (a three with at least the chong tile, which is the weird-looking six). This is found in most house ways. Another good rule of thumb is to always play high nine if you can (that is, a nine that includes the 2 or 12 tiles). High nines are dynamite.
"Dice, verily, are armed with goads and driving-hooks, deceiving and tormenting, causing grievous woe." -Rig Veda 10.34.4
February 19th, 2011 at 5:37:43 PM
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Quote: teddysSure. A good rule of thumb is never to play a low hand that isn't three-chong (a three with at least the chong tile, which is the weird-looking six). This is found in most house ways. Another good rule of thumb is to always play high nine if you can (that is, a nine that includes the 2 or 12 tiles). High nines are dynamite.
That also includes playing the high nine even at the expense of the low hand, as in high 9/low 6 instead of low 8/high 7.
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.---George Bernard Shaw
February 19th, 2011 at 9:29:26 PM
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this is the one hand where seeing the other players tiles can help......if you see teens and days, the dealer is less likely to have one so play 7/8......if you don't see any play the 6/9 especially a teen high 9
February 24th, 2011 at 4:23:00 PM
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One thing about the Wizard and JB strategies is that it takes into account the house strategy. That is why they suggest playing 0/9 over a 4/5, for example. This is not mathematical, but intuitively, that is because the house way will generally go for the balance. Your 0/9, in this example, will be more likely to push. It's turning two bad hands (4/5) into a terrible low, but a reasonable high.
Generally you will push about 40% of the time and win/lose the other 30%/30%. (This is certainly not exact, but close enough for this example.) The 4/5 hands (and I just use 4/5 as a proxy for all the 3/4, 2/3, 6/7 type hands) will lose to good hands and will be close when the dealer has a bad hand. I'd rather just shoot for the push with the 0/9.
In the doc on JB's strategy, their is a chart with a distribution of hands. You'll see the peak (mode) of the distribution is just under a 7 low and just under a 9 high. His strategy pushes up the low when it is close to a higher six or seven and pushes up the high hand, at the expense of the low hand if you can not get close to there.
Generally you will push about 40% of the time and win/lose the other 30%/30%. (This is certainly not exact, but close enough for this example.) The 4/5 hands (and I just use 4/5 as a proxy for all the 3/4, 2/3, 6/7 type hands) will lose to good hands and will be close when the dealer has a bad hand. I'd rather just shoot for the push with the 0/9.
In the doc on JB's strategy, their is a chart with a distribution of hands. You'll see the peak (mode) of the distribution is just under a 7 low and just under a 9 high. His strategy pushes up the low when it is close to a higher six or seven and pushes up the high hand, at the expense of the low hand if you can not get close to there.
