Very Strange House Way For Lake Tahoe Harrah's Pai Gow Poker

I just got back from five nights in Lake Tahoe(I wrote a blog about it if anyone is interested). The house way for Pai Gow Poker is the strangest I have ever seen. They only have high(6 and over), or low(5 and under) for their pairs. They keep two low pair together NO MATTER WHAT. I had dealers keep a pair of twos and threes together with a 10 9 and fours and fives together with a 9 7 bizzare. Also, they split four nines or more no matter what else is in their hand. They only keep non faces 6 and above with another pair if they and A k not just an Ace but Ace king. I know there are variences in house ways, and I have played in A/C, Vegas, West Virginia etc... but these rules seemed very very different to me.

Most of this actually follows the trend that I've seen over the last few years that has trended toward more aggressive setting of hands. Since, in a fair game (even opportunity to bank and therefore the 'copy' element is even between house & player), the only house edge comes from the churn of wins/losses that are more driven by an aggressive hand-set.

I've seen the low-low together feature in house ways before. I feel this is a conservative setting as {low-low,J-high} is not a high-percentage winner or a high loser. Splitting the pairs will lead to wins and more losses (and more edge per bet made for the house).

However, I've never seen mid-quads not split w/o an ace. Heck, most houses will keep quad-Tens together in the back with an ace And I've never seen med/med or med/low together with A-K only. I have seen med/med together with A-face, med/low together with any A.

Other than the low-low together no matter what pairing, those are some pretty aggressive settings. Another step in the trend to draw more edge, IMO.

Quote: hook3670

these rules seemed very very different to me.

I think the WoO has established that correct strategies for the house especially are all about HE and nothing else. So if these House Ways [HWs] are truly more aggressive, that would make sense, but it sounds like possibly some one has decided to decide on HWs foolishly and player advantage or at least low HE is possible. The WoO already maintains that a player can knock down the HE by improving on the HW; the HW seems influenced by the need to make simple rules for the dealer.

In the matter of keeping low pairs together "no matter what" would certainly seem not the best move. It means the front hand has to be quite weak much of the time, when instead there could be a pair there. WoO methods have you keep the 2 pair in the back hand only when you can have the front hand with an Ace or King sometimes . Plenty of times you still split the 2 pair. So this alternate HW doesnt sound smart to me.

Is it possible you just had a dealer who didn't know the HW well? If I could play there I'd be looking at this pretty hard.

Quote: PerpetualNewbie

Other than the low-low together no matter what pairing, those are some pretty aggressive settings. Another step in the trend to draw more edge, IMO.

This is not a 'trend'. The casinos set their house ways such that they maximize the house edge. The only restriction is that it must be reasonable for a human to set house ways. So they can't have an 'exact' best house ways, as an example...
If you have 99 55 AK it is clear to play AK up top. It is not so clear if you have 99 55 A7. But a house ways would usually play both the same, counting the A7 the same as AK.

Quote: hook3670

I just got back from five nights in Lake Tahoe(I wrote a blog about it if anyone is interested). The house way for Pai Gow Poker is the strangest I have ever seen. They only have high(6 and over), or low(5 and under) for their pairs. They keep two low pair together NO MATTER WHAT. I had dealers keep a pair of twos and threes together with a 10 9 and fours and fives together with a 9 7 bizzare. Also, they split four nines or more no matter what else is in their hand. They only keep non faces 6 and above with another pair if they and A k not just an Ace but Ace king. I know there are variences in house ways, and I have played in A/C, Vegas, West Virginia etc... but these rules seemed very very different to me.

I agree that's a strange way to set the hand. Harrah's Council Bluffs and Horseshoe use a similar house way, and most dealers agree it's a very odd way to set the hand