EZ PaiGow at the Nugget

I got to play about 30 minutes of EZ Pai Gow on my last trip down to Vegas while staying at the Nugget. I've never played a PaiGow variant before, so was lucky that the table was empty as I was relatively slow and made a couple of mistakes in setting my hands at the start.

After a few hands though I had the system and flow down of the game, and could relatively quickly tell if I had a winner or loser based on the dealer's hands. The house way of setting was a bit curious once (the way I'd have set would have led to a win for the house, but was a push the way they went). But only having 30 minutes experience and only just recalling the advice PaiGowDan had given me on setting my hand, I am sure I made mistakes.

I ended up breaking even. Lots of pushes, quite a slow pace, and none of the Q-high Pai Gow's to trip me up. There was two sets of side bets, but I didn't really look at them (I don't play side bets as a general rule and was trying to understand the game first). The lack of action didn't suit my friend who declined to play, but I would have played again if I'd been able to.

I did see the commission version at the Orleans, but didn't play that... the idea of futzing around with commission seemed like a waste of time, plus intuitively the commission seems like a bigger house edge. I'm sure it's not, or it's close enough, but the feeling of only getting 19:20 pay outs "feels" wrong to me.

I tend to think of EZ Pai Gow not so much as a pai gow poker variant, but a commission free way of playing Pai Gow Poker. But that is the beauty of the game....it is the same game as the original with a non-commission way of creating the house edge.

If you are don't already enjoy the slow pace and frequent pushes of regular Pai Gow Poker, nothing about EZ Pai Gow is going to draw you in either. Cool you got to play it, sounds like it is an option you would chose again if you wanted/needed to slow down your action, but didn't want to leave the casino yet.

I normally play Pai Gow Poker after getting my head handed to me too quickly at the craps table. It allows me to keep playing, but at a slower pace. Given the option, I would play EZ over the normal 5% commission variant for exactly the reasons you cited....19 for 20 on wins just doesn't feel right!

My sentence is less than clear. I've never played any variation on PaiGow Poker, including PaiGow Poker itself with any commission structure.

The grind and pace is exactly for me, along with some decisions (even if these become obvious). And just not for the action junky.

I prefer the Pai Gow at Oceans 11 in Oceanside, CA. All wins pay even money, no catch. Banker pays a fee to the house only if money changed hands on the last deal