First time at pai gow tiles

This weekend I went back to the cache creek casino with some friends. I wanted to play craps and have some fun, my buddy owed me a hundred and i had a hundred i wouldn't miss. So yeah even though we left at midnight and got there at 2am, it was worth it.

Played craps for like 3 hours,(yes, cards)$5PL+3/4/5 and 6 on 6/8. Did ok and never got change for the greens, colored up with 206 and went to check in on my friends. They were giving me the feeling it was almost time to go home. So I said to give me 1/2 hour to try the Pai Gow tiles.

I had asked the craps dealer if they had tiles, and was surprised that he said yes. Because of the California card games thing. Any ways the craps dealer told me it was a $25min.

So, I must say thanks to both the Wiz and RaleighCraps. If it were not for the thread about 3 weeks ago, I may have never learned. But I figured out the basics and thought i could try putting some money behind it. I went to the table with the intention to loose no more than $75.

Gotta say the heads up in the other thread was good for what to expect.

I am the only white guy in the tiles area. Check.
Two people to offer advice over my shoulder in 10 seconds. Check
Tell the dealer and other player I might be a little slow setting. Check
Was asked if i knew the game. Check
Made a dumb rookie move on first hand. Check

I think I got too used to playing on the sim, cause very first hand i picked the split and laid them face up (do'h!!) as soon as the deler turned them back over i realized what i had done.

I did get murdered overall though, that first hand was a 3/wong against 9/gong.
a hand or two later i had 0/gee joon, pushed to a 4/5

The one "risky" move i made was with a 6-7-8-9, a went with the 3/7 not the 5/5. Yup lost that one too. What would you have done?

The one Pair i had was 9/Pr. Look and was beaten by gong/Pr. Bon, Damn, I thought i had winner.

All said I played 9 hands for a handle of $225, pushed 3 times and lost 6. OUCH

That was an expensive lesson....
But I will try it again after more practice. I am going to get some tiles to practice the physical part more. And try to find a $10 game next time. I knew very well I could loose fast, but wow.
Kinda hoping to get rated at 25 for a bit....oh well.

I'm not even close to an expert, but it seems like balanced hands are far better than unbalanced unless you can get an 9. I was kindof surprised when playing on the sim how often a low hand of 5 causes a push.

I'm hoping to have my first go with the tiles at Paris in just over a week. :)

Quote: shupe03a4

...The one "risky" move i made was with a 6-7-8-9, a went with the 3/7 not the 5/5. Yup lost that one too. What would you have done?...

I finally learned J.B.'s Advanced Strategy. For 6-7-8-9, I would weigh his two rules: "Determine the best low hand and best high hand by comparing only those ways to play which have the highest point total. Play the best low hand with point totals of 5 or less, and when the best low hand is a 5, 6, 7, or 9..." and "With 10-point hands, always play 1/9 whenever possible, except when the tiles include a 5 and 10." So, I would have played 5/5.

There is a nice new pai gow tiles practice simulator at discountgambling.net

Link Pai Gow Tiles Practice Simulator

It utilizes J.B. simple strategy.
It isn't always optimal strategy but it is an alternative to the Wizard's game which utilizes
Traditional and Foxwoods House.

Quote: ChesterDog

I finally learned J.B.'s Advanced Strategy. For 6-7-8-9, I would weigh his two rules: "Determine the best low hand and best high hand by comparing only those ways to play which have the highest point total. Play the best low hand with point totals of 5 or less, and when the best low hand is a 5, 6, 7, or 9..." and "With 10-point hands, always play 1/9 whenever possible, except when the tiles include a 5 and 10." So, I would have played 5/5.

5/5 for sure. What good is a 7 going to do you? You're much better off hoping they have a bad low.

Quote: shupe03a4

So, I must say thanks to both the Wiz and RaleighCraps. If it were not for the thread about 3 weeks ago, I may have never learned. But I figured out the basics and thought i could try putting some money behind it. I went to the table with the intention to loose no more than $75.

Gotta say the heads up in the other thread was good for what to expect.

I am the only white guy in the tiles area. Check.
Two people to offer advice over my shoulder in 10 seconds. Check
Tell the dealer and other player I might be a little slow setting. Check
Was asked if i knew the game. Check
Made a dumb rookie move on first hand. Check

I did get murdered overall though, that first hand was a 3/wong against 9/gong.
a hand or two later i had 0/gee joon, pushed to a 4/5

The one "risky" move i made was with a 6-7-8-9, a went with the 3/7 not the 5/5. Yup lost that one too. What would you have done?

Well, I'm glad someone benefited from my thread, since I was not able to find a Tiles game. :-(

In my limited experience of learning the game, I would have played the 5/5. I feel any high hand less than 8 is not likely to win, while the 3 is likely to lose, so I would play the 5/5 for the push. Not sure how wise my thought process is, or if it is even backed up by the optimum strategy, but that is the way I would play it.

Thanks for sharing, and Good luck in future play. Hopefully the next time will be positive for you.