what percentage of Pai Gow

players do you think at an average table are setting their hand the optimal way 95% of the time or better? I'm talking Pai Gow tiles of course, not poker.....

Better than 90%. They have significant practice, and most hands are no-brainers.

Note: I'm in the other 10% :-/

If a player uses the house way, they are setting their hands correctly 80% of the time. I find that people usually play the house way with crappy hands, such as playing 4/5 with 5-H6-L8-L10 instead of 0/9, but they often play correctly with decent hands, such as 7/7 with L2-5-H8-9 instead of 4/Gong. I will guess the number is somewhere between 50% and 75%.

Quote: vert1276

players do you think at an average table are setting their hand the optimal way 95% of the time or better? I'm talking Pai Gow titles of course, not poker.....

H'mmm.... we all know that a good many people seem to mill about sometimes in groups and find slot machines or games to play. Sometimes a dealer standing there and a table being empty is a determining factor and four friends will descend on the poor fellow and try to learn the game. Between ignorance of the game and blood alcohol levels, the house has a tremendous edge no matter what the mathematicians say!

Does this hold for Pai Gow Tiles? I can just imagine some drunken wife chortling "Oh, good, Let's Play Dominoes".

However, I've also noticed that a good many non-Asians play Pai Gow Tiles and seem to know what they are doing. Asian players do not get up and leave so it seems that players do really learn the basics.

I just don't know if its 90 percent. That seems a bit high. You might ask some Pai Gow dealers and find out what they think but they are likely to over-estimate the drunken fools they have to deal with.

It just seems to me that its hard to sit at a BJ table for an afternoon and then go to a Pai Gow table and say that 90 percent are playing well. It sure ain't 90 percent at BJ and for BJ the only goon is the guy who took your keys at the valet parking lot.

i would guess its about 60 % of the time.