Best Pai Gow Online Casinos in Paraguay
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Rules of Pai Gow
Pai Gow is a Chinese domino game played around the world. It’s been popular for millennia: the earliest references to it date to the end of the Tang Dynasty in 619 A.D.
The aim of the game is to defeat the banker by creating two poker hands from your four tiles, one of five tiles and one of two. The tiles are shuffled and dealt face down, and players must arrange two hands – one of two tiles (the ‘big’) and one of five tiles (the ‘small’). The five-tile hand should be higher in value than the two-tile hand; if it’s not, the player has ‘foul’ and automatically loses.
The ranking of hands is the same as in poker, from high card down to a pair, two pair, three of a kind, full house, four of a kind and finally a straight and a flush. At the same time, the bank also creates two hands from their own four tiles. Then players and bank compare the results, with the higher hand winning.
How to Play
Pai Gow is played between a banker and up to eight players. Compare to many other forms of gambling, it’s a slow-moving game, but with a range of strategies available to savvy players.
The game uses a special set of 32 domino-style Chinese tiles, which are shuffled and dealt to players face down. The players then arrange their tiles into two distinct hands – one made up of two tiles, and the other made up of five tiles – and then compare them with the bank’s hands.
The hands are ranked according to the standard poker hierarchy, with high card at the lowest and a straight and a flush at the highest. Players can also win by forming a pair of the same value, such as two 8s. The banker also arranges their four tiles into two hands, which both players then compare with their own hands. If one of the player’s hands is higher than the banker’s hand, then the player wins the round.
Strategy
Pai Gow is a game of strategy as well as luck. Knowledgeable players can take advantage of the nuances of the game to give themselves better odds of winning, making it much more interesting for serious gamblers.
For beginners, the most important thing to remember is to always make a higher-value hand with the five tiles than the two tiles. This is an absolute must, and if you don’t, the bank will automatically win the round and you lose your bet.
Although the game is slow, the pace can be changed by using specific strategies to increase your chances of victory. One of the most important is the ‘foul hand rule’, which states that if the banker has a foul hand then the player wins regardless of their own hands. This can give you a huge advantage if you know how to spot it.
Another useful strategy is to pay attention to how the banker arranges their tiles. Many players assume that the banker will always arrange their hands in the highest value order, but this isn’t always the case. Experienced players can spot mistakes in the banker’s play and take decisive action to win more games.
Payouts
Pai Gow is known for its generous payouts. In fact, it has one of the highest returns for players in the gambling world, with a 99.75% RTP. This means players can expect to see major returns on their bets, as well as a steady stream of smaller wins.
The exact payouts will depend on the tables you’re playing at, but in general, players can expect to see returns on odds-on bets, such as 1 to 1 or 2 to 1, as well as more significant returns for more difficult bets, such as a straight or a flush.
Conclusion
Pai Gow is an ancient Chinese game that’s been popular for centuries. It’s easy to learn yet has enough depth to provide a rewarding experience for serious gamblers. Players should always remember the foul hand rule, as well as the basics of higher-value hands, to make the most of their experience. And since it has one of the best returns for players around, you can expect to see plenty of generous payouts.
