Pai Gow: Undiscovered Fun
By Shauna Banta

For centuries the Chinese people played a game with dominoes called Pai Gow: Make Nine. Within the past few years Pai Gow, the precursor to Baccarat and Chemin de Fer, has begun to make a presence in American casinos. While still difficult to find in Las Vegas, Pai Gow can be played in nearly all the clubs in Atlantic City. The online variation of the game can, of course, be played at many of the casinos listed herein.

Although the rules may seem confusing for the uninitiated, the basics of Pai Gow can be easily learned and the complicated strategies available to the advanced player makes for an interesting and challenging game.

Pai Gow is played on a table similar to Blackjack. The dealer begins the game by asking each player in turn to be the banker. The banker plays as the 'house' and must be able to pay the winners. If - as frequently happens - all of the players decline, then the 'house' banks the game. An experienced Pai Gow player can do quite well as the banker, but a novice should decline until the intricacies of the game are well learned.

The game begins when the casino dealer divides the 32 dominos called tiles into 8 stacks of 4 tiles. The players place their bets and the dealer shakes 3 dices in a small cup, then slams it upside down on the table with a loud 'bang'. Beginning with the banker, the dealer counts around the table counter-clockwise the number of the rolled dices to determine which player receives the first stack of tiles. The players arrange their 4 dices into a high-hand and a low-hand of 2 dices each. The object is to beat the banker's high- and low-hands.

The tiles are ranked numerically and symbolically. To determine the hands, the tile dots called ‘pips’ are counted. If the total is more than 9, only the right number is counted. For instance, if a player’s hand were 6-5 and 4-6 the total of 21 would be a score of 1. 9, however, is the number aspired to and the 'Gee Joon' or Supreme Pair in Pai Gow is 2 tiles of 4-2 and 2-1:

These 2 tiles are the 'wild cards' in the game and can substitute for one another as either a 6 or a 3.

Beneath the Gee Joon are the 'Bo' or matched pairs. Below is a table of the pairs along with their respective symbolism:

Pairs
Symbol	Heaven	Earth	Man	Goose	Flower	Long	Board	Hatchet	Partition	Long Leg Seven	Big Head Six

Mixed Pair
Symbol	Jaap Gow: mixed nine	Jaap Bart: mixed eight	Jaap Chut: mixed seven	Jaap Ng: mixed five

The hands beneath Bo are called 'Wongs'; they are a 9 with a double 6 or double 1:

The 3rd level of hands or 'Gongs' is an 8 with a double 6 or a double 1:

If a player has none of these hands then the total number of pips are counted and the left number dropped as described above. A couple of strategies for a beginner are to look for small tiles that add up to less than 9 or pair a large tile with a small tile.

The rules of Pai Gow can appear overwhelming to some players. Most casinos realize this and supply players with pamphlets that explain the symbolisms of the tile combinations.