Trump Marina Casino Resort - Pai Gow
Pai Gow is an ancient Chinese betting game played with Chinese dominoes also called tiles. It has been played throughout Asia for centuries. It can be found in many casinos in Nevada and cardrooms of California.
The object of the game is to beat the Banker. The Banker can be any Player or the Dealer. Any Player who wishes to bank must accept responsibility for all wagers made during that round of play. The banking option will be offered to each Player, in turn, rotating in a counterclockwise direction. The banking Player must have enough chips to cover all wagers placed in that round and must have wagered in the previous round that the Dealer acted as Banker. No Player will be required to accept the bank and the Dealer will act as Banker when all Players decline.
Pai Gow is played with a set of 32 Chinese tiles which form 16 permissible pairs. A hand with any permissible pair is ranked higher than a hand which does not contain a pair.
The highest ranking hand is the Supreme Pair, followed by Matched Pairs and Unmatched or Mixed Pairs. The next highest ranking hands are special combinations known as Wongs and Gongs. Hands consisting of Wongs or Gongs are ranked lower than Pairs.
- Wongs are formed with
the highest ranking single tile, 12, and either 9 (Teen Wong) or the second
highest tile, 2, and either 9. Please refer to the Single Tile Ranking
Chart.
- Gongs are formed with the highest ranking single tile, 12, and any 8 (Teen Gong) or the second highest tile, 2, and any 8 (Day Gong.)
The next highest ranking hands are numeric value hands, the highest of which is 9. Hands that do not contain pairs have numeric values. Each tile has a numeric value and a symbolic ranking.
- To find the numeric
value, add the spots on each tile. The total will never be higher than nine
because only the last digit in the total number of spots is used.
- To find the ranking of
each tile and each permissible pair, refer to the ranking charts.
- Two tiles will combine
to form a hand.
- Add the total number of
spots contained on the two tiles.
- If the numeric total of
the spots is a two digit number, the left digit is discarded and the right
digit is the value of the hand.
- When two hands have the
same numeric value, the ranking will determine the winner. To determine
which hand is higher, find the highest ranked tile in each hand and compare
them.
- When two hands have the
same numeric value and identical high tiles, it is called a "Copy"
hand. The bank wins all "Copy" hands.
- When two hands have the numeric value of zero, they are considered equally bad, regardless of the high tile and the bank will win all zero ties.
When the two tiles that form the highest ranking hand (the Supreme Pair) are used separately, the numeric value is interchangeable. The 3 can be counted as a 6 and the 6 can be counted as a 3. They lose their highest pair rank and become low ranking tiles (fifteenth and seventeenth on the Single Tile Ranking Chart.)
To begin the game, the
Players will place their wagers before the Dealer announces "No more
bets." The Dealer will shuffle or "wash" the tiles and stack them
into eight stacks of four tiles each. Three dice, contained inside the Pai Gow
shaker, will be u
sed to determine the starting position for dealing the tiles. The Dealer or
Banker will shake the Pai Gow shaker at least three times. The Dealer will
uncover the dice and announce the total. The count will begin with the Dealer or
the banking Player and
continue with each betting position in a counterclockwise direction until it
matches the total on the dice. That position will receive the first stack of
tiles.
After the tiles have been
delivered, each Player will "set" their tiles into two hands of two
tiles each; a high hand and a low hand. The Players will place their hands face
down behind the betting area, separated into two distinct hands. Once the Player
has set his tiles face down on the layout he or she will not be permitted to
touch the tiles again.
Each Player at the table is responsible for setting his or her own hands and no other person except the Dealer may touch the tiles of that Player. Each Player is required to keep the four tiles in full view of the Dealer at all times.
After the Players have set their hands, the Dealer will arrange his or her tiles into a high and a low hand. The Dealer must set his or her hand by using a set of rules known as "The House Way." A copy of these rules is available at the Security Podium.
The Dealer will compare the low hand of the bank (Dealer/Bank or Player/Bank) to the low hand of the Players and the high hand of the bank to the high hand of the Players and announce if the wager of that Player wins, loses, or is a tie (push).
- In order for the Player
to win, his low hand and high hand must be higher in rank than the low hand
and high hand of the bank. (In the case of zero ties, the bank wins.) The
winning wagers will be paid at Even Money less a 5% commission. The Dealer
will collect the commission when the winning wager is paid.
- If either hand of the
Player is higher than either hand of the bank and the other is not, the hand
will be considered a push and no money is won or lost. No commission will be
charged on pushes and the Player will be allowed to change or remove his bet
before the start of the next hand.
- If neither of the Player's hands are higher than the bank's hands, the Player will lose. The Player will only lose the amount wagered and no commission will be charged on losing hands.
Any Player wishing to join
in a partnership with the house may do so by requesting co-banking. Co-banking
occurs when the requesting Player and the Dealer act as the Banker on a
fifty-fifty basis. When co-banking is in effect, the bank hand will be handl
ed by the Dealer, and the hand set according to House Ways.
All wagers at Pai Gow shall be made by placing gaming chips on the appropriate betting area of the layout, before the Dealer has announced "No more bets." Once the Dealer has announced "No more bets," no wager may be increased or withdrawn.
No verbal wagers accompanied by cash are accepted.
Only Players who are seated at the Pai Gow table may place a wager at the game. Once a Player has placed a wager and received tiles, he must remain seated until the completion of the round of play.
A complete text of the rules of this game is available at the Security Booth on the Casino Floor. These rules are subject to change by the Casino Control Commission. Representatives of the Commission are available in the Casino for your assistance.
