Pai Gow Tiles: the complete strategy guide
Everything you need to play Pai Gow Tiles well, in one place. Every number on this page is computed by exact enumeration of all 736,281,000 player and dealer matchups. Nothing is guessed.
Short answer
Pai Gow Tiles is a house-banked game played with 32 Chinese dominoes. You are dealt four tiles and split them into a high hand and a low hand of two tiles each, and you must beat both of the dealer's hands to win. Setting your hands by the house way gives a house edge of 2.3939% with the standard five percent commission. Playing every hand optimally cuts that to 1.6035%. That gap of about 0.79% of every bet is the largest skill reward in any common table game, and it is the whole reason to practice.
Pai Gow Tiles has a reputation for being impenetrable. It is not, but it does demand one thing no other casino game asks: you must memorize the ranking of sixteen named pairs that follow no arithmetic pattern. Start with the tiles, then the rules, then the house way. The trainer builds the habit.
Common questions
Is Pai Gow Tiles beatable?
No. Every banking and commission arrangement offered in a casino leaves the house ahead. Optimal play holds the cost to about 1.6035% per hand, which is competitive with blackjack, but no legal strategy turns the game positive.
Why is there a five percent commission?
Because without it the banker has the advantage, and the banker is sometimes you. Our enumeration shows that a player who banks with no commission would hold a 0.9165% edge. The commission is not a fee bolted onto a game the house already wins. It is the only thing that makes the game profitable for the house at all.
Do I really have to memorize the tile order?
Yes. The sixteen named pairs are ranked by tradition, not by pip count, so there is no shortcut or mnemonic that covers them. A Yun (4-4) and a Chop Bot (3-5) both show eight pips and do not form a pair. See tile rankings.
Should I take the bank when it is offered?
Banking is worth taking. With both sides setting by the house way, banking drops the house edge from 2.3939% to 0.6067%, because the banker wins every copy. The catch is that you must cover every bet at the table.
How often do hands push?
About two hands in five. Splitting into two hands means one hand often wins while the other loses, which returns your bet. Pai Gow Tiles is one of the slowest-bleeding games on the floor.