3 vagaries of pai gow poker
Regular gamblers say that if you like table games and you want to make your money last, pai gow poker is the game to play.
Because the game requires the dealer to beat you in two separate hands, it results in a lot of pushes, meaning you can play with a limited bankroll for hours.
Almost every pai gow table gives players the option to act as banker — when the player becomes the house, or “bank,” and the dealer becomes another player.
In order to “bank,” a player must have enough chips to pay all of the winners at the table.
For this reason, pai gow veterans usually choose to bank when the cards are going well — if they win, they collect money from all of the players and not just from the house (which is usually the case when the dealer is banking).
In recent years, however, casinos have started moving to commission-free tables where players receive 1:1 payouts when they best the dealer.
Most commission-free tables mess with the odds at some point, making sure the house still has an edge.