Games for Money

This has always been one of my favorite casino games because it’s low-key and usually friendly. It’s not the game for someone who wants a lot of fast-paced action, but it can definitely make you some money (case in point: a dealer named Harvey at the Circus Circus told me that he once witnessed a player turn $400 into $17,000 in one run, incredibly enough). Here are a five quick tips to help you maximize your returns when you play pai gow poker:

1. If you’re holding two pair, you should usually split them up—highest pair in the 5-card hand, the other in the 2-card hand. If you’re also holding an ace or a king, though, a better strategy is the keep the pairs together in the 5-card hand and put the ace or king in the 2-card hand.

2. If you’ve got three of a kind, keep them together in the 5-card hand. (If your three are aces, though, split them so that your 5-card hand has a pair of aces and your 2-card hand has the third ace.)

3. If you’ve been dealt a full house, most of the time you should split it up (three of a kind in the 5-card hand, pair in the 2-card hand). An exception is if your pair is very low and one of your remaining cards is an ace or a kind, in which case you should play the full house in your 5-card hand and the ace or king in your 2-card hand.

4. If you’re lucky enough to be holding 4 of a kind, most of the time you should split it up to make a pair for each of your hands. But, if one of your three remaining cards is an ace or a kind, keep the four of a kind intact and play the ace or king in your 2-card hand. (You might also want to keep the 4 together if they’re very low—say, 2’s through 6’s.)

5. Be the banker as often as possible.

Nancy wrote this on March 29th, 2005 and filed it under Casino Gambling, Gambling, Poker |