Paigou (牌九) is one of the most famous games with Chinese dominoes. Often, in order to buy a set of Chinese dominoes, it is necessary to specify “Pai Gow set”.
The essence of the game is quite simple. It is played with a set of 32 tiles. First, each player places a bet and the banker must place the same bet against each player. All players, including the banker, receive 4 tiles each. Each player forms two groups of two tiles from these four tiles, one of them will be higher in the hierarchy, the second – lower. The player cannot choose which one to consider higher and which one to consider lower. If the groups are not the same, one of them will naturally be higher according to the hierarchy explained below. Then all players reveal their groups. I do not use the word “pair” for these groups, so as not to confuse them with other pairs – civilian and military.
Player groups are compared with the banker’s groups, with the higher group being compared with the higher group, and the lower group with the lower group. In each of these two comparisons, or mini-competitions, there can be a win or a loss. If the player wins both mini-competitions, he wins and takes the bet. If he won only one mini-competition, then it is considered a draw (a push) and a player like the banker keeps the bet. In other cases, the player loses his bet to the banker. There can be no tie in a separate mini-competition. Any technical draw in mini-competitions between groups is considered a banker’s win (this is actually the advantage of the casino).
Pai Gow difficulty lies in the group hierarchy, although if you’re already used to the hierarchy from Tien Gow, it will be much easier.
The highest group is the Supreme Pair, followed by Civilian pairs in descending order, followed by Military pairs.
Next come the Wong and Kong combinations – special combinations found only in Pai Gow. Wong is a double-six or double-one coupled with a Nine ([6:3] or [5:4]). Double-six combinations have an advantage. Kong is combination lower than Wong – consists of the same double-six or double-one together with an eight (ie either military eights or civilian double-fours). Combinations with double-six again have an advantage. The advantage of double sixes over double ones follows logically from the following rules.
All other groups are calculated simply – the sum of points on both tiles is added, divided by 10 and the remainder is taken. The group with the highest remainder wins. Please keep in mind that during this calculation, both tiles [4:2] and [2:1] can be considered for either six points or three.
If the groups are the same even by the remainder of the division by ten, then the higher tile from the group is taken and compared with the higher tile from the second group. The order of tiles already familiar from Tien Gow is used here, with civilians ranking higher than military ones. That is, the highest tile is double-six, and the lowest tile is [2:1]. If even after this the winner is not clear, then it is considered a technical draw, but practically – a victory for the banker. Please note that in such a comparison, the lower tile from the group does not play any role. That is, for example, the groups [6:5][5:1] and [6:5][4:2] are equal, since the remainder of division by ten is equal to 7 both there and there, and the highest tile from the group is the same. The fact that [5:1] is higher than [4:2] does not play any role. In the competition of these groups of tiles, it is technically a draw (practically, the banker wins).
There are sites that describe strategies for dividing tiles into pairs in detail. If you are interested, you can find them yourself.
Finding an opportunity to play Pai Gow is not difficult, you don’t even need to go to a casino. There are online games, there are games for smartphones. Just search for Pai Gow.
There is also a “home” or rather a “family” version of Pai Gow. In it, each player is dealt two tiles and then they compare who has the best hand. This game is just about luck. It is sometimes played with children to have fun, or to distribute candy during some special occasions.
Sources
A search for Pai Gow returns many results because the game is famous. But please do not confuse it with the Pai Gow Poker, which is a card game.
Chinese Dominoes GuPai 