Paigow Training
Hai J Shen
International Association of Certified Surveillance
Professionals
Introduction
Pai Gow Poker is a variation from Pai Gow Tile
Originally from Macau in late 70’s
Introduced to USA in late 80’s
Play with 2 decks of 53 cards
There are 6 Players at the game plus a house hand
4 cards were not played during the game
The 1st hand was determined by the random number
generator or 3 dices
 5% vig is charged on all player winning
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Ranking
 Pair
 Two Cards that have the same value
 NEVER split a pair
 Three of Kind
 Three Cards that have the save value
 Only Split Three of Kind Aces
Ranking #2
 Straight
 5 cards that in consecutive numerical
order
 Some Houses will break the Straight if
there are two pairs involved
 Flush
 5 cards that in the same suite
 Some Houses will break the Flush if
there are two pairs involved
Ranking #3
 Full House
 Three of Kind & One Pair
 Place the Pair in Low Hand & Three of
Kind in High Hand
Four of Kind
 4 cards that have the same value
 Break the four of kind according to house rule
Ranking #4
 Straight Flush
 Straight with the same suite
 Royal Flush
 Straight Flush from 10 to Ace
DAR Entry #1
 Who
Player Name & Account Number
 When
Time Entered Game & Departure
 Where
Table Number & Spot Number
 How Much
Play Buy in, Wager & Bonus Wager
 Pattern
DAR Entry #2
 Other Players On the Game
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Player is alone
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Player has friends next to him
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Player shares bank roll with friends
Coverage
 Tri-Shot Coverage
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Table Shot
It is a fixed shots that covers entire action of the table
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Overall Shot
It is a fixed shots that initiated from the back of the player.
It is able to identify the Floorperson Dealer and Players.
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Zoom Shot
It is a PTZ camera that allows investigator to zoom in and
look into specific hands and pay out.
Opening the Game
 Spread cards in the center of the
game
 Placing the Joker in the middle
 Check the front & back of the cards
 Wash the cards
 Hand Shuffle the cards
 Placing the cards into the shuffler
House Rule
Stratosphere Hotel Casino &
Tower House Rule
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Low Pairs: 2s to 5s
Medium Pairs: 6s to 9s
High Pairs:10s to Kings
Pair of Aces
House Rule #2
 Two Pair Rules
 Low Low & Low Medium
 Ace or King in Low Hand
 Otherwise split
 Low High & Medium Medium
 Ace & Face Card in Low Hand
 Otherwise split
 High High & High Medium
 Always Split
House Rule #3
 Two Pairs Rule:
 Any Pair with Pair of Aces
 Always Split
 Three Pairs Rule:
 Highest pair in Low Hand
 Four of Kind Rule:
 Split according to the two pair rule
House Rule #4
 Straight or Flush Rule
 Keep the Straight or Flush
 If there are two pairs involved, follow the
two pairs rule
 If there is a Straight or Flush at the
same time, make decision to enhance
the Low Hand
Dealing the Game
 The 1st set of cards were dealt to the spot determined by
the number generator
 The 2nd set of cards were dealer to the spot on 1st hand’s
right hand side
 The cards were dealt counter-clockwise regardless if the
spot was occupied or not
 Spread the remaining 4 cards
Dealing the Game #2
 Players review their cards and set 2 card in low hand & 5
cards in high hand
 Dealer review his/her hand after all the players finished
with their hands and set the hand according to the house
way
 Dealer compare his/her hand with the player’s hand
starting from his/her right hand side move counterclockwise
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Dealer collect the losing wager & placing the cards to the
discard rack
Dealer push the player’s wager & placing the cards to the
discard rack
Dealer will leave the player’s cards and wager on the layout
if the player’s winning and paying the player later
Player Banking
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Player has to wager the previous hand
Player can wager up to the previous wager
Player can not bank the game more than once
The 1st spot is the player banker
Player pays 5% vig on total winning
Player Banking #2
 Player indicated that he is going to bank the
game
 Dealer placing the banker button in front of the
player banker
 Dealer placing equal amount of cheques at
his/her right hand side
 Game was dealt as if the player is the dealer
 All player review their hands and set their
hands
 The player banker review the hand and set
his/her hand
Player Banking #3
 Dealer review his/her hand and compare
his/her hand with the player banker
 If banker won dealer placing the house hand
under the cheques
 If banker push, dealer placing the cheques back
to the rack
 If banker loss, dealer placing the cheques back
to the rack & collect the losing wager
 Dealer placing the player banker’s hand at
house hand’s position and proceed the game
Bonus Bet
 Bonus Wager is a side bet that player
can make
 Player has to have minimum Straight to
win (with or without Joker)
 Player does not have to keep the bonus
hand in the high hand
Bonus Bet Pay Table
Straight
Three of Kind
Flush
Full House
Four of Kind
Straight Flush
Royal Flush w/ Joker
5 Aces
Royal Flush w/o Joker
7 Cards Straight Flush
2 to 1
3 to 1
4 to 1
5 to 1
20 to 1
50 to 1
100 to 1
250 to 1
1000 to 1
5000 to 1
Envy Bonus
 Envy Bonus is $5 or more on the
Bonus Bet
 Player will not be paid if the player himself
or the dealer hits the bonus
 Dealer will place a Envy Button at the bonus
wager
Common Problem with Envy Bonus
 Dealer will forget taking down the Envy
Button if the player reduce the bonus
wager
 Dealer will pay 5 to 1 on Four of Kind
 Dealer will forget taking down the Bonus
Wager
Envy Bonus Table
7 Card Straight Flush
Royal Flush
7 Card Straight Flush
5 Aces
Royal Flush
Straight Flush
4 of a Kind
$1000
$250
$100
$50
$25
$10
$5
Common Cheating & Tells #1
 Press & Pinch the wager
 Move or Increase the Tokes
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Dealer move the toke from wager to bonus wager resulting
high toke amount
Not taking down the Losing toke bet
 Switch Cards
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Between two Players
Introduce foreign cards
Common Cheating & Tells #2
 Dealer & Agent Collusion
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Not Collect Losing Wager (Push the Loser)
Paying Pushing Wager (Pay the Pusher)
Expose the dealers cards
Fail to set correct house hand
Ignore the Players act
Not charging correct amount vigs
Floorperson distract dealer in the middle of the game
Dealer will identify an in-experienced player on the game.
When agent bank the game, dealer will sacrifice this victim
player. Dealer will benefit from the toke.
Watch the Game
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Observe the Opening & Shuffling Procedures
Make sure the 1st hand was dealt to the correct spot
Make sure Dealer check the remaining 4 cards
Make sure Dealer does not spread the house cards
Make sure Dealer set house way correctly
Make sure the player handling the cards correctly
Make sure the take & pay procedures were followed
Make sure the cards were shuffled correctly before
placing into the shuffle machine
Watch the Game #2
 Losing Hand:
 Dealer has no pair
 Dealer has two low pairs w/o Ace or King
 Pushing Hand:
 Dealer has 3 Pairs
 Dealer has strong High Hand but weak Low
Hand
 Winning Hand:
 Dealer has a pair in Low Hand & at least Three
of Kind in High Hand
Watching the Game #3
 When Dealer has Losing Hand, focus
on the paying & vig
 When Dealer has Pushing Hand, focus
on the players hand to make sure
Dealer did not pay a push or push a
losing hand
 When Dealer has Winning Hand, focus
on collecting losing wagers
Common Dealer Error
 Two Pair Rules
 Small Small & Small Medium: Dealer will confuse 6
as small and 10 as medium
 Three Pairs
 Fail to place the strongest pair in low hand
 6 Cards or 7 Cards Straight
 Fail to place the strongest card in low hand
 Four of Kind
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Simply Split Two Pairs
Common Dealer Error #2
 Flush & Straight
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Fail to Identify which decisions will enhance the low hand
 Calculate Vigs
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$5 charges $0.25
$25 Charges $1.25
$375 Charges $18.75 ($300 Charges $15 & $75 Charges
$3.75)
Typical Asian Play
 Blue or Red
Player is particularly wagering higher amount of money
on Blue or Red Deck
 Bank the Game and Beat Dealer
Player will bank the game after one or more losing
hands. The ideology is to receive stronger cards that
dealer use to have. Normally other player will not play
when Player is banking the game.
Typical Asian Play #2
 Follow the Zin & Zen
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Player will increase the wager when dealer shows weak hands.
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Player will increase the wager when his weak hand beats dealer’s
weaker hand.
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Player will increase the wager when his stronger hand beats
dealer’s strong hand.
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Player will decrease the wager after consecutive push hands.
Typical Asian Play #3
 Record play pattern
 All above play pattern was not mathematically
proved. However, most Asian player has their
pattern. DAR should record these pattern when we
watch their play. The deviation from the pattern may
suggest that guest may have knowledge about
information that we are not aware of.
Macau Rules
 Several Layer Deep
 The players were allowed to play up to 5
layer deep and the one player with
highest wager makes the decision for
others
Macau Rules
 Player is allowed to bank the game
twice
 If the player won the previous hand
 The player has to wager twice the first
wager
 The Player who bank the game only
loss/win as much as he was betting
Pai Gow Terminology
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House Hand: referring to the dealer’s hand
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Player Hand: referring to the guest’s hand
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Banker: referring to whoever bank the game
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Copy Hand: referring to the player and the banker are having
the exactly same cards
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Pai Gow: referring to a hand without a pair
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Fail Hand: referring to the low hand is stronger than the high
hand. It is an automatic loss.
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Joker: Joke can be played as Ace, Straight Flush, Even Straight
Flush whatever strongest
Thank You !
The End