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Commission Free Pai Gow Poker
Last update: October 3, 2013
Introduction
Fortune Commission Free Pai Gow Poker is pai gow poker variant I first saw on September 18, 2013, at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas. It plays like conventional pai gow poker except there is no 5% commission on player wins. To pay for this, there is no player banking, and if the dealer plays a 9-high in the low hand, the bet is automatically a push.
Rules
The rules are the same as pai gow poker, except as noted below.
- There is no player banking.
- Player wins pay 1 to 1, with no commission.
- If the dealer plays a 9-high in the low hand, then the bet is an automatic push.
- There is a Tiger 9 side bet that pays 30 to 1 if the dealer plays a 9-high in the low.
- The player may also make the Fortune side bet, and Fortune progressive bet, which pay based on the poker-value of the player's seven cards.
Odds
The following tables assume the Trump Plaza house way and the Nevada version of the rules where jokers can be used as an ace or to complete a straight, flush or straight flush.
The follow table is for the primary wager. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.51%.
Main Wager — Based on Trump Plaza House Way
| Event | Pays | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 1 | 0.273726 | 0.273726 |
| Push | 0 | 0.427453 | 0.000000 |
| Loss | -1 | 0.298822 | -0.298822 |
| Total | 1.000000 | -0.025096 |
The follow table is for the Tiger 9 side bet. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 22.48%.
Tiger 9 — Based on Trump Plaza House Way
| Event | Pays | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 30 | 0.025007 | 0.750212 |
| Loss | -1 | 0.974993 | -0.974993 |
| Tota | 1.000000 | -0.224780 |
The Shufflemaster math report says the house edge on the main wager is 2.4% and 17.5% on the Tiger 9. Their report is based on the Four Queens house way.
The math on the Fortune side bet is the same as in conventional pai gow poker. At the Golden Nugget, they follow pay table 7.
They also follow version 2 of the progressive bet.
Comparison to EZ Pai Gow Poker
There is a similar game titled EZ Pai Gow Poker. They both feature no commission and certain weak dealer hands result in a push. Besides differences in the side bets, the key rule difference is:
- Commission Free Pai Gow Poker: Low hand of 9-high is an automatic push.
- EZ Pai Gow Poker: High hand of a queen-high is an automatic push.
The house edge on the primary wager is nearly the same in both games. Commission Free Pai Gow Poker is 2.51% and EZ Pai Gow Poker is 2.47%.
Methodology
The return tables are based on a simulation of 420 million hands, assuming the Trump Plaza house way and the Nevada-style partially wild joker.