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Super Pan 9

Rules

Pan 9, sometimes called Super Pan 9, is a player banked game found in the poker casinos of Los Angeles county. The rules are similar to baccarat. Following are the specifics.

  1. A variable number of modified decks are used. The Bicycle Club casino uses 12. Each deck consists of 36 cards, of ranks ace to 6, and all face cards.
  2. One player shall be designated as the "banker." The turn to be the banker rotates around the table. Any player may decline to be the banker, in which case the turn shall pass the next player.
  3. All players, except the banking player, shall make a wager.
  4. Each player, including the banking player, shall be given three cards face down.
  5. Each player may either stand pat or draw one more card.
  6. After all players, except the banking player, have acted, the banking player may also choose to stand or receive one more card.
  7. All hands are scored as in baccarat; face cards count as zero points, aces as one point, and all other cards according to pip vaue. The terminal digit of the total points of all cards in the hand is the point value of the hand. For example, a hand consisting of an ace, 5, 6, and queen would count as 2 points.
  8. If the player has more points, then he shall win even money. A tie results in a push. If the player acting as banker has more points the player loses. The banking player shall pay and collect all bets.

Strategy

Player Strategy: The player should hit with 0 to 5 points, and stand with 6 to 9 points.

Banker Strategy: If the player hits, then the banker should hit with 0 to 5 points, and stand with 6 to 9 points. If the player stands, then the banker should hit with 0 to 6 points, and stand with 7 to 9 points.

I have not analyzed the banker strategy playing against multiple players. However it would seem reasonable to stand with 0 to 5, hit with 7 to 9, and with a 6 do the opposite of how the player(s) with the largest bet(s) acted.

Odds

The following table shows the possible outcomes of a one-on-one 12-deck game, following the strategy above.

 

Super Pan 9 — 12 Decks — Final Outcome

Event Combinations Probability
Banker wins 510,359,069,109,920,000,000 0.449075
Player wins 497,331,123,360,367,000,000 0.437611
Tie 128,777,091,327,589,000,000 0.113314

 

The banker has a 1.147% advantage over the player.

The next table shows the probability of each combination of final player and dealer points in a 12-deck game, assuming the strategy above.

 

Super Pan 9 — 12 Decks — Final PointsExpand

Banker
Total		 Player Total
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Total
0 0.003558 0.003424 0.003295 0.003864 0.004599 0.005451 0.012849 0.010555 0.009364 0.008145 0.065104
1 0.003424 0.003283 0.003161 0.003708 0.004417 0.005238 0.012398 0.010183 0.009047 0.007874 0.062733
2 0.003295 0.003161 0.003032 0.003559 0.00424 0.005031 0.011967 0.009827 0.008733 0.007613 0.060457
3 0.003864 0.003708 0.003559 0.004165 0.004965 0.005893 0.012132 0.009953 0.008778 0.007591 0.064607
4 0.004599 0.004417 0.00424 0.004965 0.005908 0.007016 0.014447 0.011851 0.01045 0.009031 0.076925
5 0.005451 0.005238 0.005031 0.005893 0.007016 0.00832 0.01714 0.01406 0.012398 0.010711 0.091259
6 0.011227 0.010776 0.010354 0.012132 0.014447 0.01714 0.025542 0.020945 0.018102 0.015273 0.15594
7 0.009224 0.008852 0.008499 0.009953 0.011851 0.01406 0.030536 0.025024 0.022126 0.01918 0.159305
8 0.008131 0.007812 0.007501 0.008778 0.01045 0.012398 0.027119 0.022219 0.019636 0.017028 0.141072
9 0.00702 0.006747 0.006489 0.007591 0.009031 0.010711 0.023653 0.01938 0.017131 0.014846 0.1226
Total 0.059792 0.057419 0.055161 0.064607 0.076925 0.091259 0.187785 0.153997 0.135765 0.117291 1

 

The next table shows the house advantage, as player, for various numbers of decks.

 

Super Pan 9 — House Edge

Decks House Edge
8 1.1474%
10 1.1468%
12 1.1464%
14 1.1461%
16 1.1459%

 

Outside Links

Super Pan 9 rules at il dado.

Written by: Michael Shackleford