How similar are the card and the tile versions of Pai Gow poker? I’m more than a little interested in the card variety and looking to find somewhere local to play it, but the tile version is even more intriguing. If you have tiles, does everyone at the table see them all, all of the time?

[bThe similarity is much less than you’d think, basically they’re two completely different games, except that they both have a high and low hand played in conjunction, in other words you have to win both hands in order to get paid, and they share the name Pai Gow, which in Cantonese means ” to make nine “.  The reason for the name is different for each, I know, lol, it doesn’t make much sense. I could explain further, if you want me to.  The differences are much more interesting anyway, in the card game, everyone gets 7 cards, making two seperate hands,  the two card hand is low, and the 5 card is high its like stud poker. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, lol, you have to out-rank the dealer’s hands in both in order to get paid, A joker is also used, just to make it more confusing, lol. The joker is limited though, it can be used as any card in a straight or flush, but if not in either of those, it can only be used as an ace.  The Tiles version, uses a set of specialized dominoes, if you want to make a set, just use a set of dominoes taking out all the 0"s.  In the tile game you get 4 tiles (dominoes) making two hands of two tiles each, a high and a low hand, the difference is based on the ranking of the tiles, (its like poker ranking), you just have to recognize a new ranking formula, its not as hard as it seems, just something new.  The reason for the ranking is cultural, since it was developed in China about 3000 years ago, give or take, lol Again, once you’ve set your two hands, they’re compared to the casino’s, win both to get paid, minus a 5% commission when you win.

CasinoGuru is one rather intelligent fellow. He’s well versed in many casino games. So if he offers advice, my advice is to listen to it.