Doofus Pai Gow:
Home Rules & strategy References FAQ Play Pai Gow: Large Screen | Small Screen Overview
These instructions relate to the Doofus Pai Gow computer game, not the real game of Pai Gow. To learn about the real Pai Gow game go to Pai Gow Rules & Strategy. The instructions here are provided to let you know what you can expect when you click in the various areas of the Doofus Pai Gow game screens.
Doofus Pai Gow comes in two sizes, the larger version is a little easier to see, but may not fit your screen. Hopefully, if the larger size won't fit, the smaller version will. Which ever one you click on Large Screen or Small Screen to play the game a new window opens without closing the window you are viewing. By opening a new window, rather than replacing the current window, movement between the informational windows and the game windows will not disrupt your game. However, if you click on Play Pai Gow while a game is in progress, a new game screen will open over the old game window, and the previous game will be lost. Of course, this also allows you to take a break from your game to browse the web, and your game will be there waiting for you when you return.
The Doofus Pai Gow game utilizes 3 windows, a game window and two windows for calculating statistics. The first window is the game window. When the game begins, the you will have $200 to wager. At the beginning of each hand, there are two choices. A bet can be placed by clicking on the chips, or Statistics can be selected. If Statistics is selected then the Tile Selection Window will appear.
Tile Selection Window
The tile selection window displays the 32 Pai Gow Tiles in order of individual tile rank. This is different than the pair rankings only by the placement of the last two tiles. The 1:2 and 2:4 tiles when played together as a pair comprise the highest pair Gee Jun, but when played separately they are the lowest ranking tiles. Also, it is important to note that each tile of any pair has the same rank as the other.
Before the statistics can be calculated, four tiles need to be selected. To select or deselect a tile, simply click on that tile. Once a selection has been made, the Run Statistics option is available. At any time, Return to Game maybe selected
The Statistics Window
Given four tiles, there are just three ways that the tiles can played. The first can be played with the second, the third or the fourth. On the left side of the statistics window these three possible hands are shown. The first one is labeled House Way. This is how the computer will play these tiles. For the second hand, the first tile and the third tile of the House Way are played together, and the third hand is the remaining hand, first with fourth and second with third. In each case, the high hand is shown first and for each the high hand and the low hand, the higher tile is first.On the right side of the window are the statistics for each hands. The top row shows the number of wins, losses and ties when compaired to all the possible hands that exist with the remaining 28 tiles. There are 20,475 four tile combinatons possible. In each case, the selected hand is compaired to how the computer would play each of these 20,475 hands. This is done for each of the three ways the selected tiles can be played. In other words, the computer is really working hard to build this table.
After the first row for each hand, the precentage of wins, losses and ties are displayed. The following line is the Value of $100 Bet. If you have a hand that would win the same number of times that it lost, this value would be $95.00. Your probably wondering what happened to the other $5.00. That's the five percent commission the house charges for each winning hand. The next line is the same except with the assumption that you are banking the game. When you bank, you win the ties, so the value of your $100 bet is increased. You still have to pay the commission on your winning hands though.
One last thing about the statistics window. Notice that on each of the instructional web pages, that I have chosen to show the tiles: Two with a five and the high eight with a nine. Pretty much any other web site for Pai Gow or any Pai Gow book, will display pictures of Gee Jun, the Teen pair, a Wong or a Gong. But here at Doofus Pai Gow you are greeted with a 7 - 7 hand. Maybe there's something behind that name Doofus. Try selecting these four tiles in the tile selection screen and run the statistics, you will see the the computer will play these the house way as Gong - 4. But notice that doing this plays the two highest tiles in the high hand and leaves a low four as the low hand. It would make sense, don't you think, to play the Wong - 3 where the three is a very high three, nearly as good as the low four that is left when playing the Gong. But what about that 7 - 7 hand. With it you would win about twice as often as with the Wong or Gong, and the losses would remain about the same. It's not that the Doofus House Way is really bad, there's just a better way. This is the power of Doofus Pai Gow, and one of the reasons I wanted to write a program to play Pai Gow. By the way, probably any casino you go into will play the Gong - 4. The house way will vary from casino to casino, but very little. They will all play close to the "tradional" Chinese Pai Gow strategy.
The Game Window
Finally, the window where the action takes place. As mentioned above, the first choice has to be a bet by clicking on a chip, or Statistics. The minimum bet is $5, the maximum is everything you've got, rounded down to the next $5 increment. After you've placed your bet, the deal button is activated. Actually, after your first hand is played, the deal button can be used before betting, and your last bet will be repeated. The tiles will be dealt in rank order with the highest ranking tile first. After the tiles are dealt, if you click on the Statistics button at the top, you will go straight to the statistics screen and you will see the statistics for the four tiles you were dealt. Makes it easy to set your hand the best possible way. The casinos don't offer this option, but they will tell you the house way if you ask. Once the tiles are dealt, clicking in the area of the tiles will rearrange the tiles, cycling through the 3 possible hand combinations. In the case you have been dealt a pair, there are only two possibilities, play the pair or split them. Don't worry about designating the high and low hands, the computer will figure that out. Once your satisfied with the way you have arranged your tiles, click Set Hand and the computer's hand will appear. This is the bank hand as well, Doofus Pai Gow doesn't give you the option to be banker. If you lost, your chips will move to the top of the "table". If you win, a second stack of chips will appear next to you bet, and if it's a push nothing will happen. At this point, if you pass the mouse pointer over the tiles, either your tiles or the house's tiles, the value of the hands will appear. Any time you have tiles showing, you can select Statistics and see how the house plays the hand, and what would be the optimum way of playing the hand.
Home Rules & strategy References FAQ Play Pai Gow: Large Screen | Small Screen
created by Stephen J. Rindom, geejun@cox.net
Last modified: May 7, 2007