The most important thing you can do in pai gow poker is to set your hand perfectly.  We will have pages and pages dedicated to teaching you to do that.  Once you are setting your hand perfectly every time, there are some other things that can also have a huge influence on your results.  When we say they will have a huge influence over your results we are talking about a few percentage points - but in casino gaming, that is truly huge.

Being the Banker

The players can take turns being the banker in pai gow poker.  This can give the player a huge advantage.  The player who is acting as banker is now responsible for paying out the winning players, and collecting from the losing players.  To act as the banker one must be able to cover all the bets of the other players with chips that you have on the table.  If you can't cover their bets, you can't be the banker.

As the banker you win all ties, even against the casino dealer, who will still be in the hand.  (The casino dealer will bet an amount equal to your previous bet when the house was also the banker.) This gives you an advantage over the other players.  The more of them there are, the more advantage you have.  The casino, however, will still rake 5% of your net winnings (wins - losses = net), but you gain an advantage over the casino in every situation except when you are one-on-one versus the casino dealer.  The table below summarizes the house edge over the player as banker in all situations.

Negative edge for the casino means positive advantage for the player.  Note this edge only exists on the turns that the player is the banker.  When someone else or the house is the banker, the advantage shifts back away from the player.  Ideally you want to be the banker as often as possible, and you want the amount bet when you're the banker to be very high compared to the amount you are betting when you are not the banker.

House rules vary on how often a player can be the banker.  Most houses simply go around the table, with the dealer offering to let players be the banker in order.  If the player declines the offer is made to the next player until someone accepts.  The casino dealer places himself in the order, and takes a turn as banker.  If you can find a table that is full (5 players plus you and the casino dealer) and you're the only player that wants to be a banker, you've hit paydirt!The bank will shift between you and the house, and you will maintain a nice advantage as long as that lasts.

Some houses use a back and forth pattern for passing the banking option.  The house banks, and then player one banks, then the house banks again, and player two banks.  This is in the casinos advantage, as they retain the bank at least 50% of the time.  We recommend avoiding the casinos that shift bankers this way as you cannot be the banker often enough to sustain a decent advantage.

Just remember that as the banker you are responsible for paying off the other players when their hand beats yours.  A couple of crummy hands can wipe you out for a night.  Manage your bankroll appropriately.

Pre-Paying the Rake

Another option that some casinos offer that players should take advantage of is pre-paying the rake.  To pre-pay the player just places an extra 5% on top of his wager.  For example, say you are playing for $100 per hand without pre-paying the rake.  If you win the house pays out $95 after raking 5%.  If you pre-pay you bet $105 and when you win the house pays you $100.  In essence the house has taken $5 off a $105 bet the same as they would have taken $5 off a $100 bet.  This effectively reduces your rake from 5% ($5/$100) to 4.76% ($5/$105).  You should always pre-pay the rake if it is offered as an option.