Pai Gow poker is a casino table game, and as such, it contains a built in House edge. However, you can reduce that edge considerably through proper strategy. A major strategy for reducing the House edge in Pai Gow poker is banking.

What Is Banking in Pai Gow Poker?

In most casinos, the Pai Gow dealer will give each player in turn the opportunity to be the bank. For that round, all players play against the banker (the dealer effectively becomes another player in this scenario) and the banker pays out and collects all bets.

Why Bank in Pai Gow Poker?

Commission Bonus

Being able to bank is a huge advantage in Pai Gow poker, and the more often you can bank, the better your chances of coming out ahead. In Pai Gow, all winning bets must include a five percent commission to the House. If you are the banker, that five percent is taken off after all wins and losses are calculated, effectively enabling you to offset your commissions with losses, which other players cannot do.

For example, if you were a player, won $10 on the first hand, and lost $10 on the second, you would have a net loss of $2 with the House commission. However, a banker in the same scenario will have a net loss is $0, because the two bets offset before the commission comes into play. Keep in mind that you are often banking many more than two players for much larger sums.

Copy Bonus

The banker wins all copies. This means if either the front hand or back hand is the same between the banker and another player, that hand is goes to the banker. For example, if the banker and player duplicate their front hands but the player has a better back hand, it is a push. If the banker has a better back hand, he wins.