The Fast and Furious
Shuffle and Chop-chop Pai Gow
16 June 2006
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark,
How big of a disadvantage does the blackjack
player who counts cards have against continuous
shuffle machines? How about online play? How
often do they shuffle cards? Jack M.
Casinos thwart card counters by using different
countermeasures. They can use more decks, which
decrease the player's advantage, or they can
shuffle prematurely. The downside to frequent
shuffling against a suspected card-counter is
that it takes time, and if the dealer isn’t
pitching cards to non-counting players and
putting their kiss goodbye chips in the tray,
the casino’s losing money.
Casinos can speed up play, and simultaneously
curb counters with automatic shuffling machines.
Some shuffling machines shuffle-up one set of
cards while another is in play. Others, known as
Continuous Shuffle Machines, allow the dealer to
simply return used cards to a single shoe, which
allows play without any interruption. Because
Continuous Shuffle Machines essentially allow
minimal deck penetration, the advantage of
traditional counting techniques is completely
lost.
As for online casinos, the deck is reshuffled at
the start of each hand, giving the card counter
zip advantage. You will see some online casinos
show an animation of the dealer shuffling the
cards intermittently to give the illusion that
the cards are being shuffled infrequently, but
the cards are nonetheless actually shuffled
after every round. It’s for show, Jack, not for
wrapping you in dough.
Dear Mark,
Have you ever heard of an abbreviated game of
Pai Gow poker that uses less than the
traditional seven cards? Gary B.
Pai Gow Poker is a seven-card poker game played
with a standard 52-card deck and a joker. The
art of the game is to skillfully arrange your
cards into two poker hands, one of five cards
and the other of two. To win, both your
five-card hand and your two-card hand must beat
the banker’s corresponding hands. When setting
your hands, remember your five-card hand must
have a higher poker ranking than your two-card
hand. Winning one hand while losing the other is
a push or tie, where you neither win nor lose.
Your question, Gary, describes a nifty little
game called Pyramid poker, a simplified version
of Pai Gow poker, where, instead of seven cards,
three cards are dealt to each player. Pyramid
poker also uses a standard 52-card deck but does
not include a joker.
Both the dealer and player are each dealt three
cards, which are arranged into a two-card hand
and a one-card hand. As in Pai Gow Poker, the
one-card hand must have a lower value than the
two-card hand. The hand rankings are just as in
poker except there can be no straights or
flushes with the two-card hand, and aces are
always high.
Once the player sets his two hands, the player’s
one-card hand is compared to the dealer's
one-card hand, and then the player's two-card
hand is measured against the dealer's two-card
hand. In order to win, both hands of the player
must be higher than both of the dealer's. If
only one hand is higher and the other loses,
then the bet is a tie, or push. You lose only if
the dealer wins both hands.
If hands are of equal face value -- say for
instance you both have a Queen in your one-card
hands -- it’s called a copy, which automatically
goes to the dealer, giving the casino a built-in
house edge of approximately 3.5%.
Although you can find Pyramid Poker in some of
the larger gaming jurisdictions, it’s not yet
here in the woods of Northern Michigan, but I
have, Gary, given it a kitchen table workout.
It’s fun, and faster than Pai Gow Poker, and
probably worth adding to my play list amongst
friends, but that 3.5% casino advantage by way
of copies is a bit steep for me.
I’m short on space, Gary, but I will do a Q&A on
optimal playing strategy in the future if
someone writes in with an interest.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week: "If you got talent,
Las Vegas is the land of milk and honey. If you
don't, it's a burial ground." --Benny Binion
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