There is a certain camaraderie from joining forces against the house to try and win together. A dealer has thousands of dollars in the tray in front of them and they don’t care if they lose it, it’s not their money! When playing Pai Gow Tiles in a casino, players typically bank to change the flow of the game when the dealer hands are too hot. They are trying to disrupt the rhythm of the dealer winning and recoup the loss of the previous hand with the house edge. It’s common etiquette to withdraw your bet during a player bank, because if you win, you win money from the person who is banking. Some will play a minimum bet because it is boring watching someone else bank. The deal can alternate every other hand and no one wants to sit around 50% of the time doing nothing.

No! Unless someone asks for help, don’t take away the fun of letting that person figure out the hand for themselves OR give advice which turns out to be incorrect. Often everyone at the table will show their hands and laugh at how bad or awesome they are, but we don’t offer advice unless someone has mis-set the hand.

In Pai Gow Tiles, the breakdown of the 8 hands is usually 2 good hands, 3-4 medium hands, and 2-3 lower hands. When someone seems to be on the spot getting the good hands, it’s natural for others to want to put their money on the spot as well. I feel that it’s OK to side bet, but you should always ask before putting your money on another person’s spot. I usually don’t mind when friends want to side bet, but with strangers it will depend on how I’m feeling that day. Following the same superstition about not interfering with the flow of the table, trying to capitalize on someone else’s luck is interrupting their personal flow. If the spot instantly loses with additional bets on it, that’s usually taken as a sign that the side bet is bad luck. If someone is trying to side bet on your spot, you are free to reject the side bet. Tell the dealer and let them remove the money from your spot.

On a traditional Pai Gow Tiles table, you will often notice that the betting spots skip straight from number 3 to number 5. This is because the number 4 ($四$, sì) is widely considered highly unlucky in Chinese culture due to its pronunciation, which sounds nearly identical to the word for death ($死$, sǐ). To maintain good feng shui and avoid inviting misfortune to the table, casinos and card rooms omit the number 4 entirely, ensuring players feel comfortable placing their wagers without any ominous associations.

People winning on a table game is “attract mode” at an arcade. Other people naturally gravitate to the table and want to play, too. When you’re at a Blackjack table and you have a good group of players and you’re in a groove, do you want the person who splits 3’s to sit down and ruin it? Of course not! Take that vehemence and multiply it by 10 on a Pai Gow Tile game! There is a significant amount of superstition around having the right energy at the table to keep the winners on the good side of the table. The fortunate thing is since so few people play the game, even if people are cheering and high-fiving on the table, most won’t sit down to try and learn a game where the bets are $500+. However, as a seasoned gambler, I won’t sit down at a winning table until the excitement dies down. I don’t want to be the one who changes the luck. This sounds ridiculous because each hand is isolated and nothing anyone else does at the table will impact a hand, but I have played on a winning table and have a new player join and the entire table starts losing. Then as soon as they leave, the table starts winning again.

In Chinese culture, touching someone’s shoulder during gambling is believed to sweep away their luck. Luck is everything in gambling. Keep the vibe positive and avoid upsetting players. In general, it’s a huge offense to tap/touch someone on the shoulder. It is said that this tap extinguishes one of the three holy flames inside the person’s body and will cause bad luck. Just to be safe, don’t touch them anywhere.

It’s very difficult to win in the casino and so I wouldn’t get up if you’re on a winning streak! But I’ve had people wait until the hands settle down before going to the restroom because they didn’t want to break the energy of the play. Much like you don’t want to sit down and disrupt the flow of a winning table, you also don’t want to leave and disrupt the flow!

The odds of getting this hand are so astronomical that some casinos offered a progressive jackpot for anyone who managed to pull it! The highly superstitious elect to split the pairs and play 8-8 instead of Bo-Bo because of the bad luck associated with keeping the pairs together. Because this is the top hand, there is no way to improve upon it. Many believe that keeping this hand as Bo-Bo uses up all of your luck and they will start to lose immediately afterwards. 8-8 is still a great hand, but I’ve seen players lose this split, so the better decision is probably to take the money and play cautiously afterwards.