Pai Gow Mania
Pai Gow Mania was one of the earliest forms of Pai Gow Poker with bonus side-bets. This game was first introduced at Fitz Casino & Hotel in downtown Las Vegas back in May 2004. Today Fitz remains one of the few casinos to carry the games, as other casinos which once carried it, such as Foxwoods Resort Casino in CT as well as many Atlantic City and Las Vegas Casinos, have since replaced the game with Fortune Pai Gow Poker.
There are still a handful of players who prefer the Pai Gow Mania version of Pai Gow Poker, and seeing as Fitz and possibly a few other casinos still offer it, we’ll give an explanation here of how the game is played.
Pai Gow Mania 3 Betting Options
Standard Bet: This is a required bet using traditional Pai Gow Poker Rules. If you’re not familiar with these, see our pages How to Play Pai Gow Poker and Pai Gow Poker Strategy.
3 Card Bet: This is an optional bonus bet based on the outcome of the first three cards dealt. The bet mirrors that of the Pair Plus Bonus offered in the popular casino game “3 Card Poker”. The following pay table is used.
| Pai Gow Mania – Three Card Hand | |
| Hand | Pays |
| Natural straight flush | 40 to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 30 to 1 |
| Wild straight flush | 5 to 1 |
| Staight | 4 to 1 |
| Flush | 3 to 1 |
| Pair | 1 to 1 |
| Nothing | Loss |
| Total | |
Seven Card Hand: This is an optional bonus bet based on all seven cards. The following pay table is used.
| Pai Gow Mania – Seven Card Hand | ||||
| Hand | Combinations | Probability | Pays | Return |
| Five aces | 1128 | 0.000007 | 500 to 1 | 0.003659 |
| Royal flush | 26132 | 0.00017 | 250 to 1 | 0.042383 |
| Straight flush | 184832 | 0.001199 | 50 to 1 | 0.059955 |
| Four of a kind | 307472 | 0.001995 | 25 to 1 | 0.049868 |
| Full house | 4188528 | 0.027173 | 5 to 1 | 0.135865 |
| Flush | 6172088 | 0.040041 | 4 to 1 | 0.160165 |
| Three of a kind | 7672500 | 0.049775 | 3 to 1 | 0.149326 |
| Straight | 12006024 | 0.077889 | 2 to 1 | 0.155778 |
| Other | 123584376 | 0.801751 | Loss | -0.801751 |
| Total | 154143080 | 1 | -0.044753 | |
Pai Gow Mania Never Caught On
Traditional Pai Gow Poker uses machine shufflers and is slow paced as is. In Pai Gow Mania one of the bonus side bets (3 card hand) requires the game be dealt by hand. This did not go over well with both the players and casino executives as it made the already slow paced Pai Gow Poker game even slower. Today Pai Gow Poker with a side bet based only on the 7 card hand is wide spread, for details see our page Fortune Pai Gow Poker.
