§ 621a.8. Procedures for completion of each round of play; setting of hands; payment and collection of wagers; payout odds; vigorish.
(a) After the dealing of the tiles has been completed, each player shall set his hands by arranging the tiles into a high hand and low hand. After setting the hands the tiles shall be placed face down on the layout immediately behind that player’s betting area and separated into two distinct hands.
(b) Each player at the table shall be responsible for setting his own hands and no other person except the dealer may touch the tiles of that player. If a player requests assistance in the setting of his hands, the dealer shall inform the requesting player of the manner in which the certificate holder requires the hands of the dealer to be set. Each player shall be required to keep the four tiles in full view of the dealer at all times. Once each player has set a high hand and low hand and placed the two hands face down on the layout, the player may not touch the tiles again.
(c) After all players have set their hands and placed the tiles on the table, the four tiles of the dealer shall be turned over and the dealer shall set his hands by arranging the tiles into a high and low hand. The high hand shall be placed on the layout face up in a vertical position and the low hand shall be placed on the layout face up perpendicular to the high hand.
(d) The dealer shall set his hands as follows:
(1) If the dealer has the Supreme Pair, it shall be played as the Supreme Pair.
(2) If possible, the dealer shall always play a pair, Wong or Gong as set forth in § 621a.3 (relating to Pai Gow tiles; ranking of hands, pairs and tiles; value of the hand).
(3) If the dealer does not have any of the combinations in paragraph (1) or (2), the dealer shall play any two tiles together which have a value equal to nine, eight or seven.
(4) If the dealer does not have any of the combinations in paragraph (1), (2) or (3), the dealer shall play the highest ranking tile with the lowest ranking tile.
(e) A player may surrender his wager after the hands of the dealer have been set. The player shall announce his intention to surrender prior to the dealer exposing either of the two hands of that player as provided in subsection (g). Once the player has announced his intention to surrender, the dealer shall immediately collect the Pai Gow Wager from that player and collect the four tiles dealt to that player and stack them face down on the right side of the table in front of the table inventory container without exposing the tiles to any other player at the table provided that if a player placed a Pair Fortunes Wager, the player’s wager shall be placed on top of the player’s tiles until the wager is settled in accordance with subsection (j).
(f) After the dealer has set a high and low hand and collected the wagers and tiles that are surrendered under subsection (e), the dealer shall reveal both hands of each player, beginning with the player farthest to the right of the dealer and continuing around the table in a counterclockwise direction. The dealer shall compare the high hand of the player to the high hand of the dealer and the low hand of the player to the low hand of the dealer and shall announce if the wager of that player wins, loses or is a tie.
(g) A wager shall lose and be immediately collected if the high hand of the player is identical in rank or lower in rank than the high hand of the dealer, and the low hand of the player is identical in rank or lower in rank than the low hand of the dealer, or has a value of zero.
(h) A wager shall tie and be returned to the player if:
(1) The high hand of the player is higher in rank than the high hand of the dealer, but the low hand of the player is identical in rank to the low hand of the dealer, lower in rank than the low hand of the dealer or has a value of zero.
(2) The high hand of the player is identical in rank to the high hand of the dealer or lower in rank than the high hand of the dealer, but the low hand of the player is higher in rank than the low hand of the dealer.
(i) A wager shall win if the high hand of the player is higher in rank than the high hand of the dealer and the low hand of the player is higher in rank than the low hand of the dealer. The dealer shall pay the winning Pai Gow Wager and collect a vigorish in accordance with § 621a.11(a) (relating to payout odds; vigorish).
(j) After settling the player’s Pai Gow Wager, the dealer shall settle the player’s Pair Fortunes Wagers, if applicable, by determining if the player’s four tiles create a Gee Joon Pair, Heaven Pair, Identical Pair or Mixed Pair. Irrespective of how the player’s hand was set, if the player’s hand:
(1) Contains a Gee Joon Pair, Heaven Pair, Identical Pair or Mixed Pair, the dealer shall pay the winning Pair Fortunes Wager in accordance with § 621a.11(b).
(2) Does not contain a pair, the dealer shall collect the losing Pair Fortune Wager.
(k) After settling the player’s Pai Gow and Pair Fortunes Wagers, the dealer shall immediately collect the tiles of that player and place the tiles face up to the right of the dealer in front of the table inventory container.
(l) Tiles collected by the dealer shall be picked up in order and in a way so that they can be readily arranged to reconstruct each hand in the event of a question or dispute.
Authority The provisions of this § 621a.8 amended under 4 Pa.C.S. § § 1202(b)(30), 1322, 13A02(1) and (2), 13A27, 1602, 1604 and 1608.
Source The provisions of this § 621a.8 amended November 1, 2019, effective November 2, 2019, 49 Pa.B. 6676. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (362392) to (362394).
Cross References This section cited in 58 Pa. Code § 621a.9 (relating to player bank; co-banking; selection of bank; procedures for dealing).
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.
This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
