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Pair Fortunes Side Bet

Introduction

Pair Fortunes is among the rare side bets offered in pai gow tiles. If a player manages to form at least one pair, they secure a win. Achieving two pairs results in an even larger payout. As far as I’m aware, there are three distinct pay tables associated with this game, detailed as follows:

Pay Tables

Event Pay Table 1 Pay Table 2 Pay Table 3
Gee Joon and Heaven pairs 300 299 250
Two pair 25 25 25
Gee Joon pair 8 8 8
Mixed pair 4 4 5
Identical pair 3 3 2

Pay Table 1 Analysis

The table below provides an overview of my assessment of pay table 1, where you can see that the house edge is calculated at 5.30% in the bottom right corner.

Pay Table 1

Event Pays Combinations Probability Return
Gee Joon and Heaven pairs 300 1 0.000028 0.008343
Two pair 25 119 0.003309 0.082731
Gee Joon pair 8 420 0.011680 0.093437
Mixed pair 4 1,680 0.046719 0.186874
Identical pair 3 4,620 0.128476 0.385428
All other -1 29,120 0.809789 -0.809789
Total   35,960 1.000000 -0.052976

Pay Table 2 Analysis

The next table presents my findings regarding pay table 2, indicating that the house edge is also 5.30%, shown in the lower right cell.

Pay Table 2

Event Pays Combinations Probability Return
Gee Joon and Heaven pairs 299 1 0.000028 0.008315
Two pair 25 119 0.003309 0.082731
Gee Joon pair 8 420 0.011680 0.093437
Mixed pair 4 1,680 0.046719 0.186874
Identical pair 3 4,620 0.128476 0.385428
All other -1 29,120 0.809789 -0.809789
Total   35,960 1.000000 -0.053003

Pay Table 3 Analysis

The forthcoming table depicts my evaluation of pay table 3, which reveals a higher house edge of 13.61% located in the bottom right corner.

Pay Table 3

Event Pays Combinations Probability Return
Gee Joon and Heaven pairs 250 1 0.000028 0.006952
Two pair 25 119 0.003309 0.082731
Gee Joon pair 8 420 0.011680 0.093437
Mixed pair 5 1,680 0.046719 0.233593
Identical pair 2 4,620 0.128476 0.256952
All other -1 29,120 0.809789 -0.809789
Total   35,960 1.000000 -0.136123