Was rewatching the film last night and that opening game scene still makes me smile.
I started working in the casino industry in the early 2000's. I still remember the first time I rewatched the film after I started my new job. I freaked out at the "dominos" game in the beginning. I was like, "I know that game now."
Anyway, I'm actually training some of our supervisors all next week in Pai Gow tiles and every time I do, I think of BTiLC. Such a happy memory.
For anyone curious, Jack opens a pair of teens and a pair of deys. Those are the 2nd and 3rd highest pairs in the game. And just getting one pair means you have a strong hand. It's basically like he opened a royal flush for all you poker fans out there.
Heaven and earth. 🙂
Pai Gow looks simple enough but you need a good head for maths. Was Jack a latent maths savant?
It's actually very simply math wise. The toughest part for most people is learning the tile rankings. They don't follow a traditional numeric value. The game itself is actually very similar to Baccarat if you're familiar with that game. You're trying to get to 9 if you don't have pairs or Wong, Gong, or High 9.
The film Premium Rush centres around a pai gow casino if I recall. I may have to look it up again.
It's a fun game. My favorite game to deal/teach.
Where can you get a set of tiles?
You can actually get sets on Amazon. They're all mostly the same. Just find a box you like. I searched Pai Gow Tiles on Amazon and got a bunch of hits. Even ones like this which are actually versions we've used in the casino. Hilarious.
Cheers!
