Rising to new challenges

The Grand Furdell Las Vegas Trip, Mark VIII or so, is fast approaching. Friends and family will converge on the Luxor Casino and Hotel in August for a full long weekend of debauchery, eating, drinking, and, of course, games of chance.

Speaking of games of chance... I've promised a friend of the family (and lady LAW-YHERR) that I would review our blackjack plan of attack. That's coming soon, as soon as a reporter from the Las Vegas Sun replies to my e-mail about the single-deck situation downtown. Really! The word on the street... "Internet Boulevard"... is that the single-deck game is, sadly, rapidly deteriorating.

But more on that later. In the meantime, we Furdells and our friends need to take up the challenge of new gambling frontiers. We must move past the ingrained familiarity of our blackjack, our craps, our poker, and into the uncharted terrority. We must pick up the gauntlet and rush face-first into a game known as...

Pai Gow Poker.

That's right, I said it. Pai Gow Poker, bitches.

Really, it's not as incomprehensible as you might think. Don't confuse this with the dominoes version of the game Pai Gow, which is, indeed, completely indecipherable to non-Asians (and, I'm sure, to many for-real Asians as well). The poker version of the game is actually fairly easy to learn, and since many hands result in a push, chances are you can play it for a while without busting out.

You can peep the rules at The Wizard of Odds, a must-read website if you're interested in the mathematics behind any gambling game. It's always good to know what you're up against.

Basically, each player is given seven cards, with which to make two poker hands: one five-card hand and one two-card hand. The usual poker rankings apply to the five-card hand, with the exception that the "bicycle" straight (A2345) is the second-highest straight. The two-card hand can either be a pair or two individual cards. There is one Joker included in the deck, which can either act as an ace, or complete a straight or a flush. One important caveat: the two-card hand may not be stronger than the five-card hand; otherwise it's a "foul" and you automatically lose.

After the player arranges the cards, the banker draws seven cards and arranges them according to a predetermined "house way," and compares those hands to the player's. In case of a tie, which is not too likely, the banker wins. But if the player wins, there's also a 5 percent commission on the win; so, you're betting $20 to win $19.

There's one feature to this game that allows a player to occasionally act as banker, if he can cover all the other players' potential winning bets. This is advantageous to the player, even though the house still gets 5 percent on winnings. I'm not sure whether this is in effect at Luxor, but I don't remember seeing it happen while I was watching. Clearly, more field research must be done on the matter.

So who's with me? Anyone?

Hello?