In the mid Eighties, I would have been shocked to see any non-Asians playing. Now I would say non-Asians make up about 20% of the players. When I started to play the game around 2001, there was almost never another pale-faced player at the table. He mentioned that he had been playing the game for about 25 years. On December 30, 2011, I met a very nice Caucasian gentleman by the name of Colonel Rob Patton at the pai gow table at the Paris casino in Las Vegas. However, there is a legend behind the game, and acquainting oneself with that legend can aid in understanding the order of the pairs.
To the westerner, or anybody not steeped in Chinese mythology, this ranking will likely seem arbitrary and thus difficult to memorize. Before playing the game, one should learn the ranking of 16 pairs of tiles. Of all the casino games, there can be little debate that pai gow is the hardest to learn. The name roughly translates to 'make nine.' In fact, the concept of scoring by the ones digit only, as in baccarat, likely stems from pai gow. Pai gow (tiles) is perhaps the oldest casino game. On this page Legend Behind Pai Gow Introduction
