Played with a standard 52-card deck plus a joker, it differs from the typical seven-card game in that you play against a banker, not against other players at the table.The pai gow house edge playing house rules against a player who does not bank (acts as the banker for other players to play against) is 2.84%.
Better stated, it is a sucker bet that carries a high house edge.The fortune bonus is a side bet that pays strictly on the value of a player's seven cards and not how the player sets his or her hand. Most of that edge, 1.27%, comes from players losing a tie to the bank.
