Yes, you’ve come to the right place, as always! We wrote about Pai Gow Poker’s origins in the QoD published on September 29, 2015, but since then an interesting associated story has come to light. Dan Lubin, author of an upcoming Huntington Press book, tentatively titled The Essentials of Casino Game Design — From the Kitchen Table to the Casino Floor, has an intimate connection to the history of the game. But since many QoD readers aren't LVA members, and hence, can't access the prior answer through a link, we're taking this opportunity to relate Dan's story, and also the history you ask for through Dan's words.
Dan was a programmer and designer of mainframe-computer systems for 20 years before relocating to Las Vegas to become a table-games dealer. Coincidentally to this question, an incident while he was dealing Pai Gow Poker one night at Fiesta Henderson (a player was putting him through commission contortions after every hand) led him to dream up commission-free pai gow, which subsequently became EZ Pai Gow.
Here’s Dan’s response.
Pai gow tiles is an ancient Chinese legacy game that’s not particularly popular among Asians; they’re way more interested in baccarat. Pai gow tiles is viewed in a fashion similar to how Americans view mahjong or bridge: "Grandma plays that old fogy’s game." Less than 100 total pai-gow-tiles tables exist in U.S. casinos, compared to close to 2,000 Pai Gow Poker (PGP) games.
PGP is steeped in Asian superstitions, and even Hong Kong and Macau high rollers think it originated in China. But no different than Wonder Bread, Frye boots, and Gibson guitars, Pai Gow Poker is as homegrown American as Uncle Sam. In fact, another Sam, 45-year-old Sam Torosian, invented it in 1985.
According to a Los Angeles Times story that appeared 15 years ago, Torosian was the L.A.-born son of Armenian immigrants, a bread delivery man turned real estate investor, who owned a number of hardware stores and food-stamp distribution outlets. His wife Vicky, who owned a wig shop, enjoyed playing cards at the Bell Club.
At the time, a card-club building boom in L.A. had created an enormous supply for a static demand and Torosian bought the Bell, which had dozens of tables and 750 employees, for $750,000, little more than a nice home in the Hollywood Hills. But his new casino struggled for a year, until one night, an old Filipino poker player told him about a game called pusoy, in which players receive 13 cards from which they create three poker hands -- made up of five, five, and three cards -- then play against a banker's three hands [a variation of this game is now known as Chinese Poker, as it's played man-to-man, without a banker, in cardrooms throughout the U.S.]. Torosian felt that a 13-card game would be too cumbersome to deal and slow to play. Instead, he came up with seven cards split into five- and two-card hands. Players beating the banker's two hands would win. Then he added Asian motifs all over the place.
Torosian contacted a lawyer who told him that a game based on a 52-card deck wasn't patentable. Well, it was patentable, and soon thereafter, Shuffle Master patented Let It Ride, which was an early exclusive hit for that game-development company.
Sam Torosian watched as scores of new card games received patents over the years. The L.A. Times story reports, "Demoralized and battered by debts and partner disputes, he eventually closed his club."
If Sam Torosian had had a competent attorney, he’d be worth in the tens of millions of dollars today. The man is amazingly serene, in retrospect, about his situation, being the father of a hugely popular game who didn’t get to cash in on it. Indeed, it was Torosian’s failure to properly patent the game that gave me the opportunity to improve on it by eliminating the commission, thereby inventing EZ Pai Gow.
Needless to say, I’m very thankful for that man.
Editor’s Note: After inventing EZ Pai Gow, Dan Lubin went to work for DEQ Systems, a global provider of gaming technology, as a reviewer of submissions of new table games. He then became the in-house designer of table games for Galaxy Gaming, developing Three Card Prime, Heads Up Hold 'em, Three Card Double Play, Four Card Frenzy, and Cajun Stud, among others. Dan’s book will be one of a kind, the only manual in existence for designing, developing, marketing, and safeguarding a new casino table game, for those who want to try to hit the jackpot by getting a game installed on the floors of casinos. It’s scheduled to be released in a few months. If you would like to be notified upon the publication of The Essentials of Casino Game Design, please send an email that says "Game Design" to [email protected] and we’ll contact you with a pre-pub offer when it’s ready.
