Fan Tan Rules: How the Bead Count Settles Fan, Nim, Kwok and Nga

Fan tan is one of the quietest stops on this trail, and it has the shortest rule book of the lot. A heap of beads goes under a cup, bets close, and the dealer rakes off fours, stopping when four or fewer beads are left. That leftover number, from 1 to 4, is the only result in the game. On the SUPERPH lists it sits on the EVO card as Fan Tan and on the PRE card as FanTan, so there are just two live seats to pick from.

Fan tan bets, from one number up

Every bet is a group of the four remainders, so each one’s fair payout follows from a simple count.

The push column is the unusual part. On a Nim of 2, a result of 3 hands your stake back, so the round costs you nothing, and you only lose on the two numbers left over.

What a fan tan commission does to each bet

Fair payouts are where neither side gains, so the money for the house has to come from a commission on wins. Here is the effect of a plainly hypothetical 5 percent cut on a ₱100 chip. Read the real figure on your table.

Problem: the 3:1 on Fan looks like the best deal on the board. Fix: read the cost column. Fan wins only one round in four, so it costs the most per chip even though its payout is the largest.

Before you trust a fan tan pattern

The trail is littered with people who think the last result leans on the next. It does not: the beads are poured fresh each round, and four outcomes stay equally likely whatever the display board shows.

Three things to watch at the table once you have picked a seat:

1. The betting window closes before the count begins, so a late chip never joins that round.
2. The dealer’s stick moves slowly on purpose, because the count is meant to be followed by eye.
3. The layout’s labels differ by studio, so confirm which square means Nim of 2 before you click.

Fan tan tables and where they sit

The two live seats are named above, and two software versions sit in the Poker lane: Fan Tan on the KP card and Fan Tan Classic on KM. The studio behind the EVO table has its own marker at Evolution gaming’s table list, and sicbo’s three-dice board is the natural next step for anyone who likes rounds decided by a simple physical count. Teen Patti runs on the same kind of quiet showdown, at teen patti’s hand ladder, and the live casino game trail holds everything else. Accounts stay on the lobby’s own site, and the login notes for that site sit on their own page; pressing Join 76JL on this page takes you off to 76JL, another casino.