NoMercy OFC Crash Course: Cashing in the extra points

Hello everyone! Welcome to my personal blog on OFC Pineapple (Open Face Chinese Poker). Week after week, I’ll go over the history of the game, some basic rules and recommendations, anecdotes from the players, and finally, some more advanced strategies.  Stay tune and enjoy the Fantasy Ride!

We started the series by going over the history of this fantastic game before turning our focus on general advices and basic strategies. We already saw a list of crucial elements such as knowing your royalties, taking your time before you act and counting your live cards.

Last week, we studied a real-life situation where you had a choice to make while in Fantasyland: scoring more points or sacrificing some points in order to remain in Fantasyland.

In that particular scenario, the difference was 3 points, so we concluded that remaining in Fantasyland was a better option, since you could expect to make on average and on the long run another 8 points by remaining in Fantasyland.

But what if the gap in points is much bigger?

Let’s look at the following example in Fantasyland, a situation that happened to me recently while playing on CoinPoker:

Looking at these cards, you can quickly see that it is possible to place quads in the back to make sure that you remain in Fantasyland:

However, after placing your cards in the best possible way, and since you know all royalties by heart, you immediately see that you will only score 10 points for your quads in the back. By looking at other options, you realise that you can score many more points by choosing a different placement:

With this board, you can actually cumulate 17 points instead of the previous 10:

4 points for flush in the back

8 points for flush in the middle

5 points for a pair of 10s on top

This is a major difference, because if you decide to opt for the quad’s placement, you will abandon 7 extra guaranteed points, in hopes of making at least the average of 8 points by remaining in Fantasyland. Moreover, it is very unlikely that you will scoop your opponents with a pair of 7s in the middle and a pair of 3s on top.

However, if you decide to opt for the flush/flush/10s board, you cash in an extra 7 points right away, and you have a real chance of scooping your opponents for another 6 points and an overall whooping total of 23 points.

All in all, in a case like this, and although all pros will tell you that this is a very close call, the best play will most likely be to abandon the idea of remaining in Fantasyland and to cash in more points.

OFC is still a new and emerging game with millions of different possibilities, and that’s what makes it so fascinating! Stay tune for more advices and real-life openings examples with guidelines on how to set up your initial cards.

Meet me at the OFC tables on CoinPoker to practice your skills and enjoy the action. Welcome to Fantasyland!

Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier

OFC “Progressive” World Champion