NoMercy OFC Crash Course: Count Your Live Cards

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!

Now that we went over the history of this fantastic game, let’s focus for a while on general advices and basic strategies. Let me guide you through some primary recommendations to help elevate your game if you are a new player!

We already saw how important and valuable it is to learn all the royalties and to know them by heart, as well as to know your opponent and to take your time before you act. All these elements will help you to maximise your profits in OFC. But another imperative part of this game is to know your live cards. It is a game that is played in an open format, so frequently will you be able to see most of the deck. Open your eyes, don’t be lazy, count the cards, and evaluate your number of outs before making a move!

The concept of Live Cards is absolutely primordial in OFC poker, especially when you are playing against more than one opponent, where you’ll have access to a lot of visible cards.  Your “Live Cards” are the ones that you did not discarded, and that are not showed on your board or on your opponents’ boards.  Let’s take a look at this example:

The first instinct that amateurs usually have is to place their biggest cards on the board, so the King would be placed on top or in the middle, along with the 6 that would go in the middle. The problem with that in this particular case, is that one of these two cards is completely dead.  Indeed, there is no way in the world you will pair your King in the middle or on top, as 3 Kings are already showing in your opponent’s hand.  Placing it on top as a high card will do you no good either, as your opponent is already showing an Ace on that line.  However, if you look closely at both boards, you will see that the 6’s and the 5’s are fully live, so you’ll have a much better chance at making two pairs in the middle if you use those two cards. 

Always observe your discarded cards and all the visible cards on the boards to choose your placement according to your live 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