NoMercy OFC Crash Course: Scoring more points or remaining in Fantasyland?

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. 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 quickly went over a valuable concept about setting up your initial cards, and we will come back on this later, with many examples of real-life openings.

But before we do, here are some more notions about placing your cards in Fantasyland.

Indeed, you may have noticed while playing that you are facing many options when you are in Fantasyland.

One particular difficulty is choosing between a placement that will allow you to remain in Fantasyland, versus a placement that will give you more points.

Let me explain with a visual example that presented itself recently on CoinPoker OFC tables. Here are the cards I received in Fantasyland, classed by suits and by numerical value:

• 

By looking quickly at the second order, you can easily see that you will be able to place a set on the bottom, a set in the middle and a set on top in order to remain in Fantasyland. When you make your counts with the simple method I have provided earlier in these series of tips, you can see that with this placement, your total will be 12:

0 for the set of jacks in the back

2 for the set of 8s in the middle

10 for the set of deuces on top

If you look at it in a different way, you realise that you can actually make more points by choosing a different placement:

In this scenario, your total will be 15:

4 for the flush in the back

8 for the flush in the middle

3 for a pair of 8s on top

With different choices like these, what tool do you have in order to make the best possible decision and maximise your profits in OFC?

Well, this is still a new and emerging game, but most of the pros will agree to set the value of a 14 cards Fantasyland at 8 points, meaning that the average of points you will make with these 14 cards Fantasylands is 8 points.

In this particular case, the chance of scooping for an extra 6 points by choosing one placement versus the other is not really relevant, as a set of jacks in the back or a pair of 8s on top will rarely be enough to scoop.

Therefore, you will need to evaluate the overall total of points you may be able to achieve with one choice over the other. Indeed, if you decide to remain in Fantasyland, you score 12 points right away, but you might be looking at a total of 20 points by returning in Fantasyland and reaching the 8 points that you will score on average. If you decide to cash in 3 points more right away for a total of 15 points, the hand ends right there, without a possibility of scoring more points.  

Moreover, if you really think about this deeply, you have a slightly better chance of scooping with a set of Jacks in the back than with a pair of 8s on top.

All in all, the best play here will be to remain in Fantasyland, even if that’s mean surrendering 3 points on this particular count.

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