{"id":2167,"date":"2019-12-16T08:14:35","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T08:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.coinpoker.com\/?p=2167"},"modified":"2019-12-16T08:14:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T08:14:35","slug":"opening-with-a-pair-of-queens-and-an-ace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/opening-with-a-pair-of-queens-and-an-ace\/","title":{"rendered":"NoMercy OFC Crash Course: Opening with a pair of Queens and an Ace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hello everyone! Welcome to my personal blog<\/a> on OFC Pineapple (Open Face Chinese Poker). Week after week, I\u2019ll go over the history of the game, some basic rules and recommendations, anecdotes from the players, and finally, some more advanced strategies.\u00a0This time – Opening wit a pair of Queens and an Ace. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stay tune and enjoy the Fantasy Ride!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over\nthe last weeks, we studied different openings and we went through some\nreal-life hand analysis. There are multiple different possible scenarios in OFC\nand we will continue to observe what are the optimal plays according to each\nsituation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This\nweek, we will focus on a classic opening that includes a pair of Queens with an\nAce.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s go over an analysis of a hand that presented itself to me recently while playing on CoinPoker. I received these five cards to start my board, and I was on the button, which means I got to see my opponents\u2019 first five cards before making my decision:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With these precise 5 cards, I regularly see players choosing to open in 4 different ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As we\nsaw over the last series of advices, splitting a pair in order to chase a flush\ndraw is rarely the best play. That is even more true when this pair is a pair\nof Queens served with a live Ace. Therefore, option number #1 here is\ndefinitely not the right play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Option\nnumber #2 is already a better choice, however the 8 and the 3 on the bottom\nline are two cards that don\u2019t do well together, and this combination blocks any\nchances of making a straight or a flush there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\nmight come as a surprise, but option number #3 would probably be the best play\nhere, if you did NOT have an Ace in your hand. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed,\nmost players have a tendency to automatically place their Queens on top in\nopening when they receive such a pair, but experience and some mentoring will\nprove this to be wrong if you have no substance such as a live Ace or a live\nKings to go with it. Remember that you can always access Fantasyland with Kings\nor Aces on top too, so placing your Queens in the back allows you to start with\na very strong hand, and still have opportunities to access Fantasyland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the\nend, in this particular scenario, option number #4 will be the optimum play,\nwith a sole 8 in the back, leaving all possibilities open to make a big hand\nthere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the next draw, I received very some cards that I really liked:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Ace\nin the middle is an automatic move here, as this was exactly what we were\nlooking for in the first place. The Queen is no help for us, but all the 10s\nare live and this is a connecting card for a potential straight in the back.\nSo, despite the fact that our opponent shows a 9 and a Jack, which are cards that\nwe would probably need in order to complete a straight, the 10 will still go on\nthe back here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the next draw, I received some random cards that did not really improve my hand. The 9 will go in the back here, even if the 4 is more live, as my possible straight is still in the air and I want to keep that option open. The 4 will therefore go in the middle here, in order to have more outs to improve this line, if I do complete the straight on the bottom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On my next draw, my cards dictated their own placement:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I had\nto place my 9 in the back to have at least a pair, and because my kicker on the\ntop line is irrelevant since I am facing a pair of Kings, I placed the 5 there\nalong with my two Queens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed,\nI can always improve my middle line to two pair or trips in order to beat my\nopponent\u2019s middle line if he gets there, with two pair or trips himself.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That left me with 6 live cards in the deck to complete a valid board; three 10s, one 9, and two 8s. I was lucky enough to catch one of my 10s on the last draw, and to witness my opponent fouled on that hand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Fantasyland\nall by myself, that\u2019s the way I like it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wish\nyou all an excellent holiday season with lots of Fantasylands! You will find me\non a daily basis at the tables during this vacation, and I will be back with\nmore blogs and pieces of advices in January! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Merry\nChristmas and Happy New Year everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meet me at the OFC tables on CoinPoker to practice your skills and enjoy the action. Open yourself a <\/em>CoinPoker account<\/a> today. Welcome to Fantasyland!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Facebook<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isabelle \u201cNo Mercy\u201d Mercier<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

OFC \u201cProgressive\u201d World Champion<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone! Welcome to my personal blog on OFC Pineapple (Open Face Chinese Poker). Week after week, I\u2019ll go over the history of the game, some basic rules and recommendations, anecdotes from the players, and finally, some more advanced strategies.\u00a0This time – Opening wit a pair of Queens and an Ace. Stay tune and enjoy … NoMercy OFC Crash Course: Opening with a pair of Queens and an Ace<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":2178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[62,75,92,93,95,96,97,98,106,130],"class_list":["post-2167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy","tag-fantasyland","tag-isabelle-mercier","tag-nomercy","tag-ofc","tag-ofc-pineapple","tag-ofc-pineapple-strategy","tag-ofc-rules","tag-ofc-strategy","tag-open-face-chinese-poker","tag-poker-strategy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coinpoker.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}