NoMercy OFC Crash Course: Opening with Flushes (Part 1)
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. Today it’s opening with Flushes. Stay tune and enjoy the Fantasy Ride!
As explained earlier we are now covering a crucial subject in OFC: your openings.
Indeed, the way you will chose to place your initial 5 cards will be the foundation of your hand. It therefore represent one of the most important decision you will have to make in Open Face Chinese Poker.
We are studying all the best openings in order of the highest starting hands by ranking, until we reach the very worst opening hand with 5 rags such as 10-7-5-4-3 in 4 different suits.
Remember that one of the ultimate goals in Chinese Poker is to reach Fantasyland (FL), so starting with the most effective placement will greatly help you get there!
We already covered some of the best poker hands as we went over the possible scenarios and draws that concern a Royal Flush, a Straight Flush, Quads and Full Houses.
Let’s now start the next category in order of ranking hands: Opening with Flushes and Flush Draws
5 Cards Flush served in opening
If you receive a 5 cards Flush served in opening, it will most of the time go straight in the back to cash in a 4 points royalty.
If your 5 cards flush is an Ace high flush,
not containing connecting cards to a straight flush and not containing a King or a Queen; it will stay as a made hand and go straight in the back. This play will give you advantages such as:
- Beating most flushes that your opponent can make on that line
- Having a shot at making a smaller flush in the middle
If your 5 cards flush is a Jack high flush and lower,
not containing connecting cards to a straight flush; it will also stay as a made hand and go straight in the back.
However, in the following scenarios, and because accessing Fantasyland remains our ultimate goal, you should split your 5 cards Flush in opening:
- If your 5 cards flush is an Ace high flush, but also contains a King or a Queen; then you should split it and place the K or Q on top.
- If your 5 cards flush is a King or Queen high flush; then you should split it and place your K or Q on top.
- If you receive 4 cards to a straight flush in opening with a 5th card of the same suit, then you should place your 5th card in the middle, unless it’s a King or a Queen, in which case this 5th card would go on top.
Indeed, and as we studied in the second part of the blog on Straight Flushes in such a scenario, you should play the 4 Straight Flush cards in the back and give yourself at least another draw before abandoning that massive draw.
Because you are open-ended to a huge royalty (25 points for a Royal and 15 points for Straight Flush), you can gamble and see the next 3 cards. If you do not complete your hand on the second draw, you will need to make a decision based on the information you see on both boards.
In all the above cases and with 12 cards to come over the next draws, the flush will almost always come back. As such, you do not want to place some valuable Fantasy cards on the bottom or abandon a straight flush draw in opening.
I hope now you know more when it comes to opening with Flushes.
Be aware of the reasons why you make every single decision in OFC. That’s how you will become a winning player!
Rendezvous next week for the continuation of these series of tips on Open Face Chinese Poker and I hope now you know more when it comes to opening with Flushes!
Meet me at the OFC tables on CoinPoker to practice your skills and enjoy the action. Open yourself a CoinPoker account today. Welcome to Fantasyland!
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Isabelle “No Mercy” Mercier
OFC “Progressive” World Champion
Jump to the next part: Opening with flushes (Part 2)