Best OFC Tips and Tricks

Open-faced Chinese poker is one of the fastest-growing variants in the card-playing world at the moment, so it’s about time we looked into a few tips for how to deal with this game. In many ways it’s a vastly different game from other poker variations, but there are some things which cross over.

Now, if you’re not 100% sure about the rules of the game, check out this article first. The tips and tricks I will discuss here are not hugely ‘deep’, but if you don’t understand how the game works at a basic level then it’s no use to you!

So let’s get down to it - refer back to the article above at any point if you’re not sure what’s going on! We’re going to concentrate on the standard OFC game here – where you receive 5 hole cards as opposed to 13 – and see what useful things we can learn.

Tip 1: Setting your first 5 cards is very, very important!

When you are dealt all 13 cards at once (as you are in other variants of OFC, or as in ‘Fantasyland’ which we’ll cover later) it’s much easier to work out which cards work best where! This should be obvious-we have perfect information with 13 cards, but not with 5.

So, don’t get carried away setting your initial 5 hole cards up ‘perfectly’ – it may backfire later in the hand.

OFC expert Nikolai Yakovenko has stated:

As an aggressive player, he is looking for ways to get to the bonus ‘Fantasyland’ round later on (which requires at least QQ on the front row) so if he is dealt a pair of 3’s or 4’s, for example, he’s not putting them up front unless it’s unavoidable.

Quite, and something that should be remembered early on!

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Tip 2: Fouling and getting scooped are not the same thing.

It might seem as though they are to the uninitiated, as both have -6 points on the scoring system, but there is a distinct difference you need to understand.

When you foul, you lose any royalties you might otherwise have scored.

When you get scooped, you can still gain points in royalties – so your scoop doesn’t hurt so badly. It’s fairly basic, but a very common misconception.

Where would this come into play? Well, here’s an example…

3♦ 2♥

6♦ 8♣ A♦

A♣ 10♣ 9♣ J♣ K♣

Now you peel off the 2s. Where do you put it? If you place it to make a pair of deuces in your front row, you only have 2 cards to improve your middle row otherwise you’re fouling. The odds of this happening are not too good, so it’s a bad gamble which could cost you the lot.

Hitting the 6 or 8 could still lose you the middle row, and otherwise the possibility of one of the aces hitting is very slim. In addition, there’s absolutely no guarantee you’ll win the front row with deuces either! So, all things considered, the foul is your biggest concern here – and it’s much worse for you than getting scooped.

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Tip 3: Playing AK is much easier in OFC than in Hold’em!

The fact of the matter is that AK is an excellent pair of cards to be dealt in both games. In NLHE, there are a few different ways to play ‘Big Slick’, but in standard OFC, you should play the AK pretty much the same way always.

Let’s see an example. You are dealt Ad Ks 7s 6c 4c. How should you set them up? It’s simple, and the reasoning behind it also.

K♠ _ _

A♦ _ _ _ _

7♠ 6♣ 4♣ _ _

The king up front sets you up for fantasyland. Any 3, 5 or 8 would give you a great draw on the bottom, and the ace in the middle also gives you good chances there. Yes there’s the possibility of fouling, but the potential bonuses on offer more than outweigh this outside chance.

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Tip 4: Make the most of your bad deals!

In most forms of poker you can just pass on poor cards and wait for the next hand to see if things improve. In OFC, of course, you have to make the best of things! Let’s look at an example where you are dealt trash and see what you can do with them….

3♦ 3♣ 6♠ 9♣ J♦

Not very nice, especially as you can expect your opponent(s) to have significantly stronger holdings. However, there are a lot of cards still to come and you have to play this somehow, so…

… make the front row your priority!

As we are unlikely to be competing for the back row anyway, any royalties we can pick up on front row are a buffer against the opposition’s scoring. And if we can win the front row, we also avoid being scooped. With little else to do with our raggedy-ass cards, damage limitation is the order of the day, so…

9♣

J♦

3♦ 3♣ 6♠

If we pair the 9, this is the equivalent of a back row flush or middle row straight! Pairing the jack in the middle also offers some chances and the back row, though not looking great, still has the potential to improve if we get some lucky cards.

So, don’t despair when you are dealt trash – focus on the front row and see what happens!

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Tip 5: Don’t give up on bottom royalty draws too soon!

On a typical good hand you might play for the big flush draw on the bottom, a decent pair in the middle and a high card up top looking forward to Fantasyland. Let’s say it looks like this after 7 cards:

Q♥

10♦ 9♥ 3♦

6♠ 8♠ K♠

You still have 6 cards to draw, and say you peel off the Kc…where do you put it? On the bottom to pair your kings and have ‘something’ even though it kills your flush - or up front where it increases your outs to Fantasyland?

Well, with 6 cards still to come there is no need to just give up on the spade flush draw quite yet. Let’s say you’re in position and know your opponent has 2 spades…what are your odds of hitting your 2 spades?

It’s still 30%, and you can add the other possibilities, such as the remaining K’s, 6’s and 8’s to give you a hand on the bottom, so stick with the flush draw!

Bonus Tip: Play on the right site

So this one is a little bit special in that it's not about how you play, but about where you play. Here at Pokertube, we have a unique deal with what is undoubtedly the best online OFC website, the ever popular Tonybet. In fact, we like Tonybet so much that we had one of our personally sign up and test drive the site. If you're curious for the full review, you can check it out here. If not, you can just enjoy the pile of promotions that are on at the moment which include a €2000 sign-up bonus and this smorgasbord of freerolls, free leagues, and free tickets. It's more than enough to start any serious OFC player on the best possible track.

Hopefully these 5 tips will help you to make some better decisions in what is a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting game. It’s not easy though, and involves learning a lot of new numbers and strategies… Good luck with it and if you have any strategy suggestions, please add them below!