Adjusting from Chinese poker

When making the switch from Chinese poker to open face, the biggest mistake people make is playing too aggressive and miss setting their hands.  The best advise I can give to someone starting out is to concentrate on not fouling your hand and build your hand accordingly.  Many people want to go for the big royalty points, but keep in mind that you will win 6 total points if your opponent fouls their hand and you don't.  Even with a flush and a 2/3 line win, you only win 5 points.  Beginners tend to overvalue royalties (bottom line especially) and ignore the fact an aggressive opponent will foul their hand often.

Unless you have pairs or four to the flush, a good rule is to start your hand with these ranges in mind.
Bottom hand: broadway cards.  Put any 10,J,Q,K,A here from your first five cards
Middle hand: place any 6,7,8,9 here
Top hand: any low cards 2,3,4,5

By starting your hand this way, you are preparing to get three pairs or better. If you can get a pair on each line, you will win more consistently, especially against multiple opponents.

Scoring variation part 3

This is the last in my 3 part blog on scoring.  The last one is the one I am least familiar with, but is popular in Russia.  Please correct me if I get any of this wrong.  The main difference is the line and scoop scoring.  Royalties are handled the same way as the scoring in part 2 of this series.

This is called 2-4 scoring.  If you win 2/3 lines, you win 2 pts.  If you win all 3 lines, you would win a total of 4 pts. So in our example hand...

Martin wins 3/3 against Ryan for 4 pts and 2/3 against John for 2 pts.  Before royalties, Martin is +6 pts.
Ryan loses 4 pts to Martin for losing 3/3 lines and loses 2/3 lines to John for -2 pts.  Before royalties, Ryan is -6 pts.
John loses 2/3 lines to Martin for -2 pts, but wins 2/3 vs Ryan for +2 pts.  Before royalties, John is +0 pts.

Royalties are handled the same way as the part 2 scoring, so here are the totals with royalties.

Martin: lines +6, royalties +14, total +20
Ryan: lines -6, royalties -10, total -16
John: lines 0, royalties -4, total -4

Next post will be all about strategy ;)

Scoring variations continued

The second scoring system is the same as the previous post with the exception of royalty scoring.  This is also the scoring system the I believe is being used for the PCA and LAPC open face tournaments.

System 2) 1-6 scoring as described in my last post.

Bottom line royalties: in this system, all royalties are paid out.  Martin wins 6 pts for a full house from Ryan, but Ryan gets 2 pts for a straight, for a net of 4 pts from Ryan.  Martin wins 6 pts for a full house from John, but John gets 4 pts for his flush, so a net 2 pts for Martin.  John wins 4 pts from Ryan for his flush, but Ryan wins 2 pts for his straight, for a net of 2 pts to John.

Middle line royalties: because Martin has the only royalty, it scores the same as the other system.  So Martin gets 4 pts from each player.
So royalty totals are:

Martin: +6 pts bottom, +8 pts middle, total of +14 pts
Ryan: -6 pts bottom, -4 pts middle, total of -10 pts
John: 0 pts bottom, -4 pts middle, total of -4 pts

Overall totals
Martin: +4 lines, +3 scoop, +14 royalties: total +21 pts
Ryan: -4 lines, -3 scoop, -10 royalties: total -17 pts
John: 0 lines, -4 royalties : total -4 pts