Aggressive play catching on

I have just returned from the WSOP and have found that fantasy land has increased the agressive play on the top and middle hands in Open Face Chinese Poker.  I tried to pay close attention to the different styles of play from people from all over the world, and it was very clear that the majority of players are much more aggressive.  Also, it seemed that this strategy really paid off more than it hurt when a player would foul his hand.

After digging a little deeper, (and making some calculations on the Open Face Chinese Odds Calculator) it makes perfect sense.  Being able to calculate odds in all parts of the hand really opens your eyes to how much higher the percentages are to hit cards needed to cover aggressive plays in th middle and top hands.

For example.

The player with the bottom right hand just drew a 7C.  The low risk play would be to put it in top hand as to not risk a miss set, especially with the player in the bottom left highly likely to miss set his hand (he has less than a 9% chance to make two pair in the middle, but has a 44% chance to make trips in the back).  However, the bottom right needs to improve his hand vs the top two hands, so pairing the 7 in the middle is the better play. (44% chance to hit two pair or 25% chance to hit trips to cover the 77 in the middle).  The pair in the middle is now ahead against all hands and frees up any high cards to go on top.

Here is how the hand turned out.

The Bottom Right hand ended up losing 10 points due to top left hitting QQ up top (and now making fantasy land), however, he was able to win the top and middle vs the top right, thus saving 5 points had he gone the conservative route.

Thanks for reading my blog today.  Please take a minute to download the calculator on your iPhone or iPad.  There is a free version, but the paid version gives you access to all the percentages.

I will post another hand in a few days.

Calculating Odds

I know that people have been waiting for someone to come out with a good way to calculate odds for Open Face Chinese, so finally, I have come out with an app that does it for you.  This post is a little self promoting, but I have been working on this for months and am really happy with the outcome.  It is awaiting approval in the apple store, but should be available in the next 24 to 48 hours.  Below is a screen shot of a hand I recently played and will talk about the reasoning for the placement of the first draw.

The app is free to try, but I would appreciate supporting my efforts by purchasing the full version.  It is a little expensive as far as apps go, but is cheap considering the benefit to your open face play. (It was also expensive to make).  Anyway, thanks for the support and enjoy the app.

So the card I drew first was a 2d.  Ordinarily, I would not pair the top because there is no bonus for 22 and I am at risk for miss setting, however, I have a 67% chance to pair the middle and a 74% chance to pair the back.  My opponent has a bad hand to start as well, so I have a decent chance of scooping him if I hit my pairs.  

Now that I have this calculator, I will be posting more often and work through the plays vs the odds in open face.  Would love to hear some feedback.  http://tinyurl.com/lav5r2x