In the 1990s and early 2000s, poker got a new
variation that has become hugely popular. Called Pineapple Open-Face Chinese
poker, all indications are that it was developed in Finland, and was soon
shared with Russian players.
Sharing sets with traditional poker and very
much like standard Chinese poker, open-face Chinese poker as an element of
strategy that’s very appealing to experienced players.
Chinese poker is a popular side game at
international tournaments where players enjoy the beginner-friendly game.
Adding the element of strategy to the game increases the strength of the
player’s skills and decreases the elements of pure chance.
We’ll lay out some differences between
Pineapple OFC poker versus traditional Chinese poker. These are very well
explained by Derric Haynie in an article in Card Player:
●Players see 17 cards, not 13 - You
not only get the 13 cards you need to make your sets, but because you’re
getting them in hands, you have 4 discards that you can potentially use. This
makes for bigger games with bigger bets. It also increases the chances that a
player gets to fantasyland versus traditional Chinese poker. Bigger games can
mean more profits for good players.
●Seeing three at a time - Since you
get to see three cards at a time, you can lock down your strength order more
quickly. You don’t have to sort out the cards and hope you got it right. With
the initial five cards, you can set your strength and then build from there,
rather than struggling to decide how to avoid fouling.
●Play two, hide one - Since you're
discarding with each hand, you can hide a card from the other players. For
players who are calculating odds, this creates a black hole of information.
They don’t know what’s hidden, so they can’t calculate what’s still in the deck
as efficiently.
●Big gambles - POFC lends itself to
big wins. If your opponent doesn’t see the right opportunities at the right
time, they can get caught behind a big bet and lose. Just a card or two can
take a player down and allow you to win.
●Frequent fantasyland - Since you
have multiple chances to put a pair of Queens or higher in the front set, you
increase your chances of getting to fantasyland. Fantasyland is worth fewer
points in POFC, but it’s still very good to get to.
Read Derric Haynie’s article to learn more
about how a professional poker player sees the game of Pineapple Open-FacePoker.
