Strategy
How to set your thirteen cards
In Chinese poker you don't win with one big hand, but with rows. How to split your cards over the back, the middle and the front, and how never to be foul.
In short
- Start at the back: your strongest five cards, then the middle, then the front.
- Think in rows: each one is a point against every other player. Two rows you're likely to win beat one you'll win big.
- The front counts as much as the back: a pair there wins often.
- Check the order before you turn your cards over.
- What you hold, nobody else has: count it.
Start at the back, then look again
Find the best five-card hand you can make for the back, then the best you can make for the middle from what's left. The three cards that remain are your front. That gives you a hand that's never foul.
Then look again. Often you can give a little in the back or the middle and make the front much stronger, and that usually wins you more than it costs.
Think in rows, not hands
Every row is compared with every other player's, and each row you win is worth the same: a point in the 1-6 count. A straight flush in the back wins one row, no more than a pair of eights would against weaker backs. What counts is how many rows you are likely to win against each player, not how strong your best hand is.
That makes the middle and the front worth looking after. A weak front is a point given away to every player whose front is stronger.
A pair in front pays
With only three cards, most fronts are just a high card. A pair there beats all of those, and even an ace or a king on top wins a good share of fronts. If you can make a pair in front without being foul, it is usually worth it.
An example
You are dealt these thirteen cards:
A♠ A♦ K♣ K♥ Q♥ J♠ 9♦ 7♣ 6♥ 5♠ 4♦ 3♣ 2♠
The straight belongs in the back. Then there are three ways to go on:
| Front | J♠ 9♦ 2♠ jack high |
|---|---|
| Middle | A♠ A♦ K♣ K♥ Q♥ two pair, aces and kings |
| Back | 7♣ 6♥ 5♠ 4♦ 3♣ a straight |
| Front | A♠ A♦ 2♠ a pair of aces |
|---|---|
| Middle | K♣ K♥ Q♥ J♠ 9♦ a pair of kings: weaker than the front |
| Back | 7♣ 6♥ 5♠ 4♦ 3♣ a straight |
| Front | K♣ K♥ 2♠ a pair of kings |
|---|---|
| Middle | A♠ A♦ Q♥ J♠ 9♦ a pair of aces |
| Back | 7♣ 6♥ 5♠ 4♦ 3♣ a straight |
The first wins the middle against most players, but its jack-high front loses to most fronts. The second is foul: a pair of aces in front, with only kings in the middle. The third keeps the order, its aces still win most middles, and its kings win nearly every front. It usually takes both rows where the first takes one.
Never be foul
A foul loses all three rows to everybody: in the 1-6 count, that's 6 points to every other player. So before you turn your cards over, check:
- Is the back at least as strong as the middle?
- Is the middle at least as strong as the front? A pair in front wants a higher pair, or more, in the middle.
- Is there no straight or flush counted in the front? With three cards, they don't count.
Count what you hold
With four players all fifty-two cards are dealt, so what you hold, nobody else has. With three aces in your hand, nobody can have a pair of aces in front, and a pair of kings there is close to unbeatable. With fewer players some cards stay out of play, and you can be less sure.
Royalties and swapping change the sums
If your table plays royalties, a strong hand in a hard place earns extra, and keeping three of a kind in front or a full house in the middle can be worth a weaker row elsewhere. If you swap, pass the cards that fit none of your rows and keep the ones that might make one.
Put it to the test tonight.
OFC Board keeps the score while you think about your cards. Everyone enters their own points on their own phone, a round only goes through once it comes to zero, and at the end of the night you see who pays whom.
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