Hey Internet, it's your old friend Dominic here with the
All American Casino Guide -
a channel dedicated to providing you all the tips, tricks, tutorials, and trivia
that you possibly want to know about casinos and casino games.
As a continuation on our series for Chinese poker, I thought it would be really good to talk about open-face Chinese poker.
Sometimes referred to as 'Russian Poker' or 'Russian Chinese Poker'.
So, as I talked about in my other video, there's this story about Alexander Kravchenko
who was a Finnish poker player who went touring in Russia and he introduced this variation on Chinese poker
and so that's where the game started, and I think maybe the Chinese-Russian connection, I have no idea...
But anyway, if you haven't already watched our video on Chinese poker,
I think it's important that you open another tab right now and go ahead and watch that video first.
It's gonna give you an introduction to the game and it's really important you understand the basics of Chinese poker
because open-face Chinese poker is just a variation on that game.
While you're there, make sure to check out the rest of the channel.
We have so many tutorial videos on other versions of poker like Omaha, Texas Hold'em, blackjack and slot machines.
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Open-face Chinese poker is played in many of the same ways as traditional Chinese poker
whereas you are given 13 cards in order to build three hands known as the top hand, which consists of three cards,
the middle hand which consists of five and the bottom hand which consists of another five cards - 13 in total.
It's also still important that you understand that each hand, the top, middle and bottom need to be increasing
in hand rank value.
So, you can't have, for example, a pair in your top hand and a high card in your middle hand, that would be a misplay and is penalized.
The only major difference between open-face Chinese poker and regular Chinese poker is the way you build your hands.
In traditional Chinese poker, you are dealt 13 cards facedown and then you take those cards
and you build your three hands in secret and then reveal them simultaneously with the other players.
So, you start off by dealing five cards to each player
and you get to, in secret, look at those five cards and decide how you want those cards to be put into your
three hands -
your top hand, your middle hand and your bottom hand.
Now here, I see, I got a 9, 10, Jack, so that's a good start on a straight,
I have a little start on a flush possibly, but the best hand I see here is maybe even a pair of 10's.
So...
This is where the game gets really interesting because you have to kind of think about what could come in the near future.
Unlike traditional Chinese poker, where you get all 13 cards at once, and you get to make your hands, getting the big picture,
this is, you only get part of the picture and there's a lot of other cards that are gonna be coming
and you don't really necessarily know what they are and so, you kind of have to gamble on how to play your cards.
So, let's just see how this plays out, and I'm going to go ahead and place the 9, 10, Jack into my bottom hand
with the two diamonds going in my middle hand and I'm leaving my top hand completely empty right now.
Remember, just like in traditional Chinese poker, you are going to get a bonus structure if your certain hands reveal themselves.
It's all agreed on before the game even starts with your opponents, or the casino will have set payouts.
So, after looking at my initial five cards that were dealt to me, I have assembled them like this:
9, 10, Jack, so I'm starting to try to build a straight here, so I'm going to make that my middle hand because...
my bottom hand, the final hand, is going to be trying to get a flush draw.
So, as you can see, I have two diamonds here.
Now, I've left the three cards empty on my top hand.
So, what I have here is still, the possibility of seeing bonuses and it's important to know how bonuses work
because if you have a pair of 6's or better on your top hand, there's a bonus
and if you have a straight or better on your bottom hand, there's a bonus structure.
So, it's important to know how the bonus structure at every particular table works and this will be something
that you and your opponents agree on beforehand
because there is no official Chinese payouts as far as bonuses that I'm aware of.
This game is very much open to kind of 'dealer's choice' kind of rule structure.
Then, after we've revealed our five cards to all opponents -
revealing essentially what kind of hands we're trying to build -
we deal eight more cards to each player, three, four, five, six, seven, eight.
Now, these are revealed one at a time around the table.
So, it gets really, kind of, tense trying to see what you're trying to build and what your opponents are trying to build
and seeing if you're gonna be able to beat people, so, let's just see how this plays out.
So, the first card I reveal is an 8.
So, I'm gonna go ahead and put that 8 right here, 8, 9, 10, Jack.
That means now, all I need is a 7 or a Queen.
So, next card I reveal is a 4 of diamonds.
I'm going to put that 4 of diamonds over here, okay?
Next, I reveal a 3.
Now, if I put the 3 over here, that's a pair.
Now, yeah, I already got a straight going right here, so that's not really a smart play putting the 3 here,
plus it breaks my potential flush draw.
So, that's why I like having an open-face Chinese poker, having an open top hand.
So that I can kind of put some of my trash over there, if you will.
Then, I get a Jack.
Now, I have another important choice to make, do I throw this into my top hand, making this a potential flush?
But, of course, flushes and straights do not count in the top hand - only pairs, trips and high cards.
But, this would make it at least a Jack high which is not great, but it's not bad either.
Or, I could place the Jack here -
making it, so all I have is a pair of Jacks.
Now, I'm gonna go ahead and gamble a bit and hope that I get that 7 or that Queen in order to complete my straight draw here.
So, we'll see, next card, oh there it is!
Speak of the devil!
There's the 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack.
Now, since I put my five cards in here, that locks me in.
Now, here's the problem, though...
I might not want to do that because I don't know how many more diamonds are still coming.
So, it's more important that I make sure that in my bottom hand - the final hand that I reveal, is the strongest hand overall.
So, I think it's more important to just go ahead and put my diamonds here.
So, I have four diamonds towards a potential flush draw.
So now, I'm going to reveal another card.
Here I have a 2, this is not looking so good for me right now, rather bleak.
Next card, 5 of diamonds, okay, there's a little bit of luck.
If I'm really lucky now though, this last card is going to be a 7 or a Queen.
Let's see what happens.
Oh, travesty, travesty, travesty, it's a 5...
So then, when it comes time to reveal, I'm gonna have my top hand with a strength of a Jack-high,
my middle hand is going to have equally, the strength of a Jack-high.
It's not an improvement, but it's not a weaker hand either, both are high card.
It's also important to note that traditionally, it's only based on the rankings of the hand.
So high card is equal to high card.
So, for example, if this was a Jack but this was a 10-high, it would still be okay because they're both high card ranked hands.
Now, it's important here is the last hand is a flush, and it was almost a straight flush.
3, 4, 5, 7, missing the 6 of diamonds.
If that would have been a 6 of diamonds rather than a 10, that would have been a straight flush
which traditionally has a very high payout as far as a bonus structure goes.
When we reveal -
when I reveal my hands against my opponents, I'm going to compare my hand against each opponent in turn
and count the number of points that I have over them.
Traditionally, the point systems are similar or identical to Chinese poker with open-face poker,
you get one point for winning a particular hand, either the top, the middle, or the bottom
and you also get a sweeping bonus if you win all three hands -
you get a bonus two, or potentially up to four extra units as a bonus for sweeping - winning all three hands.
It's very important that you don't misdeal, like, for example, if this had been my second hand and not my third,
then, I would have had a very strong middle hand, but then I would have fouled
and had to pay a penalty to each player as I have a fouled hand.
So, it's important that you make sure as you're building your hands that you don't screw up
and making your bottom hand weaker than your middle or weaker than your top, all right?
Speaking of variable payouts for hand rank, did you know the very first slot machines were modeled after poker ranks?
And typically paid out in cigarettes, cigars or bubblegum and were actually used as a way to circumnavigate
strict anti-gaming laws that happened to exist in each respective state.
Slot machines would have a five reel system and dependent on what poker hands you got,
you would be receiving a variable prize.
So, the best, of course, being the royal flush, would have a jackpot bonus
and on the subject of jackpots, did you know that the word 'jackpots' comes from the origins of poker
where you needed to have a pair of Jacks or better to open.
Hence the term JACK-POT, as the pot was eligible to be won once a player had revealed they have a pair of Jacks or better.
So that completes our introduction to the game of 'Open-face Chinese Poker', 'Russian Poker' or 'Russian Chinese Poker'.
Guys, I hope you really enjoyed it.
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My name is Dominic, you've been watching the
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Play responsibly!
