Asian Poker

I just found Asian Poker at the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa, and had a blast playing.

Happy for the advice on W.O.Odds site, but I have a question -

This is the advice:

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Two Pairs

With a pair of aces or kings, and no high singletons, play the two pair together in the high hand.
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I came up with A-A-J-J-7-4-2

Seems like J-J-4-2 ; A-7, A would be much stronger than A-A-J-J; 7-2 ; 4

Am I missing something?

New here but I have loved the Wizard of Odds site for a long time

Thanks,
Dave

(edited.... thanks to admin catch!)

Quote: DaveLFla

I just found Asian Poker at the Seminole Hard Rock in Tampa, and had a blast playing.

Happy for the advice on W.O.Odds site, but I have a question -

This is the advice:

------------
Two Pairs

With a pair of aces or kings, and no high singletons, play the two pair together in the high hand.
-----------

I came up with A-A-J-J-7-4-2

Seems like J-J-4-4 ; A-7, A would be much stronger than A-A-J-J; 7-2 ; 4

Am I missing something?

New here but I have loved the Wizard of Odds site for a long time

Thanks,
Dave

Hi Dave, and welcome. I love Asian Poker, too.

I'm not sure where the woo advice shows to play it that way, but I'll look (I'm not a.math expert). Your example is off a little, as you show jj44, not jj42 as I'm sure you meant.

I personally would set the hand jj42, a7, a, assuming there's no 4 card flush in there. Which is the house way everywhere I've played. But the house way in this and other games is designed to NOT LOSE, as opposed to WIN, and something that can be taught to dealers. and so might not be the single best choice in every situation.

Otoh, woo optimal strategies ARE based on the best possible play for any given set of rules, by dissecting every hand against all possible dealer hands. That hand may be best possible but an outlier to a coherent house way, an exception hand, or even an error on the page. Could also be you misunderstanding what the page says; that happens often enough I mention it. Those pages are not for the faint-hearted sometimes. Lol...

Anyway, thanks for the post and mentioning a great game. I'd like to hear more discussion in it.

Edit. I'm wavering. I might set that hand AA42,JJ,7 to get a strong pair in the middle. But a single pair in the back isn't very strong, the Jacks are not top pair, and the 7 is an almost sure loss. Probably I set as my first impulse.

Thanks for responding and nice catch - yes, that was supposed to be j-j-4-2.

Here is a cut and paste from woo.... (a little more than I included the first time around....

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Two Pairs

With a pair of aces or kings, and no high singletons, play the two pair together in the high hand.

Otherwise, split the two pair, playing the highest singleton in the low hand, the low pair in the medium hand, and the rest in the high hand.

Three Pairs

If one of the pairs is aces or kings, and the singleton is low or medium, then play a card from the high pair in the low, the other ace or king and the singleton in the medium hand, and the other two pair in the high hand.

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I included more than just the two pair commentary for context, but the two pair is all that matters.

I have been playing Pai Gow on woo and pretending it is Asian. Asian is so much more interesting than Pai Gow it is amazing.