Direct link to Wiz’s WOO page on Oasis Poker: https://wizardofodds.com/games/oasis-poker/
In Oasis/Nicaragua, the player wins when he makes a better 5-card poker hand (from his 5 or 6 cards) than the dealer.
1. Player makes an ante bet.
2. Player and dealer each are dealt 5 cards, one of the dealer cards is face up.
3. Player makes a decision to BUY or NOT BUY a 6th card for the price of one ante bet. The amount spent on buying a 6th card is NOT a wager, is never returned to the player, and never forms a basis for calculating any payouts.
-In the Nicaragua variant, the player does not discard a card prior to being dealt his Buy card, and will then make his best 5 card poker hand from the 6 cards in his hand.
4. The next player decision is to make a RAISE bet -which is twice the ante bet- or Fold.
5. If Player has raised, the player and dealer hands are then compared.
6. If dealer’s hand is less than AK-High, dealer does not qualify. Player’s ante pays 1:1 and the Raise bet Pushes.
7. If dealer qualifies, both the players’ ante and raise bets either Win, Lose or Tie according to conventional poker rules. The Raise bet receives higher payouts if player’s hand is higher than a pair. The Raise payout table I am currently analyzing is shown here:
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This version of the game is reportedly offered at the Princess casino in St. Maarten. And may be available online or on some cruise ships (?)
OUTLINE of BASIC STRATEGY
BUY vs DON’T BUY Decision
This Nicaragua variant BUY/DoON’T BUY strategy is different than the strategy for the conventional OASIS Poker game because drawing a 6th card to 5 cards (rather than to 4 cards) increases the probability of improving your hand.
1. Always BUY when you have a (4-card) Flush draw, even if you also have a pair.
– Don’t BUY with a 4-card Flush draw if you also have a 5-card straight
-_____EXCEPT, do BUY with an open-ended straight flush draw even if you have a 5 card straight.
2. Always BUY a card with an open-ended straight draw (and with no flush).
3. With no flush or flush draw, sometimes BUY with a gut-shot straight draw:
a) always BUY with a gut-shot straight draw if you also have a pair in your hand
b) With NO Pair, the strategy for when to BUY with a gut-shot straight draw is complicated and is something I will be working out and presenting on this thread.
RAISE vs FOLD Decision
This strategy is essentially unchanged from the main Oasis strategy (and the Caribbean Stud Poker strategy). The only twist in how you apply that strategy comes when you have this situation:
you have bought a card and one of your six cards is the same rank as the Dealer’s card, but your best high-card poker hand does not include that matching sixth card.
In this special situation you should consider your best 5-card poker hand to include the matching 6th card when using the rules that the Wizard has laid out.
Example: You have an AsKsTs9s8d. With four spades you bought a card and now have: AsKsTs9s8d7c.
The Caribbean Stud rules say to FOLD an AKT98 vs 7; however they also say to RAISE an AKT97 vs 7 (because the presence of the 7 in your hand reduces the probability of the dealer pairing his 7. You should recognize that the 7 in your 6-card hand is affecting the probabilities of a dealer having a 77 pair, even if it is defined as not being in your highest ranking 5-card poker hand. Thus, is this special situation you should RAISE an AKT98-7 vs 7.
My next post will begin to address when to BUY with a gutshot straight draw (with no flush draw and no pair.)
Last edited by: gordonm888 on May 4, 2022
So many better men, a few of them friends, are dead. And a thousand thousand slimy things live on, and so do I.